National Archives Release 11 Hours of Nixon Tapes (NYT)
The National Archives made available on Wednesday more than 11 hours of tape recordings that show President Richard M. Nixon maneuvering in 1972 to remake the Republican Party in his image, crush South Vietnamese opposition to his efforts to end the Vietnam War and dole out patronage to ethnic groups based on how much they supported his re-election.
The release of the tapes along with 78,000 pages of newly disclosed documents should be a trove of fascinating detail and context for historians, archives officials said. The Nixon library in Yorba Linda, Calif., is now part of the National Archives, as a result of an agreement forged after years of bitter fights between the government and the Nixon family over custody of his official papers.
The most dramatic and revelatory tape recordings involving abuses of government power were disclosed in 1996 and included Nixon’s conversations as recorded by a hidden taping system as the Watergate scandal enveloped and eventually forced him from office.
The newly released recordings provide a fresh glimpse of the political Nixon, especially in the heady moments of his 1972 landslide re-election victory over his Democratic opponent, Senator George McGovern, as the Watergate clouds were just beginning to form.
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The release of the tapes along with 78,000 pages of newly disclosed documents should be a trove of fascinating detail and context for historians, archives officials said. The Nixon library in Yorba Linda, Calif., is now part of the National Archives, as a result of an agreement forged after years of bitter fights between the government and the Nixon family over custody of his official papers.
The most dramatic and revelatory tape recordings involving abuses of government power were disclosed in 1996 and included Nixon’s conversations as recorded by a hidden taping system as the Watergate scandal enveloped and eventually forced him from office.
The newly released recordings provide a fresh glimpse of the political Nixon, especially in the heady moments of his 1972 landslide re-election victory over his Democratic opponent, Senator George McGovern, as the Watergate clouds were just beginning to form.