Norman Mailer: Works and Days

The Talk of the Town: Notes and Comments

Mailer's contribution to a New Yorker symposium on the Nixon tapes - the longest of thirty-four comments; he calls Nixon 'the stubbornest man in America.'

“The Talk of the Town: Notes and Comments,” Mailer’s contribution to a New Yorker symposium (20 May 1974) in which thirty-four people comment on the tape recordings made by President Nixon. Mailer’s comment is the longest: he calls Nixon “the stubbornest man in America,” a man “obliged to drink the cup of his own excretions.” Reprinted in The Time of Our Time (98.7).

First published: 1974-05-20
Form: essay
Lennon & Lennon: 74.11
Cite as: /works/1974-05-20-talk-of-the-town-nixon-tapes
Last updated: 2026-06-04