NAMES IN THE NEWS : Nixon: ‘History Will Be Harsh’

NEW YORK — Former President Nixon said he expects historians to judge him more by Watergate than by his diplomatic overtures to China.

“Historians are more likely to lead with ‘He resigned the office,’ ” Nixon said in an interview in the latest issue of Time magazine. “The jury has already come in, and there’s nothing that’s going to change it. There’s no appeal. Historians will judge it harshly.”

Nixon discussed the Watergate break-in in his new book “In the Arena,” excerpted in the magazine.

The former President said that he made the “inexcusable error” of asking the CIA to block an FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in, but that the CIA declined.

Nixon said a decision by then-CIA Director Richard Helms and his deputy, Vernon Walters, to ignore the request discredits Watergate’s “most serious myth--the one that ultimately forced me to resign:” that the CIA, in fact, obstructed the FBI investigation on his orders.