A final installment of the audio tapes that captured more than 3,000 hours between February 1971 and July 1973 which marked the Watergate scandal, was released on Wednesday revealing how George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan consoled the 37th president of the United States, Richard Nixon and promised to stand by him.
The tapes released by the National Archives and Records Administration revealed that Nixon received two phone calls from the two future presidents on April 30, 1973, telling the president that the 'time shall pass'.
According to ABC News, Nixon, on that day went on national television to tell the American public that in his term as president, justice will be pursued fairly, fully and impartially, no matter who was involved.
It was 10 months after the Watergate break-in and 16 months before Nixon would resign in disgrace, that Bush and Reagan had called him and extended their support.
Governor of California, Reagan had called Nixon first that evening, and said that he could count on them and they were still behind him and wanted him to know that he was in their prayers.
Later Bush called Nixon and said that he was proud of him and asked him to call for any support and angrily called the political commentators 'arrogant bastards'.
More From This Section
Bush further assured the 37th president that 'it is gonna come through good' before adding that people may understand that Nixon came through and there was so little credit to it.
Researcher with the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, Ken Hughes, said that the recording show a real glimpse of the man at one of his lowest moments of his life but one could hear he was going to keep on fighting.
Hughes further said that once the existence of the tapes was revealed in July of 1973, it was 'the beginning of the end for Nixon', the report added.