Nixon was caught on tape saying of his dying troops in Vietnam: “Screw em”

Richard Nixon, the thirty-seventh president of the United States (and only ever to resign), famously came into office promising to end the unpopular war in Vietnam he had inherited from President Johnson. But instead Nixon cranked up the heat in Vietnam, intensifying the conflict and secretly expanding it into Laos and Cambodia.

While Nixon publicly exalted American troops who he said were bravely fighting for the cause of freedom in Vietnam, in private his views of American service-members were another story, despite having served himself in the Navy during World War II.
Above: Nixon and the troops Nixon frequently talked to Henry Kissinger, his Secretary of State and National Security Adviser over the phone. Kissinger secretly had their conversations tape recorded and transcripts written up immediately for him to use in his memoirs later. Out of these confidential conversations comes a wealth of insight into Nixon’s true views, as revealed to one of his closest confidants.

According to one transcript, Kissinger raised subject of the number of American soldiers dying in Vietnam to which Nixon replied dismissively, “Oh screw ’em.” He didn’t have much respect for the civilians dying either apparently, complaining to Kissinger in another conversation, “You’re so goddamned concerned about civilians and I don’t give a damn. I don’t care.”