Nixon on Tape: Reagan Was "Shallow" and of "Limited Mental Capacity"
| Thu Nov. 15, 2007 7:02 PM PST
Richard Nixon, say what you will of this criminally minded president, was a keen observer of politics. But he seems to have underestimated fellow Republican Ronald Reagan (or the American public). On the morning of November 17, 1971, Nixon, while meeting with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office, shared a few sharp--and negative--comments about California Governor Ronald Reagan, who had recently told Kissinger that Nixon had a "real problem" with conservatives who believed Nixon was not sufficiently hawkish on foreign policy matters.
For years, the Presidential Recordings Program of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia has been transcribing and analyzing the tape recordings Nixon secretly made in the White House. Even though it's been 33 years since a disgraced Nixon left office, his tapes are still being processed by the National Archives, and the Miller Center has only recently gotten to the tape of this particular conversation. According to the newly created transcript of the meeting, both Nixon and Kissinger believed Reagan was not the brightest bulb in the GOP. Here are some key excerpts:
President Nixon: What's your evaluation of Reagan after meeting him several times now.
Kissinger: Well, I think he's a--actually I think he's a pretty decent guy.
President Nixon: Oh, decent, no question, but his brains
Kissinger: Well, his brains, are negligible. I--
President Nixon: He's really pretty shallow, Henry.
Kissinger: He's shallow. He's got no...he's an actor. He--When he gets a line he does it very well. He said, "Hell, people are remembered not for what they do, but for what they say. Can't you find a few good lines?" [Chuckles.] That's really an actor's approach to foreign policy--to substantive....
President Nixon: I've said a lot of good things, too, you know damn well.
Kissinger: Well, that too.
Later in the 24-minute-long discussion, the two discussed the possibility of Reagan running for president:
President Nixon: Can you think though, Henry, can you think, though, that Reagan with certain forces running in the direction could be sitting right here?
Kissinger: Inconceivable.
So much for Kissinger's powers of prognostication. As they were finishing up--after discussing other matters--Nixon slammed Reagan again:
President Nixon: Back to Reagan though. It shows you how a man of limited mental capacity simply doesn't know what the Christ is going on in the foreign area. He's got to know that on defense--doesn't he know these battles we fight and fight and fight? Goddamn it, Henry, we've been at--
Kissinger: And I told him--he said, "Why don't you fire the bureaucracy?" I said, "Because there are only so many battles we can fight. We take on the bureaucracy now, they're going to leak us to death. Name me one thing that we have done that the bureaucracy made us do."
President Nixon: The bureaucracy has had nothing to do with anything.
Kissinger: No, no. They've made our lives harder. They've driven us crazy. But that doesn't affect him.
Shallow, negligible brains, limited mental capacity? Well, Reagan did manage to get elected twice, and he served out his two terms--a feat Nixon did not accomplish. And Kissinger happily served on Reagan's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
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Comments
Submitted by Jim DeSantis (not verified) on Thu Nov. 15, 2007 7:27 PM PST.
Excellent insight to the chit-chat of the power brokers but is it relevant to historical fact?
Did President Reagan accidentally cause the fall of the U.S.S.R.?
As a journalist (1969-1982), I reported on the accomplishments and failures of presidents and their top advisors. All can be said to have had "negligible" intelligence at times.
The bureaucracy these two are discussing is that thing called due process of law. Cheney and Bush have done away with it. Nixon and Kissinger were forced to circumvent it as with their secret bombing of Cambodia.
Ahhh the good old days.
Submitted by capt (not verified) on Fri Nov. 16, 2007 8:25 AM PST.
It just goes to show nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
I think, as far as Reagan's "accomlishment" of serving out his second term, it could be said that while Nixon could not get away with Watergate, Reagan was able to escape Iran-Contra - the luck of a feeble-minded but popular man that we now know was sliping into an Alzheimer's induced oblivion.
Mr. Corn,
I fail to see how Nixon here "underestimated" Ronald Reagan. Haven't we of the leftward aisle long said precisely these things about Reagan? That he was personally likable but mentally deficient (even before the truly sad onset of his Alzheimer's)? That he lacked a sophisticated grasp of foreign policy? Granted, these tapes seem to show that Kissinger underestimated his electability, but your assertion is that Nixon himself underestimated Reagan, which is not borne out by the segments of the tape here cited.
Granted, Reagan was a sufficiently personable and popular leader to manage dramatic, nationwide electoral victories twice. However, we've long known that being smart enough to politick, and smooth enough to woo the media, are not equivalent to brilliant leadership.
--MW
Submitted by john galt (not verified) on Fri Nov. 16, 2007 1:11 PM PST.
Kinda makes one long for the good old days when men were men, crime was crime and punishment wasn't left for "history" to decide.
If interested in more insight into the Nixon Administration, take a look at the new Miller Center exhibit on Nixon's reaction to the Pentagon Papers: "The First Domino: Nixon and the Pentagon Papers". Available at:
http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/transcripts/index.php/Exhibits/Pe...
I agree. Reagan just happened to be in office when the USSR crumbled. If you remember, Jimmy Carter was the one who refused to trade with them because of their civil rights abuses. I think that years of trade deficits had a lot more to do with it than a few slick speeches by someone who's biggest talent was reading a monitor well.
reagan was a mediocre actor but when you compare him to non pros they all lost.
what he really was was a hollow man, easily told what to say just like the current hollow man. the only difference is george can hardly make complete sentences.
at least reagan could claim early stage alzheimers.
Nixon and Kissinger were correct about Reagan's brain. Not the brightest by any means. But neither were the millions who voted him into office and who don't realize that many of the economic ills present to day in this country began with the policies of Reagan's presidency. Good looks and a nice home grown personality in a candidate rather than substance or intelligence seem to woo the low end of American voters.
Submitted by BillyG (not verified) on Sat Nov. 17, 2007 5:59 AM PST.
Kissinger was sounding very agreeable to whatever Nixon said right up to the end there. Talk about diplomacy...
btw: I'm so glad I came across this site. Our Critical Thinking instructor had us read some MJ in class once and I've been wondering in the back of my head all this time what that publication was. Yeah!
No relation to David, but I've seen some statistics that show that both $$inflation$$ as well as the number of people $$$incarcerated$$$ went through the roof during Reagan's tenure. I didn't really see anything conservative at all about this fellow. Jimmy Carter did more for personal fiscal conservatism than any president since his ride. It makes Reagan seem like a pretty shallow conservative at best.
I classify the above comments as bull shit. I remember when K-Mart started selling it for 89 cents for four pounds. At the time I had shoveled several tons during my day. No I did not buy. Not an intelligent remark in the lot,mind you. Obviously none of you ever looked into the eyes of the American Soldiers who were manning the Siagon end of the Paris Peace Talks Teletype Circuits located in the basement of the Palace there in Siagon behind a solid steel wall with an armed guard on duty while Kissington was assing around the world running off at the mouth and Nixon was doing even less. Who needs this bull shit????????????????????
The posters that criticize Kissinger might be anti-Semites. (Claude, you have your BS detector and I have my anti-Semite detector)Kissinger is a Zionist Jew and proud of it. He was Nixon's only true friend and confident. They even prayed together. "The family that prays together stays together." Kissinger was "a friend that sickest closer than a brother." I could go on about the bond between Kissinger and Nixon, but I have to get my tissue, it just brings me to tears.
"Did President Reagan accidentally cause the fall of the U.S.S.R.?'
Mr.DeSantis, if you believe that Reagan had anything to do with the fall of the USSR, then I see that today's pathetic journalism isn't just conglomerate control, but, in fact, poorly informed journalists. It appears that the decline of journalists was with us at least as early as the early 80s.
"Reagan just happened to be in office when the USSR crumbled. If you remember, Jimmy Carter ... "
Carter undermined Soviet control in Eastern Europe with his human rights policies. This spread into a Soviet Union ripe for internal turmoil especially among the Soviet's intellectual elite.
That was the push that hurried the inevitable.
If anything, Reagan slowed the disolution of the Soviet empire. Everytime he shot off his mouth or pushed crap like SDI, the hardliners in Moscow gained credibility. Much like GW Bush's axis of evil blather undermined moderates in Iran.
Among the saddest, or most hilarious, Reagan snapshots was his belief that a missile, once fired, could be recalled.
This was after he had been elected governor of California.
When Reagan was told that a missile indeed could not be 'recalled' he became, as president, a sucker for SDI.
Submitted by Walter F. Wouk (not verified) on Mon Nov. 19, 2007 5:15 AM PST.
Republican voters would back a dog if it were nominated.
Yes, Nixon and Kissinger were very perspicacious in their political evaluations, and that always includes a recognition of mental competence. I wonder what they would say to each other if presented with an unnamed character like Nixon himself? And WOW, what would they say about George W.? He's not even a bad actor.
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