Ronald Reagan... My God

[vin2basketball 10]

Newly released tape from the Nixon Presidential Library shows Ronald Reagan making racist or at least racially tinged comments to Richard Nixon about African delegates to the UN in 1971.

Quote

The day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States. “Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Nixon gave a huge laugh.

So that's pretty bad. The other part of the story that I found interesting is:

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The exchange was taped by Nixon, and then later became the responsibility of the Nixon Presidential Library, which I directed from 2007 to 2011. When the National Archives originally released the tape of this conversation, in 2000, the racist portion was apparently withheld to protect Reagan’s privacy. A court order stipulated that the tapes be reviewed chronologically; the chronological review was completed in 2013. Not until 2017 or 2018 did the National Archives begin a general rereview of the earliest Nixon tapes. Reagan’s death, in 2004, eliminated the privacy concerns. Last year, as a researcher, I requested that the conversations involving Ronald Reagan be rereviewed, and two weeks ago, the National Archives released complete versions of the October 1971 conversations involving Reagan online.

The thing that I don't understand is why there was a differential application of privacy just to this portion of the tape. Like I understand the argument that this is private communication, so you can't release all of the tapes. But why would you only apply that privacy standard to a small portion of the tape?