The brother of former President Nixon took a shot at the media on Wednesday's Piers Morgan Live, as he defended his brother's legacy against the "prejudice" of many.
"And these days, today I watch -- I watch C-SPAN to see what the news is. And then I listen to the people that try to filter what you hear," he told Piers Morgan. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
He related the media's bias in general to the biased story told of his brother: "Well, for the most part, right now, I see most of what's been told about Richard Nixon has been with – with a prejudice going through a filter."
He added that " it's really good to check the real facts from the eyewitness rather than to jump to a conclusion that somebody already has – has drawn up."
Below is a transcript of the segment, which aired on Piers Morgan Live on July 31 at 9:42 p.m. EDT:
PIERS MORGAN: Joining me now is the other Nixon, Ed Nixon, Richard Nixon's youngest and last-surviving brother. Mr. Nixon, thank you very much indeed for joining me. I – I watched this documentary and was riveted by it. But I was nowhere near as close to the action as obviously you were. What is your reaction to it, having seen it?
ED NIXON: The – the film that we see tomorrow night is a – it's a good collection of – of movies that were easily obtained from the National Archives. And, you know, what you've done to put it together – was Penny Lane is it – she was putting things in there that were really – shouldn't have been but there's lots of footage there that you can draw your own conclusions. My own view is that – that goes just fine to show the actual factors that occurred, candid as they were, and then you fill in the commentary and what not to make a story of it. But what I'm really interested in is the story that is still coming out and is not yet finished.
And I'm thinking it will overtake anybody's effort to do a documentary of this sort that this appears to be. Now I want to compliment you on trying to get this out there because it is a lot of excellent candid footage and a lot of scenes I've never seen. But when you come right down to it, the – the centennials that we're celebrating this year is most important to me. Nixon was born in January 9th of this year. And he was hardly covered by anyone there except that we did get some good, good shots. Meanwhile, though, I'm looking at your documentary, "Our Nixon" and I'm not sure it's ours. I think it's – my Nixon is – is completely different, of course but that's because I'm a witness –
(Crosstalk)
MORGAN: Well – well, tell me, I'm interested in this – I'm interested in this, Ed. You're – you're 17 years younger than – than your brother, Richard. What do you think is the biggest misconception about him that maybe persists to this day given your knowledge of him?
NIXON: Well, for the most part, right now, I see most of what's been told about Richard Nixon has been with – with a prejudice going through a filter. And these days, today I watch -- I watch C-SPAN to see what the news is. And then I listen to the people that try to filter what you hear. And I smile because it's really good to check the real facts from the eyewitness rather than to jump to a conclusion that somebody already has – has drawn up.
