Nixon Thought Fred Thompson Was “Dumb As Hell”
Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called “dumb as hell.” The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.
This assessment comes from audio tapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by The Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions that are published in “Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes,” by historian Stanley Kutler.
“Oh shit, that kid,” Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson’s appointment on Feb. 22, 1973…
“We’ve got a pretty good rapport with Fred Thompson,” [counsel J. Fred] Buzhardt told Nixon in an Oval Office meeting on June 6, 1973. The meeting included a discussion of former White House counsel John Dean’s upcoming testimony before the committee…
Nixon expressed concern that Thompson was not “very smart.”
“Not extremely so,” Buzhardt agreed.
“But he’s friendly,” Nixon said.
“But he’s friendly,” Buzhardt agreed. “We are hoping, though, to work with Thompson and prepare him, if Dean does appear next week, to do a very thorough cross-examination.”
Exit question: Does the fact that the worst Republican in the history of the GOP didn’t like Thompson help or hurt him in the eyes of voters?
