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Discussion of Jews with President Nixon

During the Watergate affair, there were suggestions that Graham had expressed antisemitic opinions in private discussions with Richard Nixon; he denied this, stressing his efforts to build bridges to the Jewish community. In 2002, the controversy was renewed when declassified " Richard Nixon tapes " confirmed remarks made by Graham to Nixon three decades earlier. Captured on the tapes, Graham agreed with Nixon that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with Nixon, and suggesting that if Nixon was re-elected that they might be able to do something about it.

When the tapes were made public, Graham apologized and said, "Although I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made in an Oval Office conversation with President Nixon... some 30 years ago.... They do not reflect my views and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks." According to Newsweek magazine, "he shock of the revelation was magnified because of Graham's longtime support of Israel and his refusal to join in calls for conversion of the Jews."

In 2009, more Nixon tapes were released, in which Graham is heard in a 1973 conversation with Nixon referring to a group of Jewish journalists as "the synagogue of Satan ". A spokesman for Graham said that Graham has never been an antisemite and that the comparison (in accord with the context of the quotation in the Book of Revelation) was directed specifically at those claiming to be Jews, but not holding to traditional Jewish values.