Lunchtime Links: Book alleges Nixon plot to kill columnist with LSD on steering wheel

Also: New airplane seats have 23" of legroom; 9 most ridiculous lawsuits.

The Associated Press, 1973A new book says the administration of President Richard Nixon, seen here in 1973, tried to smear and even plotted to kill newspaper columnist Jack Anderson.

From MSNBC:
The Nixon White House obsession with newspaper columnist Jack Anderson — whose "Washington Merry Go-Round" column was the WikiLeaks of its day — is detailed in a new book being published this month, “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture,” by journalism professor Mark Feldstein. The book relies in part on newly unearthed tapes from the National Archives that document how Richard Nixon’s aides plotted to destroy Anderson by planting forged evidence with him and spreading false rumors about his sex life and that of one of his associates.

Feldstein also has uncovered new evidence that documents one of the more outrageous schemes of the Nixon presidency: a plot to assassinate Anderson by either putting poison in his medicine cabinet or exposing him to a “massive dose” of LSD by smearing it on the steering wheel of his car. While the aborted scheme to murder Anderson has been reported — and disputed — before, Feldstein found new corroboration: A confession before his death by ex-White House “plumber” Howard Hunt.

» Read the full story: Nixon plot against newspaper columnist detailed [MSNBC]

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