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You know, they say, "What's he really like, you know? Wh-what's Nixon like?"
They say these terrible things about him, and yet you say nice, er,
and you worked with him."
Um...and so I said he's, he's like a, a layer cake.
Uh, and, uh,
the top layer is, uh
a patriot.
And beneath that
there's, uh, ah,
mild paranoia, uh,
and beneath
that there's, uh,
very good, uh, to people who work with him.
And, and, thoughtful and, uh,
and not at all abusive.
And underneath that, uh,
uh, a hard, hardliner.
So, in terms of personal relationships and,
uh, family relationships and official family relationships,
he had this different kind of guy,
and in terms of, uh, uh,
willingness to go along with
break-ins and things like that, uh,
somebody else.
But the trouble is
you cannot separate these things out.
Uh, and I said if you want to say what was he really like,
you know, take your fork,
and cut down
right down the seven or eight layers.
And then,
take a spoonful of whatever it is and, uh,
and, and you see the, uh, the confluence of flavors. And, uh,
and that of course is why
Nixon is still the subject of plays and movies and, uh, dramas and, uh, and controversy.
Uh, and,
biographers go back and,
and of course he did
make possible
more biographical information than anybody ever wanted to, uh, and so,
why fifty years from now
somebody
looking over what you're doing,
uh, is going to be able to say, "On this one, we really have a chance to look inside
and see the complexities
of this, uh, of this man."