Ronald Reagan's Daughter Says Audio of Her Dad Calling African Diplomats 'Monkeys' Made Her Cry

[Judi Lynn]

BY ALEJANDRO DE LA GARZA
AUGUST 1, 2019

Patti Davis, daughter of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, has spoken out after audio emerged of her father calling United Nations diplomats “monkeys” during a taped 1971 conversation with then-President Richard Nixon.

In a segment of the tape published in a July 30 article in The Atlantic, Reagan, who was then the governor of California, can be heard expressing his frustration to Nixon over the United Nations voting to recognize the People’s Republic of China with the help of delegates from African countries.

“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries — damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Reagan says on the tape, as Nixon laughs.

In a Washington Post op-ed published Thursday, Davis wrote that listening to her father’s racist remarks made her cry. “There is no defense, no rationalization, no suitable explanation for what my father said on that taped phone conversation.”

More:
https://time.com/5642040/ronald-reagan-daughter-racism/?xid=homepage

[renate]

1. I feel so bad for her... she's a good person who loves her father

This must be heartbreaking for her.

[JI7]

2. Patti Davis and her brother Ron are both good people

[brewens]

3. I find it hard to believe she didn't hear him use racist slurs regularly growing up.

But maybe he watched that kind of language at home.

[stopdiggin]

4. many of us

come from a place where we have to, humbly and with great sorrow, recognize that prior generations were racist. It's a heartache, but the only thing we can really do about it is lead better lives. I greatly commend this woman for sincerely confronting, acknowledging and apologizing. What more can she do?

[JI7]

5. i don't think she really grew up being around him that much

[empedocles]

10. Christmas Eve for the Reagan kids often featured - political cronies

[marble falls]

12. Growing up in my racist grandfather's house, I had no idea it was racist ...

in fact, he was so bad that that I didn't even realize that PoC were what he called n--------.

I don't think I understood that he was a racist until I was a teen when my racist dad made it clearer for me. He hated PoC as a group and at the same same time had so many individuals as friends. He forced the bank in Houston to cash his employees' paychecks and open accounts for them and to make car loans to them by threatening to move.

Its hard to see the racism when you are living so close to racists as a child. Its a shock when you realize what was going on around you. That you love someone who hates irrationally. I think this is a problem a lot of baby boomers and older had, the racism was cultural and almost polite for the middle class in the mid west.

[Jim__]

6. And he's upset about the UN recognizing the People's Republic of China. In 1971!

I know, we were still denying the reality at the time. But the government had already existed for over 20 years.

[yerop]

7. And now we have a prez saying similar things out in the open

The ongoing shame and disgrace

[madaboutharry]

8. Patti Davis is a good person, but her father said lots of other racist things.

Did he not publicly use phrases like "Welfare Queens" and "Strapping young bucks" along with pounding away at "State's Rights" themes? Those comments are racists and were said for the benefit of white voters.

All of that was said in public 40 years ago. So, as much as I think that Patti Davis is a good person and a kind person, she isn't being honest with herself.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. I know how she feels. My father often said racist and anti-Muslim statements.

I wanted to die when he was talking trash like that at my brother's wedding rehearsal and ceremony -- and my brother is a Sufi (a denomination of Islam).

[Dan]

11. Do you wonder

What the African nations think of us, hearing TRUMP now, and the comments of former presidents Reagan and Nixon then.

With Putin’s puppet Trump disparaging our allies, making the word of America meaningless with both friends and foes, what does the future hold for us?

China is going to own us, and we as a nation will be alone in this world. But maybe that is Trump’s goal, because once we are an island we will have no choice but to MAGA.

The damage that fool and the GOP is doing - will outlive us all.

Words matter!

[kimbutgar]

13. I remember as a kid when Reagan was governor in California my Dad saying he was a racist

He said even then in the 60’s he was a white supremist because he used the black panthers as a rallying cry against black people. His monkey comment didn’t surprise me.

[shadowmayor]

14. Well

Her daddy made a lot of people cry - many times for things worse than racial slurs.

[LessAspin]

15. The late great James Garner...

Last edited Fri Aug 2, 2019, 07:35 PM - Edit history (1)

James Garner on Ronald Reagan



In Case You Forgot Ronald Reagan Was A Dick

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017355078