Nixon admirers seek Watergate 'context'

YORBA LINDA, Calif., Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The former operators of President Nixon's library say a new exhibit on Watergate needs better historical context.

The Nixon Foundation says the planned exhibit at the California library should include more references to the in-office taping that other U.S. presidents routinely employed in the years before the now-infamous Nixon tapes helped prod him out of office 36 years ago.

"Taping and wiretapping go back as far as FDR," said Bob Bostock, a former Nixon aide who works for the foundation. "It lacks the context it needs: that Nixon was not the first president to do some of these things."

The New York Times said Saturday the new interactive Watergate exhibit was supposed to open July 1, but walls remained largely empty as content was debated by the foundation and the National Archives, which took over operation of the Yorba Linda attraction three years ago. Officials at the archives said it will be a few more weeks before any decisions are made on the foundation's objections.

"It is the last fight over Watergate," said museum Director Timothy Naftali.