Newly uncovered Nixon tapes reveal anti-Semitic stance

President says Jews holding US foreign policy "hostage to Jewish emigration from Soviet Union."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
richard nixon (photo credit: Michael Urban / Reuters)
richard nixon
(photo credit: Michael Urban / Reuters)
Newly uncovered tapes released from the Nixon Presidential Library on Wednesday reveal Richard Nixon's perception of American Jewry, with one such recording stating that Jews in America "put the Jewish interest above America's interest," the Atlantic Wire reported.
Included in the last set of Nixon White House tapes is a phone call with Henry Kissinger on April 19, 1973 about an upcoming US-Soviet summit. They reval the president's unfounded concerns that the Jews would "torpedo" the summit.
"Let me say, Henry, it's gonna be the worst thing that happened to Jews in American history," Nixon said.
"If they torpedo this summit — and it might go down for other reasons — I'm gonna put the blame on them, and I'm going to do it publicly at 9 o'clock at night before 80 million people," he vowed.
Kissinger responded to voice his agreement, saying they "brought it on themselves."
The president then released an anti-Semitic tirade, stating: "I won't mind one goddamn but to have a little anti-Semitism if it's on that issue," adding: "They put the Jewish interest above America's interest and it's about goddamn time that the Jew in America realizes he's an American first and a Jew second."
Displaying further ignorance over ethnic and racial minorities, Nixon  said black people couldn't run Jamaica.
In a June 14, 1973 Oval Office meeting with Anne Armstrong, the Atlantic Wire, citing the released Nixon Presidential Library tapes, Nixon stated: "Blacks can’t run it. Nowhere, and they won’t be able to for a hundred years, and maybe not for a thousand.  … Do you know, maybe one black country that’s well run?"
Adding fuel to the fire, Nixon interjected: "No Jews. We are adamant when I say no Jews. … But I mean don’t say anything don’t let anybody know we didn’t [audio unclear] Jewish. But Mexicans are important. Italians, Eastern Europeans. That sort of thing."
That same year, Nixon said Jews were holding American foreign policy "hostage to Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union" in an April 18, 1973 phone call with Spiro Agnew.
He added, "Some of the Jews picket can raise hell, but the American people are not going to let them destroy our foreign policy — never!"