Here’s a second take on recently-unearthed text from Nixon and Haldeman on
the still-living Ronald Reagan.
-DXO
December 11, 2003
Tapes Show
Nixon Was No Reagan Fan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Dec. 10 — President
Richard M. Nixon was unimpressed by Ronald
Reagan, a fellow California
Republican, whom he called "strange"
and not "pleasant
to be around," newly released White House tapes show.
Talking politics with his chief of staff, H.
R. Haldeman, at the presidential retreat at Camp
David, Md., in August 1972,
Mr. Nixon turned the conversation to two Republican governors: Mr. Reagan,
and Nelson A.
Rockefeller of New York. Both had tried for the 1968
Republican presidential nomination, won by Mr. Nixon.
"Reagan is not one
that wears well," the president said.
"I
know," Mr. Haldeman agreed.
"On
a personal basis," Mr. Nixon continued, "Rockefeller
is a pretty nice guy. Reagan on a personal
basis is terrible. He just isn’t pleasant
to be around."
"No,
he isn’t," Mr. Haldeman said.
"Maybe
he’s different with others," Mr. Nixon said.
"No,"
Mr. Haldeman said.
"No," the president replied, "he’s
just an uncomfortable man to be around, strange."
The conversations are part of 240
hours of audiotape recordings from the Nixon administration that were released
on Wednesday by the National Archives
center here. Covering July through October 1972, the tapes are the 10th batch
of Nixon recordings, totaling 2,109 hours, that the agency has released since
1980.