Where to get tape of Nixon aides plotting murder?
May 3, 2013 9:46 AM Subscribe
According to the Washington Post, the famous White House tape recordings that Nixon kept include recordings of aides G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt seriously plotting to assassinate muckraking journalist Jack Anderson in 1972. They were only stopped because the Watergate fiasco got in the way. Where can I get that recording?
That the plot was caught on tape is mentioned in passing in Jack Anderson's 2005 Washington Post obituary:
Mark Feldstein wrote about it in his book Poisoning The Press, though I haven't gotten a copy yet. The NPR piece contains an excerpt. Feldstein also wrote a good piece on Anderson the year before Anderson's death: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19730-2004Jul27.html Feldstein says he believes, though he can't prove it, that Nixon was in on the assassination plot too.
I've been hearing about Watergate all my life, but had never heard about the Nixon assassination plot until last week. Why is it so overlooked?
The Nixon Library, oddly, has the Nixon tapes online: http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/tapeexcerpts/
The U. of Virginia has the Presidential Recordings Program, which also puts the tapes online and documents them meticulously: http://whitehousetapes.net/transcript/nixon
Yet I haven't found the specific recording involving G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, and/or Charles Colson discussing murdering Jack Anderson and making it look like an accident.
Does anyone know when the conversations occurred with more specificity than just the year?
That the plot was caught on tape is mentioned in passing in Jack Anderson's 2005 Washington Post obituary:
Mr. Anderson's work enraged those in power. President Richard M. Nixon tried to smear him as a homosexual, the CIA was ordered to spy on him, and, according to the Watergate tapes, a Nixon aide ordered two cohorts to try to kill the journalist by poisoning.The plot is described in this excellent NPR piece: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130192940
Mark Feldstein wrote about it in his book Poisoning The Press, though I haven't gotten a copy yet. The NPR piece contains an excerpt. Feldstein also wrote a good piece on Anderson the year before Anderson's death: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19730-2004Jul27.html Feldstein says he believes, though he can't prove it, that Nixon was in on the assassination plot too.
I've been hearing about Watergate all my life, but had never heard about the Nixon assassination plot until last week. Why is it so overlooked?
The Nixon Library, oddly, has the Nixon tapes online: http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/tapeexcerpts/
The U. of Virginia has the Presidential Recordings Program, which also puts the tapes online and documents them meticulously: http://whitehousetapes.net/transcript/nixon
Yet I haven't found the specific recording involving G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, and/or Charles Colson discussing murdering Jack Anderson and making it look like an accident.
Does anyone know when the conversations occurred with more specificity than just the year?
Response by poster: Awesome, thanks, magstheaxe.
Also: Am I correct that nobody ever got prosecuted for conspiring to murder Jack Anderson? If they didn't, why not?
posted by Sleeper at 4:14 PM on May 3, 2013
Also: Am I correct that nobody ever got prosecuted for conspiring to murder Jack Anderson? If they didn't, why not?
posted by Sleeper at 4:14 PM on May 3, 2013
Best answer: Summarizing the book, this was reported by Woodward a year after Nixon's resignation -- and there's nothing indicating the information came from the tapes.
As to the non-prosecution, it's not entirely true. The book (searchable on Amazon) says that the CIA conducted a "cursory" internal investigation and found nothing to the allegations, and the Church committee brought it up in hearings but only questioned principals implicated in the purported conspiracy; as none were subpoenaed or offered immunity, they had little incentive not to lie, as the book puts it. Only after prosecution became apparently impossible (statute of limitations? not cited) did Liddy and Colson essentially admit to the plot.
I think you'll have to go to Woodward or someone like that and determine their sources, but the book has a good indication of how it went down.
posted by dhartung at 4:24 AM on May 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
As to the non-prosecution, it's not entirely true. The book (searchable on Amazon) says that the CIA conducted a "cursory" internal investigation and found nothing to the allegations, and the Church committee brought it up in hearings but only questioned principals implicated in the purported conspiracy; as none were subpoenaed or offered immunity, they had little incentive not to lie, as the book puts it. Only after prosecution became apparently impossible (statute of limitations? not cited) did Liddy and Colson essentially admit to the plot.
I think you'll have to go to Woodward or someone like that and determine their sources, but the book has a good indication of how it went down.
posted by dhartung at 4:24 AM on May 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
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Seems like that would be the place to start. AFAICT, the audio is not online anywhere.
According to the NARA web site:
Many records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) are open for research. Other documents may be requested under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552, as amended).
The vast majority of the records of the WSPF are NOT available online. For access to these records, contact the Special Access and FOIA Staff:
National Archives at College Park
Room 5500
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Ph (301) 837-2041
e-mail: specialaccess_foia@nara.gov.
posted by magstheaxe at 3:19 PM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]