http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/08/the-bernstein-files.html
Also puts up the bits of the Nixon tapes that mention him, which are pretty hilarious. Most surround Nixon and staff's comical attempts to devise an excuse to not attend Bernstein's Mass at the Kennedy Centre, after the FBI warned that Bernstein might be planning something nasty. And then their obsessing over the reviews for a week afterwards.
September 7th, 1971:
Haldeman observes that Nixon’s excuses have “played positively.” He then recounts certain “absolutely sickening” events that transpired at a preview performance of “Mass” the previous evening: Bernstein’s tearful response to the ovation, his embraces of members of the cast, the kisses he bestowed on the men. “Is it an opera?” Nixon asks. Haldeman explains that it is in fact a Mass, although it is “weird.”
September 8th:
Haldeman again focusses on Bernstein’s habit of kissing everyone, and continues trying to sort out the work’s genre ambiguities. Nixon compares the piece to modern art that you are supposed to like but don’t. Haldeman notes that some passages are spectacular while others fit the category of “atonal-type music.”
September 9th:
Haldeman reports to Nixon that a negative review of “Mass” will appear in the New York Times the following day. A source at the Times has apprised Haldeman of the review’s contents. In fact, the review, by Harold Schonberg, was published that morning.
September 11th:
A Presidential seminar on orchestra programming. Haldeman and Nixon discuss the National Symphony concert, which took place on the evening of September 9. The program consisted of Beethoven’s “Consecration of the House” Overture, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216 (with Isaac Stern), Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and William Schuman’s cantata “A Free Song.” (No Liszt.) Haldeman summarizes the reviews, which generally praised the hall’s acoustics while chastising Doráti for having put together a somewhat jumbled program. Nixon agrees; he would rather have heard Beethoven’s Ninth. Haldeman would have preferred Tchaikovsky’s Fifth and “some great Gershwin thing.” Schonberg’s review of “Mass” is again approvingly cited.
September 13th:
Nixon brings up Bernstein’s support for the Black Panthers; Haldeman notes his association with the Berrigans. Haldeman again mentions that Bernstein is kissing people on the mouth, “including the big black guy” (Alvin Ailey). Nixon calls this “absolutely sickening.” Bernstein’s behavior is differentiated from the traditional male-on-male greeting habits of the Jews, the Latin Americans, and the French. The Schonberg review comes up one more time; Nixon notes the “Jewish name.”