The XX Factor

From the AP write-up of the newly released Nixon tapes:

Speaking to Charles Colson after the January 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, the president said: "I admit, there are times when abortions are necessary, I know that." He gave "a black and a white" as an example.

"Or rape," Colson offered. "Or rape," Nixon agreed.

This a decade and a half after the Supreme Court struck down state bans on interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia . And 12 years after the birth of Barack Obama.

Photograph of Richard Nixon by AFP/Getty Images.