Credit: Wikipedia Public Domain / Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC TIMES

According to a newly released audio tape, then California Governor Ronald Reagan in a telephone call with President Richard Nixon in 1971   referred to United Nations delegates from an African country as “monkeys”.  An article in The Atlantic entitled  ‘Ronald Reagan’s Long-Hidden Racist Conversation With Richard Nixon’ reports on the explosive racially-tinged phone call.  Apparently, a  day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States, according to the article.  The two were discussing the Tanzanian delegation’s reaction to the vote, after delegates danced in the chamber.

  “Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Nixon gave a huge laugh.

-The Atlantic reports

Reagan, a hero to right-wing conservatives,  was a strident supporter of Taiwan and “despised” the UN and wanted the US to withdraw from the international organization immediately, according to The Atlantic article written by Tim Naftali, who directed the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum from 2007 to 2011.  Naftalil said the telephone exchange was removed from the original tapes for privacy reasons until Reagan’s death in 2004.

Former President Nixon Referred to African UN Diplomats As  “Cannibals” 

Credit: Wikipedia /  Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon 

According to The Atlantic article, an excerpt from another conversation to then Secretary of State, William Rogers, has Nixon paraphrasing Reagan’s sentiment. Nixon apparently referred to how the California governor had told him he had seen, “these…cannibals on television last night. Christ, they weren’t even wearing shoes, and here the United States is going to submit its fate to that.” 

The newly released explosive audio tapes come  right at the time President Trump is embroiled in controversy after making racist remarks about the city of Baltimore and a black congressman whose district partially covers the city. Trump,  who has used racially charged language,  called Baltimore a “rat and rodent-infested mess” and the “worst in the USA”.