Americans (at least some of those who reside in the U.S.) have a very limited sense of history. This can be seen in all the bluster from politicians regarding the rebellion in Iran. Nowhere is there any recounting of the U.S.-backed government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, who ruled for decades by way of draconian policies toward his own people for the sake of British, U.S., French, and Dutch oil interests. Even the taking of the American Embassy by Iranian students in 1979 was seen here as divorced from the prior history of U.S.-Iranian relations.

So, it came as no surprise that the latest release of tapes from the Nixon White House years garnered no more than a collective yawn from the public, if indeed the actual reaction went that far.

The tapes are monumental in respect to three major issues of the period, though they touch upon many more. Nixon wanted a cease-fire so badly in Vietnam that he commented to his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, that he would “cut off his (referring to the then president of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu) head if necessary.” In other words, all of his previous rantings about “peace with honor” were just so much bullshit!

The next piece of tape worth scrutinizing was Nixon’s reaction to the historic 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, recognizing the right of women to abortion. Here, Nixon’s racism is placed in clear earshot of the listener. Speaking to an aide he comments, “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white . . . or a rape.” (Charles Savage, “On Nixon Tapes, Ambivalence Over Abortion, Not Watergate,” The New York Times, June 23, 2009). Nothing additional needs to be added to see Nixon’s well-known intolerance for what it really was.

Although there are much worthier conversations for public scrutiny on these tapes, it is a telephone call between Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham in February 1973 that further cements the view of Nixon as a bald-faced anti-Semite. Graham complains to Nixon on the tape that Jewish-American leaders were “opposing efforts to promote evangelical Christianity.” The two men agree that that tack among Jewish leaders would risk “setting off anti-Semitic sentiment.” Nixon then adds, “What I really think is deep down in this country, there is a lot of anti-Semitism, and all this is going to do is stir it up.” Those sentiments come as no surprise, as Nixon’s anti-Semitism had been long established by his hatred of Jewish activists in the antiwar movement.

One of the better-known election slogans to emerge from any Nixon political campaign was, “Nixon’s The One.” Reading the transcripts of these newly released tapes, even the most casual observers would have to admit that indeed he was!

*From Pete Seeger’s song “What did you learn in school today?”