by Moe Zilla

Created on: January 26, 2008   Last Updated: February 03, 2008

Richard Nixon was the man that people loved to hate for much of his life time - but the new tapes (released in July of 2007) capture a peculiar moment. The 165 conversations all took place within 16 days in November of 1972 - most in the days immediately following Nixon's re-election for a second term - and mostly show Nixon talking frankly about filling his cabinet posts.

Nixon was a fierce politician, and his apologists can argue the tapes only show his raw calculations about key political demographics, including the important constituencies of Jewish and black voters. It's clear from the tapes that Nixon sees political advantage in choosing cabinet members from specific ethnic groups, sometimes even going to laughable extremes. ("G* Damn it, Chuck, we haven't got an Italian yet," Nixon screams at one point.) And while some have called Nixon's remarks "anti-Semetic," it's possible to interpret them in exactly the opposite way. When Nixon says "I don't basically want a 'house Jew', he may simply be resisting the idea of hiring a token representative for that demographic group, holding out for someone who can make a full contribution.

President Nixon uses many expletives on the tape, but there were even more on the original Watergate tapes. It's always represented a jarring contrast with Nixon's straight-laced public persona - but the new tapes don't reveal anything that wasn't already known.

And in some ways, the tapes even vindicate Nixon. In the 1995 movie "Nixon," Oliver Stone alleged that Nixon covered up information about a CIA plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy. But in fact, the new tapes show Nixon moving aggressively to declassify CIA files instead, including those relating to President Kennedy and his ties to the "Bay of Pigs" operatives. Granted, these moves were just as political - Nixon hoped to embarrass the popular Kennedy, consider their family to be his long-time political rivals.

America's National Archivist did offer some good news for the people who love to hate Nixon - they're releasing still more of Nixon's tapes in the middle of 2008. But if you're looking for tapes that damage Nixon's legacy, you're still better off with the "smoking gun" tape from 34 years ago. That tape showed Nixon's participating in a criminal cover-up, and eventually forced his resignation.

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