100 Years of Nixon

"And why not feature some of the conversations Nixon secretly recorded? They show a fuller picture of the man. In one set of tapes, released in 2010, Nixon says to Charles Colson, his special counsel, on Feb. 13, 1973: 'I’ve just recognized that, you know, all people have certain traits.
"'For example, the Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks. It’s sort of a natural trait.'
"'The Italians, of course, just don’t have their heads screwed on tight. They are wonderful people, but … ' and here his voice trails off for a moment and then he continues: 'The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality.'
"In a separate conversation with his personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, Nixon disagrees with views expressed by his Secretary of State William Rogers about black people.
"'Bill Rogers has got somewhat—and to his credit it’s a decent feeling—but somewhat, sort of, a sort of blind spot on the black thing because he’s been in New York,' Nixon said. 'He says, well, "They are coming along, and that after all, they are going to strengthen our country in the end because they are strong physically and some of them are smart." So forth and so on.
"'My own view is I think he’s right if you’re talking in terms of 500 years,' Nixon continues. 'I think it’s wrong if you’re talking in terms of 50 years. What has to happen is they have to be, frankly, inbred. And, you just, that’s the only thing that’s going to do it.'"
"So here we have the 37th president of the United States saying black people have to be 'inbred' if we want to make them smarter."

Roger Simon at Politico doesn't quite celebrate Richard Nixon's centennial.