Modified limited hang out

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Modified limited hang out is a phrase first spoken by John Ehrlichman and captured in the Watergate tapes. Frequently cited as evoking the Nixon administration's strategy of admitting only what it was compelled to admit, the phrase has also become a political catchphrase used to describe any grudging partial release of information.[1]

The phrase was coined in the following exchange, from a March 22, 1973 meeting between Richard Nixon, John Dean, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and H.R. Haldeman:

PRESIDENT: You think, you think we want to, want to go this route now? And the--let it hang out, so to speak?
DEAN: Well, it's, it isn't really that--
HALDEMAN: It's a limited hang out.
DEAN: It's a limited hang out.
EHRLICHMAN: It's a modified limited hang out.
PRESIDENT: Well, it's only the questions of the thing hanging out publicly or privately.[2]

Before this exchange, the discussion captures Nixon outlining to Dean the content of a report that Dean would create, laying out a misleading view of the role of the White House staff in events surrounding the Watergate burglary. In Ehrlichman's words: "And the report says, 'Nobody was involved,'". The document would then be shared with the Senate Watergate Committee investigating the affair. The report would serve the administration's goals by protecting the President, providing documentary support for his false statements should information come to light that contradicted his stated position. Further, the group discusses having information on the report leaked by those on the Committee sympathetic to the President, to put exculpatory information into the public sphere.[2]

The phrase has been cited as a summation of the strategy of mixing partial admissions with misinformation and resistance to further investigation, and is used in political commentary to accuse people or groups of following a Nixon-like strategy.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Parry, Robert. The NYT's Contra-Cocaine Dilemma. The Consortium. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
  2. ^ a b Transcript of a recording of a meeting among the president, John Dean, John Erlichman, H.R. Haldeman, and John Mitchell on March 22 1973 from 1:57 to 3:43 pm. History and Politics Out Loud. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
  3. ^ Carrol, Jon. The Richard Nixon playbook. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
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