Washington (CNN) In a newly unearthed audio clip, then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan disparaged "monkeys" from African countries in a phone call with then-President Richard Nixon, according to the former director of Nixon's presidential library, who published his findings in The Atlantic.

Tim Naftali, who directed the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum from 2007 to 2011, writes that Reagan -- who would later become the 40th President of the United States -- called Nixon in October 1971, the day after the United Nations had voted to recognize the People's Republic of China. In the call, he says, Reagan is heard apparently referencing the way the Tanzanian delegation started dancing in the General Assembly when the UN took the vote to seat the delegation from Beijing instead of Taiwan.

Reagan, Naftali writes, is heard saying to Nixon, "Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did."

Nixon interjected: "Yeah."

Reagan continued, "To see those, those monkeys from those African countries -- damn them, they're still uncomfortable wearing shoes!"

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