NEW YORK TIMES: “I could hear the president talking to him,” he said, “and it was simply, you know, ‘John, we need to get that information on Larry O’Brien, the only way we can do that is through Liddy’s plan, and you need to do that.’ Nixon was saying we want Liddy to break into the Watergate.”…
The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation in California said that Mr. Magruder’s allegation contradicted Mr. Magruder’s own assertion in his memoir, “An American Life: One Man’s Road to Watergate” (1974). In that book he wrote, “I know nothing to indicate that Nixon was aware in advance of the plan to break into the Democratic headquarters.”
The Nixon library said that the White House Daily Diary had recorded no calls to Key Biscayne on March 30. Nor did White House tapes corroborate such a call, the library said… (more)
EDITOR: Can libraries talk? Strange journalistic lapse by the NYT.
“Watergate” was perhaps the most intriguing story of our lifetime. We were then and continue to be an admirer of Richard Nixon’s acumen and achievements but, like the rest of the nation and world, very troubled by certain of his actions and demeanor. He maintained, with some evidence, that he did no more snooping than prior presidents, citing Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. And by today’s standards, tapping someone’s phone to get information seems almost quaint.
Many have speculated what the outcome would have been had he, upon their discovery, immediately burned all of the tape recordings of his conversations on the White House lawn. We were surprised that the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that they could be made public.
So much of what was and is successful in U. S. foreign policy is attributable to Nixon and Henry Kissinger and Nixon’s later writings and counsel. And his domestic proposals, such as the negative income tax, almost puts him in a liberal class with Ralph Nader.
He was a troubled soul who inherited very tough times. A giant with feet of clay. Nasty. A bit paranoid? Perhaps too human to be president.
May he rest in peace.
