Nixon Tapes: Abortion Necessary "When You Have A Black And A White"

The New York Times:

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.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[joeyfoto]

01:18 AM on 06/25/2009

After 40 years of reeducation and inter-racial experience, it is hard for us to imagine how "normal" even ordinary this sort of racism remained in 1973. What people must understand is not that Dick Nixon was a slime-ball --- that is demonstrable from dozens of documents and recorded statements --- the important thing is to hear what he said in its historical context.

There were places in America where this would have been looked at askance, but those were pockets of "liberalism" or better manners. As difficult as it may be to accept, what Nixon said would not have raised an eyebrow at many Elk's Clubs or church socials, in 1973... and certainly not in most bars. People would have accepted it as normal. If that's hard to accept, it's because most people, who think that way today, know to keep it to themselves.

We must never forget that America is an historically racist state --- all 50 of them. Without accepting that context, it is impossible to understand the pockets of traditional American White-Christian racism, of the sort that most of us grew up around, if not in our homes, in our communities. Unlike our contemporary manifestation of racism from reactionary-skinheads, it was persistent and insidious..

People who are shocked by Nixon's racist statement would have been in a perpetual state-of-shock at "normal" conversation throughout much of America in the 50s, 60s and well into the 70s. To properly understand Nixon's statement requires that historical perspective.

[Aesthete]

09:48 AM on 06/25/2009

It's not just the historic racism, which was and remains a constant in many quarters, it's the idea that babies of a certain racial composition ought to be killed. Is this to say that conservatives are willing to rescind their anti-abortion stance for reasons of race? If this is true then they are nothing more than murderers at heart---certainly not pro-life as many claim.

[merger]

01:06 AM on 06/25/2009

Much was different 35 years ago. Most people were not inclined to accept inter-racial marriages or relationships. Much has changed for the better since then.

[Aesthete]

11:53 AM on 06/25/2009

Thank God. If this monster had been allowed to have his way, two-thirds of a generation of my family would have been killed off.

[Layman23]

12:39 AM on 06/25/2009

He sure was such a Crook !

[Imhotep40]

12:04 AM on 06/25/2009

I'm shocked!

[Imhotep40]

12:02 AM on 06/25/2009

Suprised? Yellow Dog Democrats, Boll weevils, GOP, Nixonian, Reagonite etc., etc. are all different names for the same policy of "Separate but Unequal" and legislated "JustUs" policies. . . . .

[Taz2]

11:17 PM on 06/24/2009

It's Sad Nixon wanted to get rid of the man That is President of the United States today!!!!

[Ankhorite]

03:46 AM on 06/25/2009

Great comment, Taz2.

Nixon was talking only six years after that same Supreme Court finally decriminalized interracial marriage in the 14 states where it was still a crime. The case was LOVING v. VIRGINIA, 1967.

[MsIrisMG]

09:45 PM on 06/24/2009

Whom is this a surpise to?! The man was a Quaker.

[Ankhorite]

03:48 AM on 06/25/2009

But the Quakers fought slavery and fought FOR racial equality.

It's so hard to think of this foul-mouthed, war-making bigot as a Quaker... I know he was a Quaker by name, but he sure didn't practice it.

[Aesthete]

09:56 AM on 06/25/2009

Nixon was born to a Quaker family, but he quit that denomination and joined the Presbyterian church. Nixon suffered from social status anxiety and considered the Presbyterian church more "respectable" than the church of his birth.

[Common1]

08:42 PM on 06/24/2009

This is the ilk of Pat Buchanan. Whenever you see Buchanan turning beat red and foaming at the mouth in regards to Affirmative Action and the Puerto Rican SOTUS nominee, this is the brain trust from which he was conceived, Nixon.

[HatingTheGame]

08:06 PM on 06/24/2009

How prescient. He certainly knew that a person like O ("black and white") would be a danger to the white supremacist establishment in the United States.

Nixon was certainly ahead of his time. No wonder the rethugs love him, and seek to deify him like that other paragon of traditional American values -- Reagan.

[FebM]

07:55 PM on 06/24/2009

Nixon, Nixon, I see you had a final solution for some American, but your southern strategy has come back to bite your behind! What goes round comes round.

[wijg]

07:24 PM on 06/24/2009

God! I can't stand big_ots!

[flossophy]

06:26 PM on 06/24/2009

Nix0n will eventually be considered the 20th century's Lincoln.

Obama has already done far worse than Watergate... look into his relationship with Ac0rn.

It'll be called: Ac0rngate, or Waterchestnutgate

[SansArc]

07:20 PM on 06/24/2009

Yeah for sure! Especially when he says that an abortion is necessary when its white and black or rape. Comparing rape to an interacial relationship between whites and blacks is definitely right up there with Lincoln. Did you read the article???

[disgusted48]

07:33 PM on 06/24/2009

I don't know who's more nuts, you are nixon.

[shaynamadela]

06:03 PM on 06/24/2009

This was part and partial of the world at that time - you had a lot of democrats like George Wallace, Byrd et al who were equally as bigotted too.

I grew up during this time and it was and is vitally important to keep abortion safe, secure and rare. Too many young girls and women died at the hands of butchers.

Never again - the only good thing nixon had was kissinger IMHO

[gofreeman]

11:08 PM on 06/24/2009

part and parcel............

[yosoyeldecider]

06:01 PM on 06/24/2009

See, wingnuts? Pro-choice could've prevented the ascendance of Anti-Christ Obama. What to do, what to do?

[SansArc]

07:22 PM on 06/24/2009

Very amuseing but...quite sad as well that their is someone out there who may actually take that seriously.

[THE JEDI 69]

05:59 PM on 06/24/2009

He was a President..wow..this man is still scary to this day...I wonder what he kids think about their father and grandfather

[gofreeman]

11:10 PM on 06/24/2009

Nixon did great things. He established the Environmental Protection Agency. He ended the war in Viet Nam, he opened relations with China. Who cares what he thought about interracial marriage.

[Ankhorite]

03:50 AM on 06/25/2009

Anyone who believes in the Declaration of Independence, the line about all of us being created equal cares.

Anyone who believes in racial equality cares.

Cares now, and cares back then.

[Aesthete]

11:29 AM on 06/25/2009

I'm not as concerned about his feelings on interracial relationships as I am about the fact that he wanted to kill their offspring, which is truly disturbing and makes him a monster. Today, we have a bi-racial president. God is just.