Jet, vol. 38, no. 21, 27 August 1970, p. 5.
Carl T. Rowan, “Campus Advisors Look for ‘Real
Nixon.’” San Antonio Express and News,
9 Aug 1970, p. 6-H.
[…] Privately, Nixon expresses a commendable
understanding of the frustrations of students and the plight of blacks. He
sounds like a President determined to act with wisdom and compassion.
But turn a television camera on him and you see a
President chiding campus advisors, antagonizing students, and placating Strom
Thurmond and the Hard Hats by reverting to pro-white backlash policies that
have come to be known as the “Southern strategy.”
A Cabinet member informs me that at a recent cabinet
session, attended by the President’s two campus advisors, chancellor Alexander
Heard of Vanderbilt University and President James E. Cheek of Howard
University, the President listened with compassionate interest.
At one point he slammed the table with his fist and
said, “Damn it, if I were a black man today I’d be a revolutionary too!”
At meeting’s end, press secretary Ronald Ziegler
rushed among those present to warn: “If that comment goes into the press, we’re
dead.” […]
