Nixonland.

Chapter One, the terror wracking the campus of Northern Illinois University after a coed"s body had been discovered in a field shortly after the inst.i.tution of new open-dorm hours.

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Huston prepared a forty-three-page outline of what the plan should include: opening mail, tapping phones without warrants, infiltrating student movements, purging those not loyal to the White House from the IRS. ("We won"t be in control of the government and in a position of effective leverage until such time as we have complete and total control of the top three slots," he wrote.) He also proposed "black bag" jobs-breaking into homes and offices: "clearly illegal," he allowed, and "could result in great embarra.s.sment if exposed," but these were desperate times. "If we reach the point where we really want to start playing the game tough, you might wish to consider my suggestion of some months ago that we consider going into Brookings after cla.s.sified material they have stashed over there. There are a number of ways we could handle this. There are risks in all of them, of course; but there are also risks in allowing a government-in-exile to grow increasingly arrogant and powerful as each day goes by." "Brookings" meant the Brookings Inst.i.tution, the capital"s most distinguished think tank, professional home to many former Kennedy administration figures.

The president found the doc.u.ment splendid. Haldeman directed Huston to prepare a formal decision memo outlining it as a mandate to the heads of the intelligence agencies. Though President Nixon did want one revision: skip the carefully delineated procedures for getting the agencies" approval. "He would prefer that the thing simply be put into motion on the basis of this approval," Haldeman said.

Another unusual function had already been placed directly under Oval Office supervision: congressional campaign fund-raising, to keep turncoats such as Saxbe and Charles Goodell from getting their hands on Republican money. Nixon"s lawyer Herb Kalmbach forwarded to him a list in June 1970 of sixty-four "angels" that might be willing to contribute to slush funds, no questions asked: old standbys such as Elmer Bobst and Clement Stone; newer names such as Richard Mellon Scaife and William J. Casey; Thomas J. Pappas, a Greek-American businessman who in 1968 conveyed a $549,000 donation to Nixon from the Greek military dictator"s intelligence service. A political fund-raiser, Jack Gleason, was attached to Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans"s staff to establish a secret office in a Georgetown town-house bas.e.m.e.nt. Republican candidates were instructed to appoint a figurehead finance chair and invent names for up to a dozen "committees." Rich men started getting calls: "The president is very interested in such and such campaign and they need such and such amount of money right away." They were told to sign over a check to one of the "committees," sent "care of Jack Gleason" at the D.C. town house. It was, the White House thought, practically legal, since campaign fund-raising disclosure requirements apparently didn"t apply to donations "in" the District.

A team was formed to carry out sensitive political tasks. It included Colson, Jeb Stuart Magruder, Murray Chotiner, Lyn Nofziger, and the new hire John Dean (who was surprised in his first meeting with the president that he had "a rather weak handshake," fidgeted constantly, and was utterly awkward in conversation). The pace grew hectic toward the end of July. On the twenty-third Nixon met with John Swearingen of the American Enterprise Inst.i.tute about the Kennedys" "government in exile" at Brookings, then a.s.signed Chuck Colson to work funneling donations for a countervailing conservative "ammunition factory," either to the preexisting AEI, or perhaps a new "Silent Majority Inst.i.tute" or "Inst.i.tute for an Informed America" (the Scaife-Mellon Foundation and Pew Family Trust each kicked in a million dollars). The next day Nixon raged to Haldeman about protesters, "We have to find out who controls them. Get our guys to rough them up at demonstrations." ("Get a goon squad to start roughing up demos," Haldeman added to his to-do list.) The next day Nixon savaged Chet Huntley"s "almost totally negative approach to everything the administration does." It was, he said to his chief of staff, "important to destroy him for [the] effect on all other commentators."

Nixon acted not despite the Silent Majority he described as so pure and decent, but in a sense on their behalf, and even at their request. His paranoia and dread were their own. Across the state of mind known as Middle America, a subterranean viciousness was bubbling ever closer to the surface.

Jane Fonda saw it in a jailhouse in Cleveland. "What are you in for?" she was asked. She replied, "You might call me a political prisoner."

"Well, they ought to throw you in jail. We don"t want no commies running around loose."

She asked what he he was in for. "Murder," he replied. was in for. "Murder," he replied.

It reminded one of a new movie. In Joe, Joe, Peter Boyle played a tool-and-die maker from Queens, what the Peter Boyle played a tool-and-die maker from Queens, what the New York Times New York Times described as an "ape-like, dese-dem-and-dose type," who strikes up a conversation with a businessman in an East Village bar. "Forty-two percent of liberals are queer and that"s a fact," Joe says. "The George Wallace people took a poll." He said he"d like to kill "just one"-just like, in real life, the Chicago ad salesman quoted in the May 18, 1970, described as an "ape-like, dese-dem-and-dose type," who strikes up a conversation with a businessman in an East Village bar. "Forty-two percent of liberals are queer and that"s a fact," Joe says. "The George Wallace people took a poll." He said he"d like to kill "just one"-just like, in real life, the Chicago ad salesman quoted in the May 18, 1970, Time: Time: "I"m getting to feel like I"d actually enjoy going out and shooting some of these people. I"m just so G.o.dd.a.m.ned mad. They"re trying to destroy everything I"ve worked for-for myself, my wife, and my children." "I"m getting to feel like I"d actually enjoy going out and shooting some of these people. I"m just so G.o.dd.a.m.ned mad. They"re trying to destroy everything I"ve worked for-for myself, my wife, and my children."

In Joe Joe the businessman, played by Dennis Patrick, murmurs, "I just did"-murder his missing teenage daughter"s hippie boyfriend, he said. the businessman, played by Dennis Patrick, murmurs, "I just did"-murder his missing teenage daughter"s hippie boyfriend, he said.

Joe likes this man very much. Together, they search his daughter out. When they happen upon a hippie commune, their anger turns to l.u.s.t, and they enjoy the favors of two of the gamines. Thus sated, they go on their shooting spree. But one of the people they shoot, in the back, is the businessman"s own daughter.

The filmmakers" thesis resembled a book by the radical sociologist Philip Slater, The Pursuit of Loneliness: American Culture at the Breaking Point, The Pursuit of Loneliness: American Culture at the Breaking Point, which came out around the same time. It argued that people loathed and feared the hippies because deep down they knew the hippies, whose freedom they envied, were right: "We fear having our secret doubts about the viability of our social system voiced aloud." which came out around the same time. It argued that people loathed and feared the hippies because deep down they knew the hippies, whose freedom they envied, were right: "We fear having our secret doubts about the viability of our social system voiced aloud." Joe Joe made Slater"s argument celluloid-an attempt to shock viewers into the recognition that the terminal point of all this hating what you desire was death. made Slater"s argument celluloid-an attempt to shock viewers into the recognition that the terminal point of all this hating what you desire was death.

The movie"s fans did not receive that message. In real life, Peter Boyle, a Life Life reporter in tow, visited a butcher shop in his Manhattan neighborhood. An excited little old lady approached and said, "I agree with reporter in tow, visited a butcher shop in his Manhattan neighborhood. An excited little old lady approached and said, "I agree with everything everything you said, young man. Someone should have said it a long time ago." Kids didn"t take its message as peaceful, either. They yelled at the screen, "I"m going to shoot back, Joe!" On the street, Boyle was afraid they would shoot him. you said, young man. Someone should have said it a long time ago." Kids didn"t take its message as peaceful, either. They yelled at the screen, "I"m going to shoot back, Joe!" On the street, Boyle was afraid they would shoot him.

New rages dissolved old rules of decorum. The rioting hard hat who threatened the New York City Hall secretary-"Let go of my jacket, b.i.t.c.h. If you want to be treated like an equal, we"ll treat you like one"-evinced one of the changes. The spring and summer of 1970 were the months when "women"s liberation" erupted beyond mimeographed newsletters and beauty-pageant guerrilla theater to the nation"s kitchen-table debates. Congresswoman Patsy Mink called Harrold Carswell"s nomination "an affront to the women of America" for his role in upholding the legality of firing women for having pre-school-aged children. Five thousand demonstrated in New York for a liberal abortion law (it pa.s.sed July 1, in spite of stacked hearings that called fourteen male witnesses and one female-a nun). Two hundred feminists took over the offices of Ladies" Home Journal Ladies" Home Journal until the editors, good liberals all, agreed to let them produce an eight-page insert for the August issue. ("Joan Kennedy Today"; "The Midi-and How to Wear It"; ""Women"s Liberation" and You: Special Feminist Section Everyone"s Been Talking About." It included a Housewives" Bill of Rights: "Unionization, 6-day work week, paid maternity leave, health insurance, better working conditions, free 24-hour child care centers.") until the editors, good liberals all, agreed to let them produce an eight-page insert for the August issue. ("Joan Kennedy Today"; "The Midi-and How to Wear It"; ""Women"s Liberation" and You: Special Feminist Section Everyone"s Been Talking About." It included a Housewives" Bill of Rights: "Unionization, 6-day work week, paid maternity leave, health insurance, better working conditions, free 24-hour child care centers.") Time Time put leader Kate Millett on the cover, in honor of Women"s Strike Day for the Equal Rights Amendment, August 31, a feature that introduced many Americans to the epithet put leader Kate Millett on the cover, in honor of Women"s Strike Day for the Equal Rights Amendment, August 31, a feature that introduced many Americans to the epithet male chauvinist. male chauvinist.

To some it seemed natural, inevitable. "I became a feminist as an alternative to becoming a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t," writer Sally Kempton wrote in the July Esquire. Esquire. The Equal Rights Amendment, buried in House Judiciary Committee limbo since 1947, was a staple of both parties" presidential platforms. And yet for many Middle Americans it was the most horrifying development imaginable-the one thread that, once pulled, might unweave the fabric of civilization itself. The Equal Rights Amendment, buried in House Judiciary Committee limbo since 1947, was a staple of both parties" presidential platforms. And yet for many Middle Americans it was the most horrifying development imaginable-the one thread that, once pulled, might unweave the fabric of civilization itself.

The lead letter in response to the Kate Millett cover in Time Time read, "Sir: Women"s Lib [August 26]-phooey! They are only leading us to Orwell"s 1984, when men and women are such equals that life is sterile and children are reared by the state in nurseries away from their parents. Brrr." Another: "Who is supposed to run these round-the-clock child-care centers-robots? Men?" The Women"s Board of the West Virginia GOP was outraged that the National Federation of Republican Women was calling for a discharge pet.i.tion for the ERA; equal rights for women were part of the "Communist conspiracy." read, "Sir: Women"s Lib [August 26]-phooey! They are only leading us to Orwell"s 1984, when men and women are such equals that life is sterile and children are reared by the state in nurseries away from their parents. Brrr." Another: "Who is supposed to run these round-the-clock child-care centers-robots? Men?" The Women"s Board of the West Virginia GOP was outraged that the National Federation of Republican Women was calling for a discharge pet.i.tion for the ERA; equal rights for women were part of the "Communist conspiracy."

Jane Fonda arrived at the set one day for her new movie, Klute, Klute, and found a huge American flag draped above the door of her character"s room. The hostile act from the working-cla.s.s crew was intended not merely for her antiwar stand, but for her defiance of feminine convention: she had stopped wearing makeup. Wrote William F. Buckley, "She must never even look into the mirror anymore." Each new outrage interlaced the others. and found a huge American flag draped above the door of her character"s room. The hostile act from the working-cla.s.s crew was intended not merely for her antiwar stand, but for her defiance of feminine convention: she had stopped wearing makeup. Wrote William F. Buckley, "She must never even look into the mirror anymore." Each new outrage interlaced the others.

Also in August, black radicals-the "Soledad Brothers"-raided the courthouse where Black Panther George Jackson was on trial for allegedly throwing a Soledad Prison guard over a third-tier railing. His comrades stormed the courtroom, tied up the judge and three other hostages with piano wire, murdered three of them, then died themselves in a blaze of gunfire. Angela Davis, the UCLA philosophy professor recently fired by Ronald Reagan, was named an accomplice, disappeared, and made the cover of Newsweek Newsweek and the FBI"s ten most wanted list (actually, at Nixon"s instigation, now a sixteen most wanted list, nine of the slots occupied by radicals). Philadelphia police raided Black Panther headquarters and strip-searched those detained in the street. Chief Frank Rizzo, mulling a 1971 run for mayor, said they "should be strung up." He added, "I mean, within the law." and the FBI"s ten most wanted list (actually, at Nixon"s instigation, now a sixteen most wanted list, nine of the slots occupied by radicals). Philadelphia police raided Black Panther headquarters and strip-searched those detained in the street. Chief Frank Rizzo, mulling a 1971 run for mayor, said they "should be strung up." He added, "I mean, within the law."

Rizzo was Nixon"s sort of Democrat. Chatting with the press in Denver during a meeting of the Law Enforcement a.s.sistance Administration in August, the president reflected, "I don"t see too many movies, but I try to see them on weekends when I am at the Western White House or in Florida" (he lied; he saw about ten movies a month in screening rooms at the White House and at Camp David), and had caught the new western Chisum. Chisum. The commander in chief reflected upon why John Wayne kept attracting audiences: "The good guys come out ahead in the westerns; the bad guys lose." He dilated on the "att.i.tudes that are created among our younger people...which tend to glorify and to make heroes out of those who engage in criminal activities...for example, the coverage of the Charles Manson case when I was in Los Angeles, front page every day in the papers. It usually got a couple of minutes in the evening news. Here is a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason." The commander in chief reflected upon why John Wayne kept attracting audiences: "The good guys come out ahead in the westerns; the bad guys lose." He dilated on the "att.i.tudes that are created among our younger people...which tend to glorify and to make heroes out of those who engage in criminal activities...for example, the coverage of the Charles Manson case when I was in Los Angeles, front page every day in the papers. It usually got a couple of minutes in the evening news. Here is a man who was guilty, directly or indirectly, of eight murders without reason."

The liberal editorialists pointed out that the president of the United States had just prejudged the guilt of a criminal defendant. Let the fastidious quibble: the voters weren"t about to take Nixon to the woodshed for beating up on Charlie Manson.

School was in session. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four planes simultaneously, culminating in a standoff that almost ended with the emptied jets blown up in the middle of the Jordanian desert. Time Time reported that the reported that the Berkeley Tribe Berkeley Tribe editorialized, "Maybe soon, planes carrying very prominent international pigs...will be hijacked from the U.S. to parts unknown. By, say, freaks." In Madison, radicals bombed a building in the middle of campus, destroying the entire physics department. They had mimicked the Weathermen"s standard procedure of bombing after hours and with a warning. That hadn"t kept an after-hours researcher, Robert Fa.s.snacht, from being blown to bits. In November, on the other side of the ideological ledger, Rabbi Meir Kahane"s Jewish Defense League-a vigilante group modeled on the Black Panthers-firebombed the New York offices of the Soviet airline Aeroflot. editorialized, "Maybe soon, planes carrying very prominent international pigs...will be hijacked from the U.S. to parts unknown. By, say, freaks." In Madison, radicals bombed a building in the middle of campus, destroying the entire physics department. They had mimicked the Weathermen"s standard procedure of bombing after hours and with a warning. That hadn"t kept an after-hours researcher, Robert Fa.s.snacht, from being blown to bits. In November, on the other side of the ideological ledger, Rabbi Meir Kahane"s Jewish Defense League-a vigilante group modeled on the Black Panthers-firebombed the New York offices of the Soviet airline Aeroflot.

Harris reported that 76 percent of college students favored "basic changes in the system" and that half of high school students were "disaffected." The New York Times New York Times revealed between five hundred and a thousand underground newspapers were published in the nation"s high schools. The University of Tennessee"s new president promised a reporter there would be no interruptions in the coming school year: "When the faculty comes to me with complaints, I threaten them-well, I don"t openly threaten them, I kind of subtly threaten them-by mentioning all the letters I got from the community during our three-day strike this year.... And I can tell you this: we have an academic calendar announced for next year, and we will stick to it." revealed between five hundred and a thousand underground newspapers were published in the nation"s high schools. The University of Tennessee"s new president promised a reporter there would be no interruptions in the coming school year: "When the faculty comes to me with complaints, I threaten them-well, I don"t openly threaten them, I kind of subtly threaten them-by mentioning all the letters I got from the community during our three-day strike this year.... And I can tell you this: we have an academic calendar announced for next year, and we will stick to it."

On September 1 Senator McGovern gave the concluding speech in the debate over his amendment to end the Vietnam War. Opposing senators had spoken of the necessity of resolve in the face of adversity, of national honor, of staying the course, of glory, of courage. McGovern responded: "Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending fifty thousand young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood."

Senators averted their eyes or stared at their desks or drew their faces taut with fury; this was not senatorial decorum.

"Every senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land-young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces, or hopes....

"Do not talk about bugging out, or national honor, or courage.

"It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and hopes."

The presiding officer rapped down the gavel: "The senator"s time has expired..."

From the Republican side, men rose from their seats: "Regular order! Regular order!"

The former history professor kept pushing on over the din: "So before we vote, let us ponder the admonition of Edmund Burke, the great parliamentarian of an earlier day: "A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.""

Richard Nixon was not without resources in the fight. In private meetings with senators he warned that if Congress voted against Vietnam appropriations, it "must a.s.sume responsibility" for all the subsequent deaths of American troops and would be held accountable "for an ignominious American defeat if it succeeds in tying the president"s hands." The president won. McGovern-Hatfield went down 5539.

Shortly afterward, the presidential commission studying Kent State, chaired by former Pennsylvania governor William Warren Scranton, p.r.o.nounced the killings "unnecessary and unwarranted." But the grand jury in Ohio had already handed down twenty-five indictments, most against students, none against guardsmen. They spoke for the Silent Majority, which had itself spoken in angry letters to the Scranton Commission: "What these young radicals need is a good beating. And I will be the first to break the back of one of these little b.i.t.c.hes or b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

It was this sentiment to which Nixon made ready to supplicate, now that Election Day, November 3, 1970, was fast approaching.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

Agnew"s Election SPIRO A AGNEW WAS SENT OFF ON ANOTHER STATURE-ENHANCING A ASIAN trip. He came back and promised, "I will be urging the election of a more responsible Congress that will help-rather than frustrate-President Nixon"s efforts to do what he promised the people in 1968 he would do." Agnew set off on an RNC-chartered 727 (equipped with the latest in airport technology, X-rays to peer into luggage; "Pirates in the Sky," read the cover of trip. He came back and promised, "I will be urging the election of a more responsible Congress that will help-rather than frustrate-President Nixon"s efforts to do what he promised the people in 1968 he would do." Agnew set off on an RNC-chartered 727 (equipped with the latest in airport technology, X-rays to peer into luggage; "Pirates in the Sky," read the cover of Time, Time, alongside a now-iconic image of Arab militants alighting from a jumbo jet). The vice president landed first in Springfield, Illinois, where at high noon on the steps of the state capitol he announced "a contest between the remnants of the discredited elite that dominated national policy for forty years and a new national majority, forged and led by the president of the United States." alongside a now-iconic image of Arab militants alighting from a jumbo jet). The vice president landed first in Springfield, Illinois, where at high noon on the steps of the state capitol he announced "a contest between the remnants of the discredited elite that dominated national policy for forty years and a new national majority, forged and led by the president of the United States."

Illinois was the perfect place to launch the crusade. Agnew spoke on behalf of the lightweight inc.u.mbent senator, Ralph T. Smith, whose opponent, Illinois"s state treasurer, was Adlai Stevenson III-son of the egghead who had been making Orthogonians feel inferior for decades.

"There was a time when the liberalism of the old elite was a venturesome and fighting philosophy-the vanguard political dogma of a Franklin Roosevelt, a Harry Truman, a John Kennedy. But the old firehorses are long gone. Today"s breed of radical-liberal posturing about the Senate is about as closely related to a Harry Truman as a Chihuahua is to a timber wolf."

Buchanan and Safire had worked hard devising that particular rhetorical bomb. It wouldn"t do to vilify Democrats; Democrats; most voters called themselves Democrats. Calling them most voters called themselves Democrats. Calling them radicals radicals posed a problem, for no senators called themselves radicals. posed a problem, for no senators called themselves radicals. Radical-liberals Radical-liberals won out over won out over radillectuals. radillectuals. Agnew also excoriated Agnew also excoriated ultraliberalism ultraliberalism-which, the man some now called Nixon"s Nixon p.r.o.nounced to four thousand Illinoisans, "translates into a whimpering foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy, and a pusillanimous p.u.s.s.yfooting on the critical issue of law and order.... The troglodytic leftists who dominate Congress...work themselves into a lather over an alleged shortage of nutriments in a child"s box of Wheaties." They "cannot get exercised over that same child"s constant exposure to a flood of hard-core p.o.r.nography that could warp his moral outlook for a lifetime."

"Nutriments," "troglodytic," "pusillanimous": Bill Safire loved writing lines like these; Ted Agnew loved delivering them; Orthogonian audiences loved hearing them. Ten-dollar words, in Agnew"s cool, uninflected voice, salved the wound delivered whenever fashionable opinion-mongers told you that if you were really really smart, you would be for the kids. smart, you would be for the kids.

Stevenson himself was not running as a liberal. He had done so, once, in 1966, when Mayor Daley had blocked him from running for the Senate because he refused to pledge loyalty to LBJ"s war. After the 1968 convention Stevenson called Daley"s cops "storm troopers" and blamed the violence on the city"s "denying parks for peaceful protest." He had changed his tune severely since then-campaigning with Chicago 7 prosecutor Thomas Aquinas Foran by his side, an American flag pin on his lapel. Agnew wasn"t about to let Adlai get away with it. Castrating would-be Democratic sheriffs was precisely the point of Agnew"s tour: "Any public official, especially from the state of Illinois, who still believes the riots at the Chicago convention were the result of "denying parks for peaceful protest" has no business in the United States Senate. Any individual who, in these times, will slander the men of the Chicago police force by calling them "storm troopers in blue" ought to be retired from public life."

AFL-CIO president George Meany, enraged at the usurpations of the McGovern Commission, had recently been wooed to a White House dinner of seventy-four labor leaders followed by a torchlight parade on the South Lawn-the most lavish White House Labor Day observance in history. Afterward, Meany told the press that the Democrats had been taken over by "extremists." Haldeman shuffled the Supreme Council of the Sons of Italy into the Oval Office for a photo opportunity. Their "supreme venerable" told the press Nixon was "our terrestrial G.o.d." At a Stevenson rally, DNC chair Larry O"Brien offered a postreform olive branch to the regulars-lacerating unspecified "extreme and irresponsible statements" by "so-called Democrats on the far left." This was the kind of Democratic division Nixon fed on. He had Agnew, in Casper, Wyoming, tell his listeners not to "let this stampede to the center fool you." Democrats were pulling "the fastest switcheroo in America politics": they were under the thumb of what he soon shortened to radiclibs. radiclibs. (He made the argument with a straight face, though the inc.u.mbent Democrat in Wyoming was one of the most hawkish senators.) (He made the argument with a straight face, though the inc.u.mbent Democrat in Wyoming was one of the most hawkish senators.) At the California Republican convention in San Diego, Agnew mentioned how Democratic candidate John Tunney had started riding in police cars before the cameras-"Tunney-come-lately." (After Ted Kennedy told students at Boston University that violent protest was immoral and futile, Agnew labeled him "Teddy-come-lately.") Then Agnew loosed Safire"s most triumphant linguistic confection: "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H club-the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

Agnew knew the scribes would write about it, if only to mock him. That was good: let the elites mock patriotism! Next, it was Las Vegas for Republican Senate challenger William Raggio, where Agnew read out the lyrics to shocking rock songs: "I get high high with a little help from my friends.... One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.... Eight miles with a little help from my friends.... One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.... Eight miles high. high...." The press made fun of that, too-observing that after being met at the airport by a thousand bused-in schoolchildren, Agnew waved from his limousine to revelers at Sin City vice dens with marquees reading WELCOME VICE PRESIDENT AGNEW-KENO-POKER WELCOME VICE PRESIDENT AGNEW-KENO-POKER and and FOLIES-BERGeRE-WELCOME VICE PRESIDENT. FOLIES-BERGeRE-WELCOME VICE PRESIDENT. Let them mock decency! The Franklins were falling right into their hands. Let them mock decency! The Franklins were falling right into their hands.

Nixon reinforced Agnew"s message in a televised lecture at Kansas State: worse than violence was "the pa.s.sive acquiescence or even fawning approval that in some fashionable circles has become the mark of being "with it."" Then, the good-cop statesman, he was off for the third European trip of his presidency. Life Life put Spiro Agnew on the cover for the second time-alongside features on put Spiro Agnew on the cover for the second time-alongside features on Joe Joe and the deaths of the two rock stars, both twenty-seven, both from drug overdoses, who had been quoted on the n.o.bility of their generation in the 1969 and the deaths of the two rock stars, both twenty-seven, both from drug overdoses, who had been quoted on the n.o.bility of their generation in the 1969 Time Time panegyric to Woodstock: Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. panegyric to Woodstock: Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

The Nixon campaign team refined their technique from 1968: they didn"t just hold the rallies near airports to facilitate the dispatch of news footage; they held them in airport hangars. Agnew alighted in Saginaw. The footage was great. Central Michigan"s longhairs a.s.sembled beneath a banner: IMPUDENT Sn.o.bS UNITE HERE. IMPUDENT Sn.o.bS UNITE HERE. Agnew"s introduction by the Republican Senate candidate, who was also Michigan"s former first lady, Lenore Romney, running against inc.u.mbent Philip Hart, one of the Senate"s great liberals (his wife was a tax resister who"d been arrested in an antiwar protest at the Pentagon), was swallowed up by obscene chanting. Agnew leaned close to the microphone: "That"s exactly what we"re running against in this country today.... You people out there preach a lot about dissent. But you"re afraid to tolerate dissent.... you"re not intellectual; you"re intellectually stagnant." Agnew"s introduction by the Republican Senate candidate, who was also Michigan"s former first lady, Lenore Romney, running against inc.u.mbent Philip Hart, one of the Senate"s great liberals (his wife was a tax resister who"d been arrested in an antiwar protest at the Pentagon), was swallowed up by obscene chanting. Agnew leaned close to the microphone: "That"s exactly what we"re running against in this country today.... You people out there preach a lot about dissent. But you"re afraid to tolerate dissent.... you"re not intellectual; you"re intellectually stagnant."

In response: "Agnew is a social disease! Agnew is a social disease!"

Agnew soldiered on. A vote for Mrs. Romney, he said, could "help rescue the Democratic party from radical-liberals so that America can stand safe and secure in this dangerous world."

Time had once feted Nixon for surfing the waves of moderation. The president made a different bet this fall. John Mitch.e.l.l, drunk at a party, was quoted by a reporter: "There is no such thing as the New Left. This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to recognize it." Reflected Nixon, "If the vice president were slightly roughed up by those thugs, nothing better could happen for our cause. If anybody so much as brushes against Mrs. Agnew, tell her to fall down." had once feted Nixon for surfing the waves of moderation. The president made a different bet this fall. John Mitch.e.l.l, drunk at a party, was quoted by a reporter: "There is no such thing as the New Left. This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to recognize it." Reflected Nixon, "If the vice president were slightly roughed up by those thugs, nothing better could happen for our cause. If anybody so much as brushes against Mrs. Agnew, tell her to fall down."

Agnew turned to the South to finish off Albert Gore of Tennessee. Gore, who had never had to spend more than $50,000 winning his previous races, had been bloodied in a primary challenge from the conservative Democratic governor, Buford Ellington, who had said in 1968 that Martin Luther King was "training three thousand people to start riots." Ellington eviscerated Gore as an outsider from Washington, D.C. Gore fought back with a commercial by the Kennedy family"s media guru Charlie Guggenheim. As Gore rode horseback with his son, also named Albert, the voice-over intoned, "The people of Tennessee have learned to take the measure of Albert Gore by the battles he has fought for them along the way, for TVA, tax reform, Medicare, interstate highways, Social Security, and education. "I may have run ahead of the pack sometimes, but I"m usually headed in the right direction.""

Ellington accused him of bringing the horse out from Hollywood. Gore, as true a son of the Volunteer State as anyone-even if he found the Vietnam War a moral abomination-nicely countered, "I just want you fellows to know that I bought him off my neighbor for two hundred dollars, and he was a darned good buy."

Nixon had made Gore"s opponent, William Brock, the Southern Strategy"s poster boy, sending out a top organizer to put together Brock"s campaign almost a year earlier. Liberal senators took defending the inc.u.mbent as their sacred duty. After Gore squeaked past the primary, the entire Democratic establishment flocked to an unprecedented fund-raiser at Ted Kennedy"s house in Virginia.

Gore hopped on a tree stump: "I denounce denounce the Southern Strategy, of which I"m victim number one.... I will say to the people of Tennessee that this is a the Southern Strategy, of which I"m victim number one.... I will say to the people of Tennessee that this is a slur slur upon them." upon them."

"Amen, brother!" some High Church Episcopalian bellowed back. some High Church Episcopalian bellowed back.

"It"s based on the concept that people will have enough prejudice, provincialism, intolerance, and ignorance that if the national leadership will make an appeal to it, it will win." Politics, he said, "should uplift the people, not downgrade them."

On September 22 Spiro Agnew landed in Memphis. Crafty Gore one-upped an absent Brock by meeting Agnew on the tarmac and telling the press that "in earlier and less hospitable days," the "governor of a Union state located on the Eastern seaboard...might have been referred to as a "carpetbagger" by our more section-minded folk." Agnew called him "a fellow who rides a white horse on TV commercials down here and who suffers a paranoid fear of being the number one political target of the Silent Majority," but was really the "Southern regional chairman of the Eastern liberal establishment," who "found his obligations to the citizens of Tennessee secondary to his liberal community credentials" and was "sincere in his mistaken belief that Tennessee is located somewhere between New York Times New York Times and the Greenwich and the Greenwich Village Voice. Village Voice."

In Indianapolis, Agnew said that Senator Vance Hartke, a presidential hopeful, "represents some people in Berkeley, California, some people in Madison, Wisconsin, and some people at Columbia University in New York." In Salt Lake City-a sign read SMASH RACIST AGNEW IN HIS RACIST MOUTH SMASH RACIST AGNEW IN HIS RACIST MOUTH-Democratic senator Frank Moss was "the Western regional champion of the Eastern liberal establishment," a friend of "the Spock-marked generation." In Minot, North Dakota, plumping for the Senate challenge of Congressman Thomas Kleppe, Agnew reveled in the presence of an un-Spock-marked cadre near the front waving placards reading MOTHERHOOD, APPLE PIE, AND SPIRO MOTHERHOOD, APPLE PIE, AND SPIRO; SPIRO IS s.e.xY SPIRO IS s.e.xY; and GROOVE ON SPIRO! GROOVE ON SPIRO!

President Nixon was in Europe doing what he enjoyed most. Three weeks after the Middle Eastern hijacking, Syrian tanks painted in the colors of the Palestinian national movement rumbled into Jordan. Jordan counterattacked; a Middle East war seemed in the offing. The president was handling the crisis, Haldeman wrote in his diary, "strong & cool," game-planning what it would or wouldn"t mean in their ongoing efforts to negotiate to good advantage with the Russians even as Nixon slipped a story to the Chicago Sun-Times Chicago Sun-Times about CIA photographs that suggested the Soviets were building a submarine base in Cuba (it turned out to be a soccer field). Nixon did an interview with about CIA photographs that suggested the Soviets were building a submarine base in Cuba (it turned out to be a soccer field). Nixon did an interview with Time Time on the long view in foreign policy: "If there is anything I want to do before I die, it is to go to China. If I don"t, I want my children to." In Rome he met American hostages released by the Palestinians thanks to the State Department"s secret diplomacy; he toasted with t.i.to in Yugoslavia; in between stops he huddled with Kissinger to scheme how to undo the Chilean election won by Marxist Salvador Allende and to juggle the consequences of Gamal Na.s.ser"s death on September 28 and to word the "cease-fire in place" they would be offering to the North Vietnamese in Paris. Nixon was living the global chess game, his face on another fawning on the long view in foreign policy: "If there is anything I want to do before I die, it is to go to China. If I don"t, I want my children to." In Rome he met American hostages released by the Palestinians thanks to the State Department"s secret diplomacy; he toasted with t.i.to in Yugoslavia; in between stops he huddled with Kissinger to scheme how to undo the Chilean election won by Marxist Salvador Allende and to juggle the consequences of Gamal Na.s.ser"s death on September 28 and to word the "cease-fire in place" they would be offering to the North Vietnamese in Paris. Nixon was living the global chess game, his face on another fawning Time Time cover: "Facing the Middle East: When to Use and When Not to Use Power." cover: "Facing the Middle East: When to Use and When Not to Use Power."

But he was restless to do what he enjoyed second most: campaigning. He had started his European trip in the Vatican, visiting the pope, and made his last stop Ireland-an old-school play to the Catholic swing vote. The Catholic voters he had his eye on most of all were the const.i.tuency of presidential enemy number one, New York senator Charles Goodell. When Governor Rockefeller appointed Goodell to fill Bobby Kennedy"s seat, he seemed a moderate-to-conservative choice. Goodell turned out to be a reliable White House vote on domestic issues-and a thorn in Nixon"s side on Vietnam. President Nixon used to excoriate President Johnson as "the first president in history who has failed to unite his own party in a time of war." That made President Nixon the second. Goodell was the first senator to propose legislation cutting off congressional funding for the war. It was Goodell, in June of 1970, that Jane Fonda and Mark Lane and Donald Duncan of Vietnam Veterans Against the War approached to set up a clearinghouse to hear allegations of American misconduct in Vietnam.

Conservative Republicans were beside themselves. So, in fact, was Nelson Rockefeller. He didn"t disagree with Mitch.e.l.l"s drunken prediction that the country was hurtling right; he had begun remolding himself for the shift, declaring war on drugs and crime, cutting state spending across the board-and quietly dropping his support for Goodell and asking Spiro Agnew to campaign for his gubernatorial reelection. When the president heard that-Rocky had specifically asked Nixon not not to campaign for him back in "66 and "58-he exulted, "Isn"t that something! They"re really reading the tea leaves, aren"t they?" to campaign for him back in "66 and "58-he exulted, "Isn"t that something! They"re really reading the tea leaves, aren"t they?"

James Buckley-William F."s quieter younger brother-had been reading the tea leaves, too. He had been one of the Catholic conservatives outraged by the pa.s.sage of New York"s abortion bill in April. (Not as outraged, however, as Buckley family friend Brent Bozell. When his group Los Hijos de Tormenta-Sons of Thunder, after the Spanish fascist group-learned that George Washington University hospital was performing abortions, they marched there in khaki uniforms and red berets, carrying papal flags and rosaries: "America...you are daggering to death your unborn tomorrow," a priest intoned. "The very cleanliness of your sterilized murder factories gives off the stench of death." They smashed a plate-gla.s.s window in the ensuing scuffle with security guards.) Jim Buckley asked National Review National Review publisher Bill Rusher if he had a chance of winning a three-way Senate race on the Conservative Party line. Rusher told him yes. Clif White spent $10,000 on a poll confirming it. The hard-hat riot was further, if anecdotal, evidence. publisher Bill Rusher if he had a chance of winning a three-way Senate race on the Conservative Party line. Rusher told him yes. Clif White spent $10,000 on a poll confirming it. The hard-hat riot was further, if anecdotal, evidence.

In June, Jim Buckley traveled to Vietnam, said America was winning, and that "I would strongly urge President Nixon to announce that after the completion of the scheduled withdrawal of 150,000 troops, no draftee will be required to engage in combat in this conflict against his will." This statement had likely been coordinated with the White House, which was privately already circulating that as their intention. At a July 22 White House meeting, Haldeman, Finch, Harlow, Dent, Chotiner, and a nut-cutter named Donald Rumsfeld discussed how to distribute the secret town-house funds. "We are dropping Goodell over the side," the president announced. The administration couldn"t campaign directly against a Republican; that was beyond the pale. Agnew, scheduled to appear in Rochester Wednesday, September 30, was instead instructed to ask New Yorkers to vote for a senator who would "support the president"-meaning the non-Republican Buckley.

That Wednesday started as a bad day for the White House. A commission on p.o.r.nography convened by President Johnson had earlier completed its report, finding "no evidence" linking dirty pictures to delinquency, and recommending a ma.s.sive s.e.x education campaign. Charles Keating of Citizens for Decent Literature, a Nixon appointee to the commission, successfully sued to enjoin its publication. The injunction was reversed, and the morning of Agnew"s New York visit, America learned that the President"s Commission on p.o.r.nography didn"t have a problem with p.o.r.nography. Agnew blasted the report the next day in Salt Lake City, blaming the heresies on its Democratic origins, pledging, "As long as Richard Nixon is president, Main Street is not going to turn into s.m.u.t alley."

In Rochester, Agnew trotted out that cla.s.sic Nixonian rhetorical trope, the unsourced, invented rhetorical question: "Earlier today, I was asked if I would support a member of the radical-liberal clique who is running in New York as a Republican. I made clear that I will not support a radical liberal no matter what party he belongs to." Goodell hit back by accusing Agnew of "sophisticated McCarthyism." Agnew proved him a piker six days later by invoking the name of the former soldier who"d become a celebrity in the 1950s by turning himself surgically into a woman. Goodell was the "Christine Jorgensen of the Republican Party"-a man who had surrendered his manhood. ("Miss Jorgensen Asks Agnew for Apology," the New York Times New York Times headlined demurely.) headlined demurely.) That was a little too much for Nelson Rockefeller, who rescinded his invitation for Agnew to campaign for him. But it didn"t faze the man who had won in 1950 by calling his opponent "pink right down to her underpants." Nixon was chomping at the bit to enter the fray. He took up the cudgels October 12, motorcading to Hartford, Connecticut, for a quick word on behalf of Congressman Lowell Weicker"s Senate bid.

Vietcong flags were amid the crowd. This was handy. Nixon made sure to point them out to reporters.

The next leg was the airport in Westchester County. No speech, only a quick wave-and a carefully advanced maneuver in which a knot of Young Americans for Freedom cl.u.s.tered by his side carrying NIXON & BUCKLEY NIXON & BUCKLEY posters, the wordless endors.e.m.e.nt worth a thousand words. posters, the wordless endors.e.m.e.nt worth a thousand words.

On Wednesday, October 14, Nixon made a statement against the menace of hijacking and spoke at a White House conference on drug abuse. On Tuesday he had signed the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970-mentioning three more New Left bombings, praising the FBI"s apprehension of Angela Davis, and, tying the American radicals to the Palestinian plane hijacking, announcing his determination to "see to it that those who engage in such terroristic acts are brought to justice." Then he headed out to give an unmemorable speech in Vermont for Senator Winston Prouty. A concrete chip or three issued from the crowd, landing seventy-five feet from Air Force One. Chuck Colson said to a reporter, "Those rocks will mean ten thousand votes for Prouty." The president was struck only by inspiration. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, as a small contingent chanted, "One, two, three, four! We don"t want your f.u.c.king war!" Air Force One taxied into place. A police sergeant gave orders to two of his patrolmen: when the president strode down the steps, White House advance men wanted them to turn the banks of portable floodlights not on the leader of the free world, but on the shrieking hippies. The officers stared, incredulous; the sergeant barked, "That"s what they want us to do-now do it."

Nixon recited his script: "...I will also note, my friends, as we look out at this crowd, that we have a few here that indicate that they have other views with regard to my visit. Let me say that I respect their right to be heard even if they do not respect my right to be heard. And let me also say, ladies and gentlemen, I can a.s.sure them that they are a very loud minority in this country, but they are a minority, and it"s time for the majority to stand up and be counted."

He wound up Tuesday in Kansas-where he visited a policeman hospitalized by a radical"s bomb. He seemed to be enjoying himself enormously. "Vermont, they threw a few rocks. Several other places, they tried to shout me down. In other places, they shouted the usual four-letter words.... If you were to simply read the newspaper and look at the television, the amount of s.p.a.ce that those who engage in that kind of protest are concerned, as distinguished from peaceful protest, the amount of s.p.a.ce they get gives you the impression that that kind of young American is either a majority of young Americans or will be the leaders of the future.

"Well, I have got news for you. They aren"t the majority of young Americans today and they aren"t going to be the leaders of America tomorrow."

Campaigning against the hippies seemed a can"t-miss strategy. They had made reading the typical newspaper a kind of torment. Take the Rockford Star, Rockford Star, which served a hard-hat town in north-central Illinois. The picture on the front page on October 20 was of the ruins of a sumptuous modern mansion with a kidney-shaped pool. The caption read, "Scene of five slayings." A wealthy optometrist from Santa Cruz, Dr. Victor Ohta, his wife, two sons, and secretary had been bound with silk scarves, shot execution style, and thrown into the swimming pool. "Ohtas home stood on a rise 100 miles south of San Francisco in a scenic area dotted with the homes of the rich and middle cla.s.s, but also with hippie communes and wandering young people, whom the Ohtas had reportedly "chased off" their property more than once." which served a hard-hat town in north-central Illinois. The picture on the front page on October 20 was of the ruins of a sumptuous modern mansion with a kidney-shaped pool. The caption read, "Scene of five slayings." A wealthy optometrist from Santa Cruz, Dr. Victor Ohta, his wife, two sons, and secretary had been bound with silk scarves, shot execution style, and thrown into the swimming pool. "Ohtas home stood on a rise 100 miles south of San Francisco in a scenic area dotted with the homes of the rich and middle cla.s.s, but also with hippie communes and wandering young people, whom the Ohtas had reportedly "chased off" their property more than once."

It was joined on the Star Star"s front page by "Army Ends Testimony on My Lai" ("They appeared to be mostly women and children.... Some appeared to be dead, but some were definitely alive. I remember they looked at me and followed me with their eyes as I crossed the ditch") and an installment in a five-part series reporting from a commune on Madison"s Mifflin Street that led by quoting the reading material lying around: "We must lead an armed revolution to overcome hypocrisy and oppression in a government that can only be defeated through revolutionary violence."

That was page one. A small item, "Guitar Sparks Triple Slaying in California," was relegated to page two, next to the weather map.

Two days later the Star Star reported on the Santa Cruz murder note, "signed with symbols used on gypsy fortune telling cards" of the sort hippies favored: "Today World War 3 will begin as brought to you by the people of the Free universe. From this day forward anyone and any company of persons who misuses the natural environment or destroys same will suffer the penalty of death by the people of the free universe...materialism must die or mankind will." Next to that, a UPI story datelined from Central America: "The Costa Rican government agreed Wednesday night to prevent the execution of four U.S. citizens aboard a Costa Rican airliner hijacked in Cuba." Next to that: "Guevara Hero to Miffland"s Anarchists" and a Quebec labor minister kidnapped and strangled by separatist terrorists. Second page: a dynamite theft that preceded five bombings in Rochester; and the sudden appearance of Weatherman Bernardine Dohrn at Eldridge Cleaver"s exile lair in Algiers beside Timothy Leary, whom the Weathermen had recently sprung from jail. reported on the Santa Cruz murder note, "signed with symbols used on gypsy fortune telling cards" of the sort hippies favored: "Today World War 3 will begin as brought to you by the people of the Free universe. From this day forward anyone and any company of persons who misuses the natural environment or destroys same will suffer the penalty of death by the people of the free universe...materialism must die or mankind will." Next to that, a UPI story datelined from Central America: "The Costa Rican government agreed Wednesday night to prevent the execution of four U.S. citizens aboard a Costa Rican airliner hijacked in Cuba." Next to that: "Guevara Hero to Miffland"s Anarchists" and a Quebec labor minister kidnapped and strangled by separatist terrorists. Second page: a dynamite theft that preceded five bombings in Rochester; and the sudden appearance of Weatherman Bernardine Dohrn at Eldridge Cleaver"s exile lair in Algiers beside Timothy Leary, whom the Weathermen had recently sprung from jail.

The next day: twenty Rockford youths arrested in a park with a suitcase full of hashish; "SAN FRANCISCO (UPI)-A time bomb exploded outside a church Thursday as mourners gathered for the funeral of a policeman killed in a bank holdup"; the arrest of a mild-mannered auto mechanic in the Ohta case; "ALGIERS-Eldridge Cleaver declared that he intends to extend his party into an international operation dedicated to overthrowing the U.S. government"-and way back in Chapter One, the terror wracking the campus of Northern Illinois University after a coed"s body had been discovered in a field shortly after the inst.i.tution of new open-dorm hours.

The day after that: "Berserk Pilot Crash Dives into Church" in Texas; "Raped Co-ed"s Cry for Aid Unheeded" in Chicago; "Ohta Murder Suspect Captured, Charged" in Santa Cruz.

The Sunday paper, October 25: from Algiers, "Cleaver: Asylum Granted Leary"; from Detroit, "Black Panther Shootout-15 Charged in Police Shooting"; "William A. Campbell, Democratic candidate for sheriff, claimed Sunday morning that in the past year, 17 Rockford teenagers had died as a result of the misuse of drugs"-and finally, "Bomb Blasts Post Office in Washington," the post office blocks from the Capitol.

These newspaper readers faced a choice the Tuesday after next: voting for a Republican or a Democrat for Senate. On Thursday, October 29-along with citizens in Minnesota, Nebraska, and California-they would be graced with a visit from their president to help them make up their minds.

On Tuesday the twenty-seventh Nixon signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 for the cameras in front of a table of confiscated pills, weeds, powders, and cash. On the twenty-eighth he made four stops in Florida, where Congressman William Cramer was fighting Lawton Chiles for the Senate, and three in Texas for Senate aspirant George H. W. Bush-another Southern Strategy hopeful. Bush"s opponent was the conservative Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, a protege of John Connally"s, who, in the primary, had knocked off Texas"s legendary liberal senator Ralph Yarborough thanks in part to an ad with a picture of the liberal inc.u.mbent and the legend NO NO rubber-stamped over the word rubber-stamped over the word prayer. prayer. Bush promised that the only way Bentsen could outflank him to the right was to "drop off the face of the earth." One ploy to burnish Bush, who suffered from a fey Yankee air, was a press release to the Bush promised that the only way Bentsen could outflank him to the right was to "drop off the face of the earth." One ploy to burnish Bush, who suffered from a fey Yankee air, was a press release to the Houston Chronicle Houston Chronicle and the and the Houston Post Houston Post from the Texas Air National Guard concerning his son: "George Walker Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn"t get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed. Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics. After his solo, a milestone in the career of any fighter pilot, Lt. Bush couldn"t find enough words to adequately express the feeling of solo flight. "It was really neat. It was fun, and very exciting," he said." from the Texas Air National Guard concerning his son: "George Walker Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn"t get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed. Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics. After his solo, a milestone in the career of any fighter pilot, Lt. Bush couldn"t find enough words to adequately express the feeling of solo flight. "It was really neat. It was fun, and very exciting," he said."

In Rockford some found it curious that the president spoke in an airplane hangar despite the brilliant sunshine outside. (Sunshine wasn"t a reliable way to light a set.) A heckler obligingly shouted obscenities as Nixon walked down the Air Force One steps; Senator Ralph Smith delivered his only speaking part: "Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States." Nixon raised both arms in twin V-salutes, the trademark gesture he mimicked from the first time he"d seen General Eisenhower, at the New York City V-E day parade in 1945. Nixon greeted Smith, Illinois congressman John Anderson, a visiting Wisconsin congressman, and congressional aspirant Phyllis Schlafly. He won cheap applause feigning familiarity with the locale: "Any rally that will bring East Rockford and West Rockford together has to be quite a rally." Then, the standard peroration: "The president of the United States cannot do the job unless he has a Congress that will work with him, not against him...men who will have the courage to vote against spending that will raise prices for all the people.... They are not a majority and they"re not going to be the leaders of America.... As we talk about what"s wrong, let"s stand up and speak about what"s right in this country.... I pledge our goal will be to end this war to bring us a generation of peace."

Outside the hangar an overflow crowd of thousands listened on loudspeakers. A man ripped a protest sign from a girl. He said she was "abusing my right to hear the president speak." Fists flew; plainclothesmen broke it up. The next morning the Star Star ran an AP report out of Chicago that federal agents were investigating a possible presidential a.s.sa.s.sination plot. Next to that, a quarry thirteen miles to the east had reported six hundred pounds of dynamite missing. Next to that, "Illinois crime investigator accuses FBI fugitive and other members of Students for a Democratic Society of plotting anarchy." ran an AP report out of Chicago that federal agents were investigating a possible presidential a.s.sa.s.sination plot. Next to that, a quarry thirteen miles to the east had reported six hundred pounds of dynamite missing. Next to that, "Illinois crime investigator accuses FBI fugitive and other members of Students for a Democratic Society of plotting anarchy."

In Life, Life, Hugh Sidey reported that the president"s campaign speeches were not the only thing the White House scripted: "Nixon"s advance men this fall have carefully arranged with local police to allow enough dissenters into the staging areas so the President will have his theme well ill.u.s.trated as he warms to his job." Thursday night in San Jose, just over the hills from the Ohta hippie murders, the president spoke for Senator George Murphy in an auditorium. At least a thousand demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to storm the doors. Bob Haldeman, disappointed that there were no hecklers inside, was thrilled at the news. He arranged for an interval between the speech and the motorcade so the protesters would have time to ma.s.s themselves. Nixon leapt up on the hood of his bulletproof limousine, made the two-handed V-salute, and jutted out his chin. He told his handlers, "That"s what they hate to see!" Hugh Sidey reported that the president"s campaign speeches were not the only thing the White House scripted: "Nixon"s advance men this fall have carefully arranged with local police to allow enough dissenters into the staging areas so the President will have his theme well ill.u.s.trated as he warms to his job." Thursday night in San Jose, just over the hills from the Ohta hippie murders, the president spoke for Senator George Murphy in an auditorium. At least a thousand demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to storm the doors. Bob Haldeman, disappointed that there were no hecklers inside, was thrilled at the news. He arranged for an interval between the speech and the motorcade so the protesters would have time to ma.s.s themselves. Nixon leapt up on the hood of his bulletproof limousine, made the two-handed V-salute, and jutted out his chin. He told his handlers, "That"s what they hate to see!"

He was answered with a hail of rocks, flags, and candles from the candlelight vigil: Caracas in California.

Press secretary Ron Ziegler was later asked why the leader of the free world had placed his person in such danger. He responded that Nixon had spotted a "friendly face" in the crowd. Haldeman put it differently in his diary: "Made a huge incident and we worked hard to crank it up, should make a really major story and might be effective." Ziegler released a statement: "The stoning at San Jose is an example of the viciousness of the lawless elements in our society."

It proved the setup for his subsequent speech, from a hangar at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, taped for election-eve broadcast on all three networks: "Let"s recognize them for what they are: not romantic revolutionaries but the same thugs and hoodlums that have always plagued a good people.... For too long we have appeased aggression here at home, and, as with all appeas.e.m.e.nt"-appeas.e.m.e.nt, that word that worked so well in the 1950s-"the result has been more aggression and more violence. that word that worked so well in the 1950s-"the result has been more aggression and more violence.

"Let us understand that this is not a partisan issue....

"The new approach in violence requires men in Congress who will work for and fight for laws that will put the terrorists where they belong-not roaming around civil society, but behind bars." The acolytes of the old approach "are sincere Americans; they have every right to their point of view. But...for a decade their approach dominated America and it has obviously failed."

On TV, the final voice-over: "Support men who will vote for the president, not against him. Bring an end to the wave of violence in America."

The Silent Majority tramped to the polls Tuesday to the tune of one more White House statement: "It should be further said that reporters from various news organizations inspected the Presidential limousine and noted chips in the roof gla.s.s." In Rockford the morning paper sent voters on their way with yet more horrifying images: "DENVER (UPI)-National Guard officials have ordered a buildup of security forces in the Denver area as a response to threats of coordinated bombings around the country"; "Homeowners and policemen in suburban Annandale, Va., were on guard Sat.u.r.day night for a Halloween appearance of a mysterious "bunny Man" who wears a furry rabbit costume with two long ears and carries an ax"; "Girl, 2, Has Trip on Loaded Candy"; and from a town nearby, "Roch.e.l.le police chief Jerry Bratcher displays sticks of dynamite, wiring, and a battery which had been rigged in bomblike fashion inside a suitcase discovered Sat.u.r.day in a Roch.e.l.le motel."

Then Rockford joined an Illinois electoral majority in voting in...Adlai Stevenson.

In California, Democrat John Tunney unseated George Murphy.

In Texas, George Bush lost his second Senate race in a row. Two other of the White House"s handpicked hopefuls, William Cramer in Florida and Nelson Gross in New Jersey, wouldn"t be going to the Senate either. In Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, the Republicans lost, too. Mrs. Romney lost in Michigan. Democrat Vance Hartke from Indiana kept his seat, as did Bill Proxmire from Wisconsin. In Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey won back a spot in the Senate. Save for James Buckley in New York-who was helped by a commercial cut by John Wayne saying that if he lived in New York he"d sure vote for him-mighty Spiro had struck out. The only other gain for the White House was Bill Brock in Tennessee, campaigning viciously with ads like "On school prayer, Tennesseans said Yes, but Albert Gore said No," and "On busing of schoolchildren, Tennesseans say No, but Albert Gore said Yes." But what it took for a Republican to win a Senate seat now bid fair to cost them another. Forty-six-year-old Senator William Saxbe of Ohio said he was now thinking about not running for reelection: "I am not ready to abandon the Republican Party and turn it over to a bunch of unreconstructed rebels from the South. You know who they are."

Publicly the president claimed victory-a "working majority of four" in the Senate, including conservative Democrats such as Lloyd Bentsen, to

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