Nixon the Nice

Among the papers recently released by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library is a gem of a memo from 1970 that the former president sent to his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, arguing that the White House staff needed to do more to convince the public that Nixon was a warm human being. It included this defensive little nugget about the president's relationships with top federal executives:

[Domestic Affairs Adviser John] Ehrlichman is constantly bugging me that I am going to have to see the Cabinet more and the sub-Cabinet more. And [Assistant to the President Peter] Flanigan, of course, is after me to see the members of the agencies. No President could have done more than I have done in this respect and particularly in the sense that I have treated them like dignified human beings, and not like dirt under my feet.

(Hat tip: Slate's "Hot Document")