Newly released tapes shed light on Nixon era

Suzanne Goldenberg
Thursday July 12, 2007

Guardian

The voice on the tape is eerie. It is the final stretch of the 1972 elections, and in the White House, Richard Nixon is poring over the news from the campaign trail with his aide, Chuck Colson, and weighing up his prospects for re-election.

"What did he say about Watergate?" Nixon's voice is heard asking. Then, when he hears that voters are far more concerned with Vietnam than the details of a break-in at the Democratic campaign headquarters in the Watergate hotel, Nixon says with evident relief: "It's mainly a Republican problem, you know."