Ronald ReagannApril 30, 1973n045-053 -- 10:48PMnWhite House TelephonennOn a tape newly released today, President Richard Nixon (likely drunk...
Ronald ReagannApril 30, 1973n045-053 -- 10:48PMnWhite House TelephonennOn a tape newly released today, President Richard Nixon (likely drunk) talks to future-president Ronald Reagan, who was then governor of California, about an emotional speech Nixon had given earlier that night on the Watergate scandal. During the speech Nixon announced the resignation of his closest aides, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, who were implicated in the Watergate cover-up. This occurred prior to the Ervin Committee Hearings and before Nixon himself had been publicly accused of involvement.nnReagan tells Nixon, "My heart was with you—I know what this must have been," while Nixon thanks him for his call and states his desire to "build peace in the world." Nixon also gives his love to Nancy Reagan and exclaims, "How'd you ever marry such a pretty girl? My God!" To the response, "I'm lucky," Nixon adds about his own wife, First Lady Pat Nixon, "You're lucky, that's right, as I was lucky."nnPresident Nixon's daughter, Tricia Nixon Cox, was sitting with him in the Lincoln Sitting Room that night and initially takes the call for him. Nixon's other daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, who later described this difficult time for her family, wrote how her father dejectedly mumbled to his family right after this speech: "I hope I don't wake up in the morning" (Pat Nixon: The Untold Story, p. 369).nnThis phone call occurred approximately 40 minutes after an emotional conversation in which Nixon, with slurred words, told Bob Haldeman, "I love you, as you know, like my brother": nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5FIs9V0VA Less
