Former US President Ronald Reagan called African UN delegates ‘monkeys’ in secret call with Richard Nixon
FORMER US President Ronald Reagan described African delegates to the UN as “monkeys” in a newly-unearthed tape recording.
The feted American leader, who served in the White House from 1981 to 1989, made the racist comment ten years before taking office in a call with then-President Richard Nixon.
Reagan, who was governor of California at the time, was angered that African delegates at the UN sided against the US in a vote.
Members of the Tanzanian delegation started dancing after the UN voted to recognise China and expel Taiwan.
Reagan, a supporter of Taiwan, said: “To see those… monkeys from those African countries – damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”
Nixon, who was forced to quit as president in 1974 when threatened with impeachment over the Watergate scandal, can then be heard laughing.
The shock recording was unearthed by Tim Naftali, a clinical associate professor of history at New York University, who directed the Nixon Presidential Library from 2007 until 2011.
He published his findings and wrote that the racist exchange was removed from the original tapes for privacy reasons.
PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE CALL
The tapes were released by the National Archives in 2000 while Mr Reagan was still alive.
But he said the recordings were ordered to be reviewed following a court order.
He said: “Reagan’s death, in 2004, eliminated the privacy concerns.
“I requested that the conversations involving Ronald Reagan be re-reviewed and, two weeks ago, the National Archives released complete versions.”
Reagan is said to have called Nixon to press him to withdraw from the UN.
But the president later said Mr Reagan’s “complaints about Africans became the primary purpose of the call”.
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Mr Naftali also said the president later told his secretary of state that Reagan had described the Tanzanian delegation as “cannibals” that “weren’t even wearing shoes”.
Former Hollywood star Reagan served as president at a time marked by the climax of the Cold War and the beginning of the end of Soviet communism.
He died in 2004 aged 93 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
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