Nixon, the Universal Racist

Among the politicians of the twentieth century — who for the so-called justification of creating a state were strong supporters of the cause of Zionism — there were, curiously, great anti-Semites. That was the case with British Foreign Secretary A.J. Balfour, who in 1917 conceived the declaration that bears his name, thus laying the foundation for the future state of Israel.

In the case of U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon (1968-1974), we already knew of the revelations of the Watergate scandal, with its less than complementary opinions of Jews. But with the publication of 265 hours of recordings of private conversations, recorded months before having to leave office as a felon, the anecdote becomes more like an encyclopedia, at a time when he was extending his fundamental racism around the world. “The Italians […] don’t have their heads screwed on tight.” “Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks.” And regarding when blacks will be useful to the country, “…you’re talking in terms of 500 years.” This was because “all people have certain traits,” which he, as perceptive as he was, read like no one else.

But he saves his harshest comments for Jews, whom he valiantly supported as citizens of Israel against the Arab world. In particular, American Jews are “aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious” [1]. He accused them of being numerous among the deserters who refused to go to war in Vietnam. And when Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir asked him to press Moscow to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate, he said, but always in private, to his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger — also a Jew and of whom he often spoke poorly — that if the Russians send their Jews to the gas chambers, “…it is not an American concern” [2]. Mentioning gas chambers was, however, a presidential metaphor, since such a thing never existed in the Soviet Union.

The revelation of the tapes — there are 400 hours more to be released — is a modest WikiLeaks that is a contribution in its own way, when Nixon remains just a bad memory, to pierce the veil of secrecy with which the greats of the world display a much different face in private than the charitable grace with which they like to appear before the public.

Translator’s Notes:

A number of quotes in the El País article do not agree with corresponding English quotes from articles on the Nixon tapes in the Washington Post and the New York Times. The quotes have been modified to correspond with the originals.

[1] President Nixon’s statement in English implies that he is referring to all Jews, and not just American Jews.

[2] This statement was made by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.