'It’s about time that the Jew in America realizes he’s an American first and a Jew second,' Nixon is heard saying to Henry Kissinger on one of the tapes. Former President Richard Nixon is heard making anti-Semitic statements in discussions with visitors to the Oval Office and by telephone in White House tapes that were released on Thursday.
The 340 hours of tapes, which cover the period from April 9, 1973 to July 12, 1973, were released by the Nixon Presidential Library. They are the last set of tapes that will be released by the library.
In a phone discussion in mid-April with Henry Kissinger, a Jew who at the time was the national security adviser, Nixon expresses concerns that Jews would torpedo an upcoming U.S.-Soviet summit. If that happened, Nixon said, “Let me say, Henry, it’s gonna be the worst thing that happened to Jews in American history.” He added, “If they torpedo this summit — and it might go down for other reasons — I’m gonna put the blame on them, and I’m going to do it publicly at 9 o’clock at night before 80 million people.”
He continued: “They put the Jewish interest above America’s interest, and it’s about goddamn time that the Jew in America realizes he’s an American first and a Jew second.”
When asked about appointees, Nixon tells presidential counselor Anne Armstrong there should be “No Jews. We are adamant when I say no Jews. … But Mexicans are important. Italians, Eastern Europeans. That sort of thing.”
Nixon accused the Jews of holding American foreign policy “hostage to Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union,” and added that “the American people are not going to let them destroy our foreign policy — never!”
Kissinger let fly with the following:
"The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern."
To which Nixon responded, "I know. We can't blow up the world because of it."
According to transcripts released by the State Department, Mr Kissinger - deputy national security adviser at the time - said to Mr Garment: 'Is there a more self-serving group of people than the Jewish community?'
Mr Garment replied: 'None in the world.'
The exchange was all the more remarkable because both Mr Kissinger and Mr Garment were Jewish.
But Mr Kissinger continued, saying: 'What the hell do they think they are accomplishing? You can't even tell bastards anything in confidence because they'll leak it.'