Old Tapes Reveal Nixon's Rants

Well, this won’t do any good to Richard Nixon’s legacy. In a series of recordings, picked up by Nixon’s own secret taping system and released by the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, he claimed that Jews are obnoxious, the Irish are drunk, and that Italians “don’t have their heads screwed on tight.” “The Jews have certain traits,” he said in the 265 hours of tapes that were recorded 16 months before he resigned as President. “The Irish have certain—for example, the Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish.” He added: “The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality.” Speaking to his personal secretary, he also explained that he did not believe African-Americans were making progress in the United States.