Peniel Joseph is the Barbara Jordan chair in ethics and political values and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also a professor of history. He is the author of several books, most recently "Stokely: A Life." The views expressed here are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) The release by the National Archives of a racist telephone conversation between President Richard Nixon and future President Ronald Reagan (then-governor of California) casts a strobe light on an uncomfortable fact: One of our most popular Presidents was far from the only commander-in-chief to display racial bigotry.

Reagan's description of Tanzanian delegates as "monkeys" still not comfortable wearing Western clothes, most notably shoes, offers a substantive illustration of what civil rights activists long alleged was a pattern of Reagan's anti-black racism, both as governor of California and President of the United States.

Peniel Joseph

Nixon, whose own enmity towards African Americans helped propel him to the White House as the coded champion of "law and order," used Reagan's words on the call to offer his own distaste for African leaders who dared challenge the West on geopolitical matters.

If all of this sounds depressingly familiar, it should. President Donald Trump's tenure in the White House remains most notable for his consistent attacks on black and brown people, Americans and global citizens through rhetoric that has demonized and dehumanized entire populations, countries, regions and cities, with the city of Baltimore being only the latest target.

For some, Reagan's words will come as a surprise. Ronald Reagan, America's 40th President, is perhaps most fondly remembered as the former B-movie actor turned swaggering hero of the conservative right. But it shouldn't be a surprise.