OK, the consensus seems to be that there was nothing in the remark by President Nixon that might be considered offensive, and if anything it was probably taken as a compliment.

I was going on the idea that if a CANADIAN (particularly a French-Canadian) said "we speak French with a Canadian accent", it would be perfectly fine and might be a point of pride, but if an AMERICAN implied that Canadians speak French with an accent, Canadians might be offended. Perhaps that thought process did an injustice, on my part, to Canadians.

My original purpose in starting this thread was to find out what was actually said in that address, and that has been accomplished. My thanks to Amos and everyone else who posted.