Respect Offered by Clinton Won Nixon Over, Book Says

Richard Nixon thought Bill Clinton was a “slippery” character who got away with adultery, according to a magazine article about a new book on the former president.

But the book, “Nixon Off the Record,” adapted in an article titled “Nixon Unplugged” in the New Yorker magazine, says Nixon came to admire Clinton as president--partly because the Democrat sought his advice and treated him with respect, even inviting him to the White House, from which he was forced in disgrace in 1974.

The book is by former Nixon foreign policy assistant Monica Crowley, who said she took notes of all their conversations. She said Nixon detested First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, dismissing her as a potentially dangerous radical.

Crowley went to work for Nixon in 1990 when she was 21 years old and stayed until he died in 1994.

According to the excerpts released Sunday, Nixon thought Clinton was an adulterer, telling Crowley, “You know, this is really something. This guy didn’t just have a fling; he had a 12-year affair. He’s a repeat offender--and as governor no less.

“That’s arrogance of power! But I still don’t think it will destroy him. He’s too slippery to have anything like this stick. And, as far as Hillary is concerned . . . she’s a radical. If she gets in, whoa! Everybody will have to fasten their seat belts.”

Nixon is said to have held Hillary Clinton in special contempt because she worked for the House committee that considered impeaching him during the Watergate scandal.