WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly released documents from Richard Nixon’s years in the White House are shedding more light on the president’s appetite for political espionage.
Along with tracking Sen. Ted Kennedy’s amorous activities, Nixon’s aides secretly hired a journalist traveling with Democratic presidential candidates to give them inside reports on Democratic infighting. The existence of “Chapman’s Friend,” as the source was code-named, has long been known. The materials released Monday include a selection of the source’s reports.
In all, the Nixon Presidential Library opened about 280,000 pages of records from the Nixon White House, 12 hours of sound recordings and 7,000 images by White House photographer Oliver F. Atkins.