Tapes Reveal Nixon’s View of Abortion

[kpete]

Source: New York Times

By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: June 23, 2009

WASHINGTON — On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

Nine months later, after Nixon precipitated the resignations of two top Justice Department officials and forced the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate affair, Ronald Reagan, who was then the governor of California and would later be president, told the White House that he heartily approved.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/us/politics/24nixon.h...

[MichiganVote]

1. Always the subtle one our boy Nixon....jeez louise

[geomon666]

2. Well it's official.

Nixon was less evil than Bush. Bush didn't want any abortions, period.

[GodlessBiker]

3. OMG. Just unbelievable.

[Towlie]

4. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,”

That's unbelievable. Did Nixon say that abortion is necessary to prevent a baby like Barack Obama from being born?

[rateyes]

8. And, that was 12 years after Obama was born.

Hey, we might even get rednecks in the south to agree with abortion for that exception.

[goclark]

21. Yep!

Showing his true colors.

[Egnever]

27. Different times back then

What's unbelievable really is how far we have come in so little time. We have a way to go yet but the change has been amazing really. If you ever get a chance go back and watch a few archie bunker episodes. I remember watching reruns as a child and thinking they were funny I watched some recently and was appalled. It was a different time to be sure and Nixon's comments at the time were sadly fairly main stream.

[patriotvoice]

5. Good to know that interracial babies are worth less than rape babies.

Personally, I think all babies (brought to term) are splendid little informavores.

[YOY]

6. Well we got "a black and a white" in your position now Dick.

And he's doing it better than you ever did.

[Myrina]

7. Holy Hell, that's just despicable.

[MichiganVote]

13. No...that's just Dick in the 60's. 70's, and beyond the grave.

[dysfunctional press]

9. pro-lifers who agree to abortions in cases of rape/incest are among the worst hypocrites around.

if the fetus is a human life, how does the manner of conception make ANY difference? either it's a human life, or it isn't. just because a pregnancy arose from a rape, it wouldn't make the fetus any less human.

[bluestateguy]

10. Even racists have the right to choose

We must be consistent.

[caseymoz]

11. For a second I thought he was talking about moral black and white.

I still wonder if that was the meaning. Even from Tricky Dick, I find this to be stunning.

[drm604]

24. I'm not stunned in the least.

I don't know if you were around in the sixties, but I suspect you weren't. Unfortunately, Nixon's attitude wasn't all that unusual.

Archie Bunker was a fictional character, but he was a true depiction of a large segment of this country.

Combine that with Richard M. Nixon's complete lack of ethics and sensitivity, and this isn't the least bit surprising.

[caseymoz]

12. Being a cop has always been the best alibi.

Or mitigating circumstance.

[caseymoz]

29. Oops. Totally wrong thread! ignore.

[MilesColtrane]

14. Hunter Thompson said it best.

He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal...His body should have been burned in a trash bin.

... He was scum.

Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man -- evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency.

...He has poisoned our water forever. Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

[Blue_Tires]

26. i remember when that was first written

back then, i thought it was way too harsh...but as the years have gone on, i now know it isn't anywhere near harsh enough!

[PfcHammer]

15. "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a

Nixon and a Reagan," hehe

[Demeter]

16. Richard Nixon--Can We Seal His Papers Now?

It's just one disappointment after another. The more I know, the less I like or respect him. And Dubya is another. Let his papers all be burnt after the trials--let both their legacies be purged.

[Democracyinkind]

17. Not before I get my 18 minutes worth!

[Demeter]

18. That Was 35 Years Ago--Give It Up!

[Towlie]

19. Long delays in releasing information are motivated by confidence that there will be people like you.

[girl gone mad]

23. I think you misunderstood the post you're replying to.

Demeter is saying that it's time to give up on ever hearing those 18 minutes that were "accidentally" erased.

[DallasNE]

20. Thus Were Planted The Seeds Of The Southern Strategy

Nixon was a hater so, of course, he would have an issue with "a black and a white" parent. Had Nixon had his way Barack Obama would have been aborted. Think about that for awhile.

[WriteDown]

22. Interesting, so he was pro-choice?

Unexpected to say the least.

[PfcHammer]

25. Bill Benett was advocating kill all African-American chilren

[slackmaster]

28. He could be amazingly right even in his deepest wrongness sometimes

Nixon was an mystery, shrouded in an enigma, wrapped in a fresh warm flour tortilla.