I Love Nixon

In a non-penetrating kind of way, of course.

Ever wonder what kind of deep policy discussions are taking place behind the curtains?

May 13, 1971, between 10:30am and 12:30pm -- Oval Office
Conversation 498-5-- meeting with Nixon, Haldeman and Ehrlichman

[The President and his advisors were discussing a recent episode
of "All in the Family," a television show on CBS. President Nixon
was offended by the show's favorable treatment of homosexuals.]

R[ichard]N[ixon]: "But, nevertheless, the point that I make is that God damn
it, I do not think that you glorify on public television
homosexuality. The reason you don't glorify it John anymore than
you glorify, uh, uh, uh, whores. Now we all know people who have
whores and we all know that people are just, uh, do that, we all
have weaknesses and so forth and so on, but God damn it, what do
you think that does to kids? What do you think that does to 11
and 12 year old boys when they see that? Why is it that the
Scouts, the, why is it that the Boys Clubs, we were there, we
constantly had to clean up the staffs to keep the Goddamned fags
out of it. Because, not because of them, they can go out and do
anything they damn please, [unintelligible] all those kids? You
know, there's a little tendency among them all. Well by God can I
tell you it outraged me. Not for any moral reason. Most people
are outraged for moral reasons, I, it outraged me because I don't
want to see this country go that way. You know there are
countries -- You ever see what happened, you know what happened
to the Greeks. Homosexuality destroyed them. Sure, Aristotle was
a homo, we all know that, so was Socrates."

JE: "He never had the influence that television had."

RN: "Do you know what happened to the Romes, Romans? The last six
Roman emperors were fags. The last six. Nero had a public wedding
to a boy. Yeah. And they'd [unintelligible]. You know that. You
know what happened to the Popes? It's all right that, po-po-Popes
were laying the nuns, that's been going on for years, centuries,
but, when the popes, when the Catholic Church went to hell, in, I
don't know, three or four centuries ago, it was homosexual. And
finally it had to be cleaned out. Now, that's what's happened to
Britain, it happened earlier to France. And let's look at the
strong societies. The Russians. God damn it, they root them out,
they don't let them around at all. You know what I mean? I don't
know what they do with them. Now, we are allowing this in this
country when we show [unintelligible]. Dope? Do you think the
Russians allow dope? Hell no. Not if they can allow, not if they
can catch it, they send them up. You see, homosexuality, dope,
immorality in general: These are the enemies of strong societies.
That's why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing the
stuff, they're trying to destroy us."

Unknown: "Sure, sure. Yep."

RN: "And I don't know, I, we talk oh and I and Moynihan will
disagree with this, Mitchell disagree with this, [unintelligible]
will and all the rest. But God damn it, we have got to stand up
to these people."

May 26, 1971, Time: 10:03 am - 11:35 am -- Oval Office
Conversation: 505-4 -- Meeting with Nixon and HR 'Bob' Haldeman

RN: "Now, this is one thing I want. I want a Goddamn strong
statement on marijuana. Can I get that out of this
sonofabitching, uh, Domestic Council?"

HRH: "Sure."

RN: "I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them.
I see another thing in the news summary this morning about it.
You know it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are
out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the
matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I
suppose it's because most of them are psychiatrists, you know,
there's so many, all the greatest psychiatrists are Jewish. By
God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it
right square in the puss, I want to find a way of putting more on
that. More [ unintelligible ] work with somebody else with this."

HRH: "Mm hmm, yep."

RN: "I want to hit it, against legalizing and all that sort of
thing."

June 2, 1971, Time: 3:16 pm - 4:15 pm -- Oval Office Conv. 510-3
-- Nixon met with John Ehrlichman

RN: "I know. Well, you know I suppose they could say that,
alcoholics don't think straight too, can't they?"

AL: "Yes. [unintelligible] Really. But, but another big
difference between marijuana and alcohol is that when people s-
smoke marijuana, they smoke it to get high. In every case, when
most people drink, they drink to be sociable. You don't see
people --"

RN: "That's right, that's right."

AL: "They sit down with a marijuana cigarette to get high --"

RN: "A person does not drink to get drunk."

AL: "That's right."

RN: "A person drinks to have fun."

AL: "I'd say smoke marijuana, you smoke marijuana to get high."

RN: "Smoke marijuana, er, uh, you want to get a charge --"

AL: "Right now --"

RN: "-- of some sort, you want to get a charge, and float, and
this and that and the other thing."

March 24, 1972, 3:02 pm - 3:39 pm -- Oval Office Conversation No.
693-1 -- press conference

Unknown reporter: "Mr. President, uh, do you have a comment sir
on the, uh, recommendation of your commission on drugs that the
use of marijuana in the home be, uh, no longer, uh, considered a
crime?"

RN: "Um, I met with Mr. Shafer, uh, I've read the report, uh, eh,
it is a report that deserves consideration and will receive it.
However, as to one aspect of the report I am in disagreement. I
was before I read it and reading it did not change my mind. Uh,
I, uh, oppose the legalization of marijuana, and that includes
the sale, its possession, and its use. I do not believe you can
have effective criminal justice, uh, based on the philosophy, uh
that something is half legal and half illegal. That is my
position, despite what the commission has recommended."

March 21, 1972, 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm -- Oval Office Conversation No.
690-11 -- in this segment, the President is meeting with H. R.
("Bob") Haldeman.

RN: "Well. Here's the thing to say, there's ways to handle it,
just, just kick the hell out of it. We enforce the law--"

HRH: "The way to talk, the thing to talk about, [unintelligible]
all the Jaffe crap is not the stuff to talk about. I mean-- "

RN: "That's what they hit me with [unintelligible]. Remember what
I said."

HRH: "I know."

RN: "You got to kick [unintelligible] when I got out there and I
didn't do it. I, but what gets, who cares about the Jaffe stuff,
the treating of the addicts."

HRH: "The mothers don't, because their kids aren't addicts. And
they're, eh, you just don't worry about that, what you worry
about is this son of a bitch that's going to come up --"

RN: "That's right."

HRH: "-- and try to slip a packet of marijuana to your kid."

RN: "Or, heroin."

HRH: "Or heroin."

RN: "Give them a fix. Or LSD, or something--"

HRH: "Or LSD, or slip something in his Coca-Cola."

RN: "Yeah. Right."

HRH: "That's what you worry about, you're not worried about
addicts. Nobody knows an addict, but everybody knows a kid who's
been smoking marijuana."

RN: "Bob, the truth's, people are not concerned about anybody but
themselves."

HRH: "Exactly."

RN: "They're not concerned about the other kids whose, uh--"

HRH: "Well kids aren't addicts anyway, I mean nobody, there
aren't enough addicts, addicted kids, to matter."

RN: "[unintelligible]. This is a typical thing, it's like the, a
black kid, [unintelligible], uh, everybody used, uh, you know
it's like old Jim Rhodes, he said, of course he's a typical
[unintelligible], I mean, 1960s something like, [unintelligible],
he said, you know he says all these people you know,
[unintelligible], they come down here, these people, three or
four hundred of them, they're picketing around, they're talking
to legislators and to press, he, he said [unintelligible] he
said, eh, mental health centers and all the other,
[unintelligible], he says, I didn't take the money,
[unintelligible] I just turned it down, and they gave the money
to the niggers."

HRH: "He's right, there's a hell of a lot more niggers than you
can buy them off."

RN: "He is [unintelligible, both RN and HRH speak at same time].

HRH: "Jobs, get them off the streets so they aren't killing
people."

RN: "Now we all know that mental institutions are a horrible
thing, I mean, we see, you know, people in them, I visited them,
just tears your heart."

HRH: "Oh there's no question."

RN: "But god damn it, why do we have a bunch of psychiatrists
sitting around, making people who are not mental cases, mental
cases? You know, psychiatry is a God damned racket."

HRH: "Yeah."

RN: "In my opinion, there are some that are important and
necessary, but most, most people would do a hell of a lot better
with a preacher than a psychiatrist."

HRH: "Pretty weird, some of them."

RN: "Oh sure."

HRH: "Uh, there's just, there's no question on the drug side
that, that stopping the supply is important because people know
if there isn't any, then nobody can buy it."

RN: "They like this stuff about the Turks."

HRH: "And that's good. And the other thing is getting the God
damned pushers."

RN: "Oh they want --"

HRH: "--and they'd like to frankly hang them. And then education,
educating the kids, they talk about that, but that, that's a
tough one to peddle, you know. You can educate the hell out of
them but it just--"

RN: "Educate them, shit."

HRH: "--doesn't get anywhere."

RN: "That's right. Enforce the law, you've got to scare them.
[unintelligible]."

HRH: "That's exactly it."

RN: "Right."

HRH: "But mostly the pushers. Let's get the guy that's peddling
it rather than the children, [unintelligible] the kid that,
that's got [unintelligible]. Because kids will try anything that
comes their way."

RN: "Yeah. Drug use, [unintelligible] our best, but let's think
about, about just doing a, the next speech on the damn thing. I
believe [unintelligible]. You know. But it's like why am I
against legalizing marijuana."

HRH: "Was talking about it last night, John was saying I wonder
what would happen if we did a drug thing every week, and I said I
thought that's what you were supposed to have been doing a year
and a half or two years ago, that's, that was our plan--"

RN: "Yeah."

HRH: "--just do a drug thing every week. Hit something hard every
week on, on something that we're doing on drugs. That doesn't
mean the President going out and selling, it's marijuana--"

RN: "[unintelligible] won't pay attention unless I do it."

HRH: "Oh I'm not so sure."