Even amid Vietnam War demonstrations, a stagnant economy and release of the Pentagon Papers, President Richard Nixon seemed nearly obsessed with one other topic: the Kennedys.
As I listen at the National Archives to some of the 445 hours of recently released tapes from Nixon’s presidency, there seems no subject, other than the media or minorities, that elicits quite so much passion as this one family.
He’s alternatively reverent, dismissive and frustrated, but intensely aware at all times of them and their legacy. Even long after he had achieved the prize that he believed John F. Kennedy had stolen from him in 1960, he seemed terribly insecure and convinced that the deck was stacked against him.
The new tapes take us into his office in the early parts of 1971 and, on the whole, the interest of Nixon and his consiglieres is mostly Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), whom they see as a potential presidential rival.
“Teddy” is what they tend to call him, and his positions on events of the day are always of interest. Their concern about him as a political rival is also clear.
Indeed, on one very tough-to-hear tape, a distinct impression is left that they’d like to use excess campaign funds they’ve illegally “stashed away” to snoop on him. On another, they deride his then-wife, Joan, for showing up in what aide John Ehrlichman calls hot pants at a White House function, prompting Nixon to moan, “Jesus Christ.”
But others in the family pique the interest of the Nixon White House, including Jacqueline Onassis.
For example, there’s an interesting chat among Nixon and aides H.R. Haldeman and Leonard Garment on Feb. 27, 1971, that reminds one of President Clinton’s false statement when he claimed, after the disappearance of John Kennedy Jr. in July, that he was the first to invite both John and his sister, Caroline, back to the White House.
In fact, they had returned with their mom on Feb. 3, 1971. It had been pretty hush-hush, and most top White House officials were left in the dark, as Pat Nixon invited Onassis to view just-completed portraits of her late husband and herself that were to be hung in the mansion.
There were stories written in the next few days as word got out of the Kennedys’ first time back since 1963. Nevertheless, even what apparently was a most tasteful and discreet visit, which reflected well on Nixon, proved to be the catalyst for Nixon’s grousing on Feb. 27.
The subject of an Oval Office discussion turned to Pat Nixon and her public image.
“And here’s the point that I’d wish you would make in terms of building up Mrs. Nixon’s activities,” I heard Nixon say. “She’s done a helluva job.
“She wrangled those damn portraits out of there (of President John Adams). The visit she gave to the Kennedys. We didn’t do any pictures or anything like that, but there should have been a dozen stories afterward saying that was a graceful move.”
Haldeman corrects him, saying, “There were hundreds of stories but . . .”
Garment: “They did convey the feeling. I thought it was a beautiful thing.”
Haldeman then decides how to belatedly exploit the visit for his boss’ reputation but maintain the fiction of Nixon’s being selfless.
Haldeman: “But now, `in violation of your orders’ . . . and that’s the way it’s gotta be done . . . that story can now be leaked by a White House leaker or something like that, and there’s a helluva story there which nobody knows. . . . There’s a helluva story there. Of the whole conduct, the secrecy that was involved, and nobody knows.”
Garment: “That was perfect, Mr. President.”
Haldeman indicates that Nixon ordered the staff not to talk to anyone about the visit. He didn’t even tell the waiters who had once waited on the Kennedys. “They didn’t know she was coming until they walked into the room and saw her there with the kids,” he says. “Pretty momentous moment. And nobody knows, but the waiters. He’s (Nixon) never told anyone that.”
Garment: “One way would be for bits and pieces to get out, rather than all at any one time.”
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The group chatters on and Haldeman claims that Jackie “was so overwhelmed she wanted to throw her arms around the president. She was so impressed with what he had done. And she couldn’t believe they went through that entire evening without one single photographer ever being present.”
“Yeah,” says Nixon. “I was impressed.”
“So was Kennedy,” says Haldeman, then taking a slap at her late husband. “She knows goddamn well the president (John Kennedy) would have had photographers in every corner, and she was absolutely overwhelmed that he (Nixon) went through this whole evening without a single photographer ever taking a picture of anyone.”
“The unphotographed event,” says Garment. “A very dramatic thing.”
Haldeman next takes a shot at John Kennedy, then does some apple polishing.
“If that had been Jack Kennedy doing that and having the Truman family in or the Eisenhower family, the press would have bored in and found all those little vignettes, gone over to the house and got the story and run it,” he says.”And . . . you don’t make it that easy to do since you’re too honest about the things you do.”
Nixon’s silence would seem to signal his unadulterated agreement.
He is more garrulous on July 2 when a conversation about the just-released Pentagon Papers turns into a tirade against a Kennedy-adoring culture that pays lip service to his own beloved wife, Pat.
Debate over our involvement in the war will go unabated, says Charles Colson, the Nixon hatchet man who was later convicted in Watergate and then experienced a prison conversion and now runs the Virginia-based Prison Fellowship. “It’ll keep being played and reinterpreted, columns, in-depth analysis, what it means, the significance of the debate.”
Haldeman jumps in to bemoan what he deems an early free ride being given President Kennedy by the supposedly liberal, Nixon-bashing press. “But look at how the papers here played the Kennedy thing,” meaning Kennedy’s Vietnam involvement as outlined in the Pentagon Papers. “This morning, big headline, `Reluctant JFK Dragged Into War By Military High Command!’ “
The acerbic Colson snipes, ” `Ike Surrounded By Hawks!’ ” meaning that the newspaper’s interpretation puts the onus on President Eisenhower and his military advisers.
“All this crap,” says Haldeman. “It’s screwy, huh?”
Nixon then cites a Nov. 3, 1969, speech he gave the nation, in which he mentioned Vietnam-related actions prior to his election, notably Kennedy’s sending in 16,000 combat advisers. He claims that mention was given short shrift.
“Did you know that never once has the goddamn press, either interpretation or otherwise, carried the Kennedy part? Never once. Except when they mention the whole thing,” apparently meaning except when they do some huge, overall piece on Vietnam.
Then comes a political attack inspired by his reading The New York Times Book Review.
“On that score,” he says, “did you notice in the Times Review of Books today that three Kennedy books are coming out this week? One a biography by, ah, on Rose. Another biography of Jackie, by that old slob Molly Thayer (author M.V. Thayer) and the third one is a biography on Ethel. Three books!
“That’s the way Kennedys play games,” he snorts. “Three goddamn books. And I’ll bet you they’ll all be on the best-seller list. Ethel, Jackie and Rose.”
Then, there is his undervalued spouse.
“But do you ever have any biography on Mrs. Nixon, who goes to Peru and all those goddamn things around the country?” reference initially to Pat’s 1970 trek to Peru to visit victims of an earthquake that killed 40,000 people.
“No, You won’t,” he says, then pauses, albeit briefly. “Well, I’m not complaining.”