New Nixon Tapes Reveal Details of Meeting With Anti-War Activists

[alp227]

Run time: 08:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgCrFc9H7pA   Posted on YouTube: November 26, 2011 By YouTube Member: PBSNewsHour Views on YouTube: 311   Posted on DU: November 26, 2011 By DU Member: alp227 Views on DU: 2049

 
Recently released audio recordings detail President Richard Nixon's surreal meeting with anti-Vietnam War protesters at the Lincoln Memorial one night more than four decades ago. Ray Suarez reports.

Transcript

Following the report is an interview with Melvin Small, distinguished professor of history emeritus at Wayne State University and author of the books The Presidency of Richard Nixon and Covering Dissent: The Media and Anti-Vietnam War Movement.

An excerpt describing how Nixon conversed with the anti war protesters:

RAY SUAREZ: Let's listen to the president describing his interaction with the protesters at the Lincoln Memorial.

RICHARD NIXON: And I said I was sorry they had missed it because I had tried to explain in the press conference that my goals in Vietnam were the same as theirs -- to stop the killing, to end the war, to bring peace. Our goal was not to get into Cambodia by what we were doing, but to get out of Vietnam.

There seemed to be no -- they did not respond. I hoped that their hatred of the war, which I could well understand, would not turn into a bitter hatred of our whole system, our country and everything that it stood for.

I said, I know you, that probably most of you think I'm an SOB. But I want you to know that I understand just how you feel.

RAY SUAREZ: This seems like a very revealing statement from an American president during a very tense time. Do we have any confirmation of these conversations from the other side of the exchange?

MELVIN SMALL: Well, here's the problem.

The media the next day, the newspapers, went and talked to some of the students. And most of the comments they got, almost all of them said that the president was speaking flippantly, irrelevantly. And, in fact, he did. He tried to engage them on Vietnam, evidently. They didn't listen very much to what he had to say. He said he sympathized with their interest in peace.

And then, when that didn't work, he said, where do you go to college? And if it was Syracuse, oh, you have got a good football team. Or if it was California, he would talk about surfing to them. He talked about foreign travel.

And the next day, the media only had those kinds of comments, which is kind of the reason why Nixon a couple of days later decided to put down his memories of the visit for the historical record.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I saw that tonight on the Lehrer Newshour...

It was fascinating.

A bit of history that I had been completely unaware of.

[MADem]

2. I remember that when it happened. The media did cover it, but there was

no 24 hour news cycle. It got maybe 90 seconds on the news and then, on to the next story.

[freshwest]

3. Thanks for the link, no thanks to Tricky Dick. I remember his attacks on all who dared oppose him...

And the frankly fascist tone of intimidation and disrespect from his whole administration. Some people have forgotten or never knew the level of violence that was being perpetrated in the world and across the United States at that time. Think we're seeing police brutality now? You ain't seen nothing, yet.

This presentation is a whitewash of what went on in that era. The same BS they were spewing is still with us, mostly coming from the mouths of teahadists. Not only that, he encouraged the media culture of racism and hating those who disagreed with the wealthy and powerful. He made major slashes to the social safety net that has degenerated generations of people. He was against unions, etc. Anything remotely progressive in his years in office was because the USA was in open rebellion.

The man had no sense of boundaries, employed criminals to try to corrupt an election, and went after Daniel Ellsberg and the press in the most outrageous ways. Senator Mike Gravel had to read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record to protect the words from being destroyed, as Nixon was trying to block evidence being revealed about what he was doing. He want after the NY Times and all dissent.

I listened to the Watergate hearings the summer they were on television nonstop. The man was a brute and not worthy to hold office. But then, he started as a McCarthyite and was promoted to the office of POTUS by those who wanted the war to continue for their own profitable contracts, after a string of assassinations to demoralize and disrupt elections and movements for justice.

And any friend of Kissinger is no friend of mine.

:rant:

[oldhippydude]

4. yep i remember both the event and "watergate summer"

keep in mind Nixon's chief speech writer Pat Buchanan, is a big shot on MSNBC Morning Joe, and still dispensing vitriol..

[freshwest]

5. Ain't it great? Also gave us Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Bush and Iraq are a product of Nixon.

Don't forget the Watergate Seven who are still with us and destroying the working people of this country, while slaughtering others worldwide. Chuck Colson almost reformed, but helped build the religious right for to destroy Carter's presidency and usher in Raygun's reign, Nixon 2 on steroids. GWB can be called Nixon 3.

The only good thing to come out the administration was John Dean. His book on GWB, 'Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush,' well, just the chapter titles are terrifying reading to anyone who lived under Nixon.

Spiro Agnew began the 'effete, intellectual snob' routine and both Nixon and Agnew hated the press for exposing corruption. They helped to set into motion and gain acceptance of the tunnel vision of media we now are afflicted with. And there is not one hate-filled moment in the radio and network world that does not repeat the same lies the Nixon administration promoted.

Nixon also started the 'government should be run like a business' meme. This has been repeated so often that it's gospel, it's infected every aspect of American life. Our Founding Fathers did not want that government should be run like a business!

In my opinion, the government should not be run like a business, this is the reason the USA is increasingly losing its humanity. Of course, both FDR and Mussolini explained to us what this model of government is.

Businesses are run on a profit and loss basis, with the wealth going to the top few, while depriving the rest of the organization. They are essentially amoral in purpose and operation and undemocratic by nature of their hierarchical structure. They separate morality and profit, destroying the communities they prey upon like vampires. When they have taken all they can, they leave. It was not always this way, with the FDR regulations, they were forced to act as decent citizens and not harm others as much as they do now.

Governments are supposed to be run for the purpose of improving and sustaining human life and our environment. For mediating between the powerful and the weak, for giving all a chance to prosper and live as best they can. The Nixon model is the root of the OWS movement. After 40 years of his time in office, we have sent back to the dark ages.

:rant:

Oh, and :hi:

[jberryhill]

6. SALT 1, China, Paris Peace Talks, EPA. AND he could play the piano

He was nowhere near as noxious as Reagan or W.

The times were tumultuous, and his paranoid side got the better of him, along with truly criminally-minded underlings and appointees. And yes, we are still plagued by the wretched progeny of his administration.

Hubert Humphrey was going to "win" the war in Vietnam.

Here you go:

Checkers part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4UEv_jjPL0
Checkers part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhQD2UFCIbY

He was so hung up on the idea of political corruption being purely monetary that he never understood why people were calling him a crook.

But, best of all, here he is playing his own composition - Nixon Piano Concerto #1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCsGSMze_6Q

[freshwest]

7. You can love him. We will disagree. A Democratic congress was in control, although most of them were

Blue dogs. Still it was the youth who brought about anything good.

Screw him, the reactionary pig he rode in on and all his pals.


:loveya:

[jberryhill]

8. I don't love him

Everything you said is true. It was just more of a mixed bag than that.