Nixon dug deep for dirt on Ted Kennedy

Friday 28th August, 02:56 PM JST

WASHINGTON —

President Richard Nixon considered Ted Kennedy such a threat that he tried to catch Kennedy cheating on his wife, even ordering aides to recruit Secret Service agents to spill dirt on the senator’s behavior.

“Do you have anybody in the Secret Service that you can get to?” Nixon asked his aide John Ehrlichman in a stark series of Oval Office conversations about Kennedy before the 1972 election. “Yeah, yeah,” Ehrlichman replied.

“Plant one,” Nixon said. “Plant two guys on him. This could be very useful.”

Nixon made clear that the Secret Service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, “If he gets shot, it’s too damn bad.” His aides disdainfully referred to Kennedy supporters as “super swinger jet set types.”

Tape recordings from the Nixon White House betray a preoccupation with the Kennedy mystique and how that might be used against the Republican president by the last surviving brother, who died Tuesday at age 77. Nixon wanted a sharp and private eye kept on Ted Kennedy’s movements after the Chappaquiddick scandal, hoping to expose another misstep with a woman other than his wife, Joan.

Nixon’s men had investigators tail Ted Kennedy on a Hawaii vacation and when he was at his Martha’s Vineyard haunts.

Mortified, they told Nixon that Joan Kennedy wanted to wear “hot pants” to a White House function until her husband talked her out of it. But Ted’s behavior? In the aftermath of his scandal, he was careful not to step out of line, the tapes suggest.

“Does he do anything?” Nixon asked in a September 1971 meeting. “No, no, he’s very clean,” Ehrlichman replied. “He was in Hawaii on his own. He was staying in some guy’s villa. He was just as nice as could be the whole time.”

Nixon shot back: “The thing to do is watch him.”

All this was from an era of brass-knuckle politics and backroom intrigue that finally consumed Nixon’s presidency in the Watergate affair. Kennedy overcame his own scandal to serve nearly a half-century in the Senate. But the presidency remained out of his reach.

“President Nixon never forgot his humiliating defeat in the 1960 presidential election to John F Kennedy,” said Luke A. Nichter, a leading authority on the Nixon White House recordings and assistant history professor at Texas A&M University. “Nixon did not intend to simply win in 1972; he wanted to destroy his opponent.”

“If that opponent was a Kennedy, Nixon cautiously welcomed that opportunity but left nothing to chance,” Nichter said. “That is what these long-obscured recordings show us.”

Nichter features and analyzes the recordings at his website, nixontapes.org. The material has been released by the government over the years.

By April 1971, when the first of these exchanges was captured by the White House taping system, Kennedy was a damaged political figure.

On the night of July 18, 1969, he had driven off a bridge into the water at Chappaquiddick, Mass, swimming to safety while the young woman with him, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and a judge said his actions probably contributed to her death. He got a suspended sentence and probation.

Despite that episode, Nixon was plainly worried about Kennedy’s political potency yet confident the Democrat could not restrain a philandering impulse. “I predict something more is going to happen,” he said. “The reason I would cover him is from a personal standpoint—you’re likely to find something.”

Nixon pressed for more wiretaps and a combing of tax records, not only on Kennedy but other leading Democrats. “I could only hope that we are, frankly, doing a little persecuting,” he said.

At one point, he expressed hesitation about whether his actions were proper.

The moment quickly passed.

“I don’t know,” Nixon mused to H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff. “Maybe it’s the wrong thing to do. But I have a feeling that if you’re going to start, better start now.”

Beyond the politics, Nixon and his aides considered themselves cultural defenders of middle America and the Kennedys anathema to that.

In an April 9, 1971, conversation with Haldeman and press secretary Ron Ziegler, Haldeman cites “super-swinger jet-set types,” Ziegler picks up on the phrase and the three discuss an apparently provocative outfit that Joan Kennedy wore to a Senate wives’ lunch at the White House.

“Some leather gaucho, with a bare midriff or something,” Haldeman said. “She was going to wear hot pants but Teddy told her she couldn’t.”

“It’s crude,” Nixon said.

And they talked about extramarital affairs in the Kennedy family. “They do it all the time,” Nixon said.

Because Kennedy was not a presidential candidate in 1972, he did not qualify for full-time Secret Service protection. But Nixon offered it to Ted Kennedy, given the assassinations of his brothers, President John Kennedy and Sen Robert Kennedy, and right after Alabama Gov George Wallace was shot in May 1972.

The offer was conveyed by Treasury Secretary John Connally, who was in charge of the Secret Service, in a phone call with Kennedy. The former Texas governor was riding in the car with JKF and was wounded when the president was assassinated in Dallas.

“Very frankly,” Connally said, “I don’t know that they could save you but there’s a damn good chance they could if some nut came up. And you ought not to be reluctant about it. I know you’re not a candidate but you’re exposed.”

Ted Kennedy expressed thanks and asked for protection at his home, to start.

But Nixon’s motives for the offer were not pure. He worried that if a third Kennedy were shot, and while not having Secret Service protection, he’d be blamed.

Plus, he wanted dirt. And the best way to get it was to have a Secret Service agent rat on the senator. There is no evidence an agent turned into such an informer.

“You understand what the problem is,” Nixon told Haldeman and Ehrlichman on Sept 7, 1972. “If the (SOB) gets shot, they’ll say we didn’t furnish it (protection). So you just buy his insurance.

“After the election, he doesn’t get a ... thing. If he gets shot, it’s too damn bad. Do it under the basis, though, that we pick the Secret Service men.

“Understand what I’m talking about?”

___

On the Net:

Nixon tapes on Kennedy: http://www.nixontapes.org/emk.htm

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Latest 15 of 54 Total Comments Show All

yabits at 03:02 AM JST - 29th August

Yabits, in this incident alone, Teddy proved himself a coward twice

And being a coward doesn't appear to exclude anyone from a leadership position in either of the two major parties.
yabits at 04:16 AM JST - 29th August

Yabits, I understand you make a strawman argument.

Since you appear to have missed it the first time around, here is the replay:

You: Kennedy proved himself to be a coward twice. Me: Cowardice does not appear to exclude anyone from a position of leadership from either party. You: (paraphrased): Some CBS news guy one time tried to prove that one particular Republican was a coward, and he was fired for doing so. (The inference here is that because a news guy got fired on one occasion, my assertion that no leader of Republicians has ever shown cowardice is somehow refuted. Talk about your strawmen.)

Oh, I see, Yabits... You're not really talkin' to me.

Can one actually "talk" to a person who has already stated that Senator Kennedy was a homicidal coward, and who implies that there is no cowardly behavior on his side of the political spectrum? How could I expect my words to make it past the blinders?

What does that do for you?

A little of the bright light and fresh air of truth is always a welcome remedy for the rancid innuendoes and outright lies told by Republican "dirt-diggers."

Moderator: Readers, you are going around in circles and taking the discussion nowhere. Please move on.
USARonin at 04:24 AM JST - 29th August

my assertion that no leader of Republicians has ever shown cowardice

So what's your point other than to imply that because Kennedy was a proven coward, it's not so bad because others are cowards, too?

What kind of rationale is that? What does it have to do with Kennedy.

...and who implies that there is no cowardly behavior on his side of the political spectrum?

Yabits, again with the strawman argument. I never brought this up; you did. I never argued for or against it; you did.
adaydream at 05:25 AM JST - 29th August

MMMMM I see that there are some republicans that are pleased that Edward Kennedy is dead. Bravo!!!!

I'm wondering if they felt as strongly about the death of Richard Nixon? I'm wondering if they felt pleased with the end death of a person who would do absolutely anything to advance his cause?

Sorry Teddy. Some people are glad you're gone.

I wonder who will fill his shoes? Going to have to be one hell of a congressman or public leader. < :-)
adaydream at 07:08 AM JST - 29th August

No.
adaydream at 07:12 AM JST - 29th August

And you can call yourself anything you like, you post comments in support of most all conservative/republican views. So if you look like a duck...

Get away from the homicide issue that you thrashed through earlier, what was so wrong with Edward Kennedy? < :-)
USARonin at 07:27 AM JST - 29th August

A.D.D. ... A Republican may be a conservative, but a someone who's conservative is not always a Republican.

Libertarians in my nation are much closer to bein' 'Republicans' than 'Democrats'. When the creators of South Park said they 'hated' Republicans I thought, "Oh, sheesh... here we go...", but then they immediately followed that up with '... but we hate Democrats more'? Why? Check out how they hammer pseudo science on global warmin', second-hand smoke, liberal Scientologists... They're no fan of a nanny state led by ignorant people who let their emotions dictate their behaviors.

On Kennedy... I only made one comment on 'homicide'. Your team leached on to that and wouldn't let it go in lame attempts to rehabilitate the memory of someone they didn't really give two shites about until his death put him on a JT thread.

A.D.D. I'm libertine on a number of issues. For example, I don't care that you're homersexual. As long as you and your buds keep the noise down after ten, I don't care. I'm too busy postin' on JT with you.
seijichuudo9sha at 08:04 AM JST - 29th August

It's kinda scary to think what nixon could have done with today's technology.He would have instituted his own snitch line,with diehard partisans encouraged to email the White House directly if they witnessed or overheard something that was counter to his ideology and party agenda.
USARonin at 08:22 AM JST - 29th August

Seiji, if you like to be 'scared', Google E'chelon P'roject.

We already got everything on you up to this moment in time when I hit 'Submit' on this thread.

Heh, heh... Nevermind, Nixon. Ya just don't know what is already known.
SuperLib at 03:26 PM JST - 29th August

You can read Kennedy's statements here:

http://foia.fbi.gov/chappaquiddick/chappaquiddick_pt01.pdf

His testimony starts about halfway through.

He dove for about 15-20 minutes, then rested on the shore for about 15-20 minutes after. Then he ran back and got 2 friends, and they tried to go into the water to get her but they were unable to. That leads me to believe that Kennedy, a man who was just in the accident, couldn't have been expected to do it, either.

But....he told the two guys he'd take care of reporting the accident, essentially telling them not to report it. Red flag. Then he didn't report the accident himself until the next morning. Red flag #2. If one is questioning the sobriety of the driver, those questions cannot be answered because of Kennedy's actions. Not good.
Helter_Skelter at 07:46 AM JST - 30th August

adaydream

I see that there are some republicans that are pleased that Edward Kennedy is dead. Bravo!!!!

What a sorry attempt at taking the high road. As if you wouldn't celebrate the passing of Bush or Cheney.
hworta269 at 01:27 PM JST - 30th August

What Nixon could have done with today's technology? like taking control of the internet? having everyone who criticized him investigated, shut down or taking over and or changing management of the entire local broadcast industry in America?
WhiteHawk at 11:39 AM JST - 31st August

Going back to an earlier point...

yabits:

Rendering first aid would have meant getting her out of the back seat of a car resting upside down under about 8 feet of water.

Where did you find out it was upside down? The only photo I've seen of the car in the water shows it resting on its right side, perfectly visible from the surface. Subtract the width of a '68 Oldsmobile Delmont from 8 feet...

Also, every photo of the car being removed the water shows it right-side up on its tires. So if it was upside-down from the accident, it must've been righted prior to towing it from the water. That couldn't have been easy.

After trying multiple times and not succeeding, Kennedy went back to the party he and Mary Jo had left and returned with two men, who also tried and failed to get to the back seat.

And yet, the diver was able to find her and get her out within minutes the next morning.

Kennedy testified that he failed to see houses in the area that he could have gone to to report the accident.

The Dike House was in plain view of the accident site, and the owner testified his outside light was on. It was such a pathetic excuse, and certainly not a sign of intellignce. If that was his excuse for not reporting the accident at the scene, then what was his excuse for not reporting it when he returned to the party to get his two friends, or not reporting it when he got back to his hotel?

12:47 AM, 29th August:

It's plausible, considering his state of mind and the amount of alcohol in him.

So funny. Because you then said...

2:27 AM, 29th august

Reasonable people don't make unfounded charges. Where is the evidence that Kennedy was driving drunk?

Thanks for the laugh yabits, but you are busted! 逮捕しちゃうぞ！ Hahaha...

I have said all along that those actions were inexcuseable and reprehensible. But they don't constitute homicide.

But they DO constitute manslaughter.

I guess you are implying that Ted failed to use his cell phone. First of all, there was no phone at the scene.

There was one at the previously mentioned Dike House.

Secondly, it is apparent that Ted was lost.

Actually, it was apparent he wasn't, since he went back to the party to get friends, then swam across a channel and found his way back to his hotel.

What's truly apparent is that he was a liar. A very bad one. That never kept people from being gullible enough to believe his lies, though.

What was the minimum amount of time that could have elapsed after Ted stopped trying to dive to get Mary Jo out of the car and before he could actually find a phone with which to summon support?

How long does it take to walk the (approximately) 300 feet to the Dike House?

You do understand that there are right-wing lunatics out there who actually believe that Ted murdered Mary Jo, right?

Just as there are those who try to claim Teddy didn't drink at a party.

He did cause her death, there's no way around that.

And being a coward doesn't appear to exclude anyone from a leadership position in either of the two major parties. Some CBS news guy one time tried to prove that one particular Republican was a coward, and he was fired for doing so.

That "CBS news guy" probably got pushed out for pushing a story he knew was false. Remember that investigation CBS hired out? Well, it discovered that Lieutenant G.W. Bush did in fact volunteer to go to Vietnam, but was passed over for more experienced pilots. AND MARY MAPES KNEW IT.

adaydream:

I'm wondering if they felt as strongly about the death of Richard Nixon? I'm wondering if they felt pleased with the end death of a person who would do absolutely anything to advance his cause?

Nixon didn't cling to his office until the day he died. He resigned to save the country an impeachment trial some two decades prior to his death, remember? In that respect, he clearly had more integrity than Kennedy.

But since you don't remember Nixon very accurately, don't worry. Our current president has much more in common with Nixon than you're comfortable with.

Get away from the homicide issue that you thrashed through earlier, what was so wrong with Edward Kennedy?

He was a fraud.

SuperLib:

Then he didn't report the accident himself until the next morning.

He never reported the accident at all. Two local fishermen reported the accident when they saw the car the next morning. Kennedy only went to the police after he saw the diver remove Kopechne's body from the car.

hworta269:

What Nixon could have done with today's technology? like taking control of the internet? having everyone who criticized him investigated, shut down or taking over and or changing management of the entire local broadcast industry in America?

Bill would give president emergency control of Internet

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html

ABC News Teams Up With Obama White House to Present President's Health Care Plan

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/abc-news-teams-obama-white-house-present-presidents-health-care-plan/

Look out kids, Nixon is back! And this time, he's one of your own...
yabits at 12:16 PM JST - 31st August

Where did you find out it was upside down?

FFrom the FBI report, among other places: http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/chappaquiddick.htm

As for the alcohol content, there is a big difference between driving a car with the alcohol blood level beyond the legal limit in 1969, and having had enough alcohol to cause one to have a buzz on.

And yet, the diver was able to find her and get her out within minutes the next morning.

LOL! Yeah, a diver working in daylight with a tank of air. Minutes, eh? How long can you hold your breath under 8 feet of water in pitch dark trying to get someone out of an overturned car? Not "minutes" I'll wager. Especially, if you are unsuccessful on the first and second tries.
Molenir at 04:47 PM JST - 31st August

Yabits, give it up. Ted Kennedy should have done time in jail for his little stunt. You can't argue the facts. And they're pretty clear.

Regardless, doesn't change his legacy as a legislator. A lot of Republicans disagreed with Kennedy, and yet he managed to work with just about everyone to get legislation passed. That much of it was misguided is a matter of opinion, depending on which side of the aisle you stand on.

While I would never applaud the death of someone, even if I disagreed with them politically, I do think its good to get some fresh ideas in the Senate. I think he should have resigned and let someone younger take over when news of his tumor first came out. Then there wouldn't have been such an issue about the succession, and the Dems Hypocrisy wouldn't be so evident.