The National Archives released on October 5, 1999, 445 hours of tapes recorded by President Richard Nixon in which he repeatedly lashes out against Jews and makes anti-Semitic remarks. Appearing to view "the Jews" as the root of all his problems, Nixon complained that Washington "is full of Jews" and that "most Jews are disloyal."

Nixon did believe that top aides Henry Kissinger, Leonard Garment and William Safire were exceptions, but he said to his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, "generally speaking you can't trust the bastards. They turn on you. Am I wrong or right?" Haldeman agreed. Nixon told Haldeman that the Jews needed to be brought under control by putting someone "in charge who is not Jewish" in key agencies.

After a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was released showing that unemployment was rising, Nixon wanted to fire the agency's director, Julius Shiskin. He asked Charles Colson to investigate the ethnicity of officials at the Bureau. "They are all Jews?" Nixon asked when Colson gave him a list of names.

On another occasion, Nixon and Haldeman discussed Jewish penetration of the National Security Council staff. Nixon asked if Tony Lake, then an aide to Kissinger, was Jewish. Nixon thought he looked Jewish. Lake, who served as Clinton's National Security Adviser is not Jewish.

When a survey was released in 1971 showing that a majority of the supporters of antiwar demonstrations came from affluent neighborhoods in Washington, Nixon attributed the results to the Jews. "Bob," he told Haldeman, "there's a lot of Jews in the District, see...The gentiles have moved out.



Sources: Washington Post (October 6, 1999)