Editing Pat Buchanan (section)

===Nixon White House===
[[File:Portrait of Patrick Buchanan, presidential aide - NARA - 194638.jpg|thumb|Buchanan in 1969]]
The next year, he was the first adviser hired by [[Richard Nixon 1968 presidential campaign|Nixon's presidential campaign]];<ref name="Trialbyfire">{{cite news|last=Bruan|first=Stephen|title=A Trial by Fire in the '60s|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 18, 1994}}</ref> he worked primarily as an [[opposition researcher]]. The highly partisan speeches Buchanan wrote were consciously aimed at [[Richard Nixon]]'s dedicated supporters, for which his colleagues soon nicknamed him Mr. Inside.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Schell|first=Jonathan|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/06/02/the-time-of-illusion|title=The Time of Illusion|magazine=The New Yorker|date=June 2, 1975|access-date=April 27, 2020}}</ref> Buchanan traveled with Nixon throughout the campaigns of 1966 and 1968. He made toured Western Europe, Africa and, following the [[Six-Day War]], the [[Middle East]].

During the course of [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|Nixon's presidency]], Buchanan became entrusted on press relations, policy positions, and political strategy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-2829-2.html|title=Advising Nixon: The White House Memos of Patrick J. Buchanan|last=Cox Han|first=Lori|date=2019|website=kansaspress.ku.edu|publisher=University Press of Kansas|access-date=January 13, 2020|archive-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113151212/https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-2829-2.html}}</ref> Early on during Nixon's presidency, Buchanan worked as a [[White House]] [[Executive Office of the President of the United States|assistant and speechwriter]] for Nixon and Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]]. Buchanan coined the phrase "[[Silent majority|Silent Majority]]," and helped shape the strategy that drew millions of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] to Nixon. In a 1972 memo, he suggested the White House "should move to re-capture the [[Anti-establishment|anti-Establishment]] tradition or theme in American politics."<ref name="BuchananInc">{{cite news|url=http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=19991122&s=paulsen|archive-url=https://archive.today/20050428142022/http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=19991122&s=paulsen|archive-date=April 28, 2005|title=Buchanan Inc.|last=Paulsen|first=Monte|work=Nation|date=November 22, 1999|access-date=November 1, 2006 }}</ref> His daily assignments included developing political strategy, publishing the President's ''Daily News Summary'', and preparing briefing books for news conferences. He accompanied Nixon on his [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|trip to China]] in 1972 and the summit in [[Moscow]], [[Yalta]] and [[Minsk]] in 1974. He suggested that Nixon label Democratic opponent [[George McGovern]] an extremist and burn the [[Watergate tapes|White House tapes]].<ref name="Greatrighthope">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/01/08/pat-buchanan-the-great-right-hope/fa22d906-0c01-4fb8-bd04-7d493f160b01/|title=Pat Buchanan and the Great Right Hope|last=Blumenthal|first=Sidney|date=January 8, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=C01|access-date=November 1, 2006}}</ref> Buchanan later argued that Nixon would have survived the [[Watergate scandal]] with his reputation intact if he had burnt the tapes.<ref>Graff, Garrett M. (2022). ''Watergate: A New History'' (1 ed.). New York: Avid Reader Press. p. 456. {{ISBN|978-1-9821-3916-2}}. {{OCLC|1260107112}}.</ref>

Buchanan remained as a special assistant to Nixon through the final days of the Watergate scandal. He was not accused of wrongdoing, though some mistakenly suspected him of being [[Deep Throat (Watergate)|Deep Throat]]. In 2005 when the actual identity of the press leak was revealed as [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] Associate Director [[W. Mark Felt|Mark Felt]], Buchanan called him "sneaky," "dishonest" and "criminal."<ref name="Feltnohero">{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8060320|title=Nixon aides say Felt is no hero|publisher=NBC News|date=June 1, 2005|access-date=November 1, 2006}}</ref> Because of his role in the Nixon campaign's "attack group," Buchanan appeared before the [[United States Senate Watergate Committee|Senate Watergate Committee]] on September 26, 1973. He told the panel: "The mandate that the American people gave to this president and his administration cannot, and will not, be frustrated or repealed or overthrown as a consequence of the incumbent tragedy".<ref name="Greatrighthope" />

When Nixon resigned in 1974, Buchanan briefly stayed on as special assistant under incoming President [[Gerald Ford]]. Chief of Staff [[Alexander Haig]] offered Buchanan his choice of three open ambassador posts, including [[South Africa]], for which Buchanan opted. President Ford initially signed off on the appointment, but then rescinded it after it was prematurely reported in the ''Evans-Novak Political Report'' and caused controversy, especially among the U.S. diplomatic corps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial/oralhistory/pat-buchanan/|title=Pat Buchanan|date=May 29, 2013}}</ref>

Buchanan remarked about [[Watergate]]: "The lost opportunity to move against the political forces frustrating the expressed national will ... To effect a political counterrevolution in the capital—&nbsp;... there is no substitute for a principled and dedicated man of the [[Right-wing politics|Right]] in the Oval Office".<ref name="Greatrighthope" />

Long after his resignation, Nixon called Buchanan a confidant and said he was neither a [[Racism in the United States|racist]] nor an [[Antisemitism in the United States|antisemite]] nor a bigot or "hater," but a "decent, patriotic American." Nixon said Buchanan had "some strong views," such as his "isolationist" foreign policy, with which he disagreed. While Nixon did not think Buchanan should become president, he said the commentator "should be heard."<ref>{{Citation|title=1992 Nixon Interview|contribution=Part 2, Bush's Foreign Policy|publisher=CNN|date=April 23, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=Larry King Live|type=transcript|at=#1102 (R-#469)|publisher=CNN|date=April 23, 1994}}</ref> However, according to a memo President Nixon sent to [[John Ehrlichman]] in 1970, Nixon characterized Buchanan's attitude towards integration as "[[segregation now|segregation forever]]."<ref>{{cite news|last=Warren|first=James|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-06-20-9102240513-story.html|title=Family Feud|work=Chicago Tribune|date=June 20, 1991|access-date=April 27, 2020}}</ref> Following Nixon's re-election in 1972, Buchanan himself had written in a memo to Nixon suggesting he should not "fritter away his present high support in the nation for an ill-advised governmental effort to forcibly integrate races."<ref name="SalonTapper">{{cite news|url=https://www.salon.com/1999/09/04/pat/|title=Who's afraid of Pat Buchanan?|work=Salon|date=September 4, 1999|author=Tapper, Jake|author-link=Jake Tapper|access-date=April 27, 2020}}</ref>