LOS ANGELES: Richard Nixon blasted Jews as ''obnoxious'' while he was US president, and made disparaging remarks about the Irish and Italians, White House audio tapes reveal.

And Henry Kissinger, the national security adviser, said it was no concern of the US if Soviet Jews were gassed.

Richard Nixon ... "certain traits".

Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal in 1974 and died in 1994.

''The Jews have certain traits,'' the president told a senior adviser in February 1973, which was among 265 hours of recordings made public by his presidential library and museum in California.