George W. Bush is not the first certifiably insane man to serve as wartime commander-in-chief.
Anti-Semitism is utterly irrational. Even as a child growing up in the Black Baptist churches of Virginia, I always thought it was a kind of insanity. Timothy Noah has a Slate piece using just released documents.
"Nixon's Jew Count: the Whole Story," by Timothy Noah, Slate, Sept. 26, 2007
Already pissed about the Pentagon Papers, Nixon and his yes-men go into a rage over Harold Goldstein, assistant commissioner of labor statistics, speaking the truth that a dip in the unemployment rate was a "statistical fluke." Tricky Dick discusses the matter with aide, Chuck Colson (today, a big "Christian Conservative" leader):
Nixon: Well, listen, are they all Jews over there?
Colson: Every one of them. Well, a couple of exceptions.
Nixon: See my point?
Colson: You know goddamn well they're out to kill us.
The Great Republican "conservative" Leader continues:
Nixon: All right, I want a look at any sensitive areas around where Jews are involved, Bob. See, the Jews are all through the government, and we have got to get in those areas. We've got to get a man in charge who is not Jewish to control the Jewish ... do you understand?
Haldeman: I sure do.
Nixon: The government is full of Jews. Second, most Jews are disloyal. You know what I mean? You have a [White House Counsel] Leonard Garment and a [National Security Adviser] Henry Kissinger and, frankly, a [White House speechwriter] William Safire, and, by God, they're exceptions. But Bob, generally speaking, you can't trust the bastards. They turn on you. Am I wrong or right?
Haldeman: Their whole orientation is against you. In this administration, anyway. And they are smart. They have the ability to do what they want to do-which-is to hurt us.
Hmmm. Imagine what it must be like to be William Safire or Leonard Garment and have the whole world know that you were, what we would call in the African-American community, a "boot-lickin' Uncle Tom" for a big Jew-hater. As for Henry Kissinger, well, we all know he made his own separate direct pact with the devil.
Now is the point where the story really gets creepy. Nixon orders White House personnel director Fred Malek to prepare a report detailing just exactly how many Jews there are at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and to devise a plan to "reorganize" the Labor Department to get rid of them. We should also note that the supposedly sainted George Shultz was part of this project:
Nixon: One other thing I want to know. Colson made an interesting study of the BLS crew. He found out of the 21-you remember he said last time-16 were Democrats. No, he told me in the car, 16 were registered Democrats, one was a registered Republican [inaudible] well, there may have been 23. And four were Declined to States. Now that doesn't surprise me in BLS. The point that he did not get into that I want to know, Bob, how many were Jews? Out of the 23 in the BLS, would you get me that?
Haldeman: [White House deputy assistant] Alex [Butterfield] is getting it.
Nixon: There's a Jewish cabal, you know, running through this, working with people like [Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur F.] Burns and the rest. And they all-they all only talk to Jews. Now, but there it is. But there's the BLS staff. Now how the hell do you ever expect us to get anything from that staff, the raw data, let alone what the poor guys have to say [inaudible] that isn't gonna be loaded against us? You understand?
Here is the conclusion of the story in mid-September 1971:
Six weeks pass, and it is Sept. 8, 1971. Malek reports in a memo (previously unpublished) that he has had "several meetings" with Labor Secretary Hodgson "to convince him of the need for fairly drastic moves." Six out of nine offices will be combined into an Office of Data Analysis. This will be headed by a "politically sensitive, loyal Republican economist. . ."
"Harold Goldstein will be moved to a routine, non-sensitive post in another part of BLS. He has been told of this and will move quietly when the reorganization is announced." Goldstein, too, will be replaced by a "sensitive and loyal Republican. . ."
. . . In addition, Malek reports, two other associate commissioners with Jewish-sounding names-Peter Henle and Leon Greenberg-"will be transferred when the reorganization is announced. . . These moves do not go as far as I would have preferred, but represent a reasonable compromise that I feel will make the BLS a more responsive and effective unit."
And so, my fellow Americans, behold the leaders of the Empire that reserves until itself the exclusive right to dictate how Jews; Christians; and Sunni, Shite, and Kurdish Muslims ought to live in the Middle East.