printed in The Union Leader, which was subsequently reported by the media as the Muskie "crying" incident.794

The other instances or allegations of improper activities directed at Democratic candidates that were not linked to any other Presidential campaign are contained in the Committee files and are not detailed in this report.795

C. Improper Activities Directed Against President Nixon's Re-Election Campaign

Testimony before the Committee indicates that the 1972 re-election campaign of President Nixon was subjected to some improper, unethical or illegal activities perpetrated by persons individually or in combination with others. Some of these actvities took the form of violent acts if destruction against local campaign offices. The Select Committee condemns all acts of violence by individauls against the campaign of any political candidate. Other improper activities directed at President Nixon's campaign included demonstrations which may have prevented citizens from exercising their rights to assemble freely, and a few examples of scurrilous literature directed against the President.

It should also be noted that except for a few isolated examples noted below, there is presently no evidence indicating that these improper activities were directly or indirectly related to the campaign of any Democratic candidate.

1. DEMONSTRATIONS

Affidavits in the Committee record describe in detail some of the violent demonstrations directed against the Nixon reelection campaign.796 The most significant of these demonstrations are described below.

In Boston, a demonstration at an appearance of Mrs. Nixon resulted in some personal injuries to bystanders and extensive property damage (e.g. smashing of windshields, the slashing of tires, and the burning of an automobile). The "Nixon Campaign Car" suffered much damage and "(expletive deleted) Nixon" was scratched in the paint all over the car. 797

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, demonstrators chanted slogans during 794. See, e.g. New York Times, February 27, 1972, p. 54; and Time, March 13, 1972, p. 20.

795. See, for example, letters from John McEvoy and Robert Strauss and interviews with former McGovern campaign workers.

796. 12 Hearings 5007-5018; Exhibits 246-260.

797. 12 Hearings 5110-5115; 12 Hearings 5116-5118; 12 Hearings 4996-5007.

a campaign speech by President Nixon in an attempt to disrupt the President's rally.798 Testimony from the Tulsa CRP youth coordinator alleged that the demonstration had been organized by the local McGovern campaign college co-ordinator.799

The Committee also received testimony that demonstrators in Fresno, California, some of whom carried McGovern cam'paign signs, shouted down potential Republican speakers with obscenities and abusive language.800

In Tampa, Florida, testimony indicates that a group of demonstrators shouted in unison and heckled a speech by then Vice-President Agnew.801 In Chicago, Illinois, Agnew's appearance was "continually disturbed by large groups of unruly demonstrators.” 802

An appearance by President Nixon in Atlanta, Georgia, provoked a demonstration by about 75 individuals. The demonstrators apparently engaged in shouting obscenities and their "pushing and shoving" caused some observers to be concerned "for the President's safety." 803

In Maine, the campaign appearance of then Vice-President Agnew was met by a large crowd of demonstrators protesting against the war. Testimony before the Committee indicated that some individuals threw cans and plastic bags filled with tomato juice at Republican delegates and at Vice-President Agnew,804

In New York City, the Nixon re-election campaign offices were harrassed by demonstrators who dumped cockroaches in the offices and threw paint on volunteer Nixon workers at a storefront.805 In Columbus, Ohio, testimony indicated that an appearance by then Vice-President Agnew was met by a large demonstration in which demonstrators threw rocks and other objects at both guests and police, one of which struck Agnew's car's rear window "directly behind where the Vice-President was seated." 806

The Committee also received testimony indicating that high level McGovern campaign personnel participated in the organization of a demonstration at the campaign appearance of President Nixon at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on September 27, 1972.

Fred Taugher, the Southern California campaign co

798. 12 Hearings 5165-72.

799. 12 Hearings 5171-72.

800. 12 Hearings 5051-5054, 4947-4963.

801. 12 Hearings 5074.

802. 12 Hearings 5082-83.

803. 12 Hearings 5076-81. 804. 12 Hearings 5084-5094. 805. 12 Hearings 5151-5152. 806. 12 Hearings 5153-5158.

ordinator for McGovern, testified that at a meeting between himself, Rich Stearns, the McGovern Western campaign coordinator, and two other McGovern workers, it was decided that the McGovern phone banks in the Los Angeles headquarters "would be available to the sponsors of the demonstration" in order to call individuals "to encourge them to attend the demonstration." 807 Stearns testified that he was aware of planning for the demonstration and that he had no objections to McGovern staffers attending the demonstration, but that he recalled no requests to the campaign to provide any assistance for the demonstration.808

Taugher testified that the McGovern phone banks were used on two successive nights by demonstration organizers, and that leaflets announcing the demonstration were distributed in about half of the McGovern storefronts in the Los Angeles area.809 Use of the phone banks was terminated, Taugher testified, because they were needed to organize a rally for Senator McGovern the following week.

In response to inquiries from the press about the use of the phone banks, McGovern press spokesman Fred Epstein told reporters, "I don't know who allowed them to use the phones or who told them to stop. . . It probably was some overzealous person in the campaign." 810 Taugher testified that the press statement left "the wrong impression." 811

About 3000 individuals demonstrated aginst the President at Century Plaza,812 but the demonstration was peaceful by all accounts.818 The use of the resources of a political campaign, however, to organize a large demonstration against an opponent raises some questions of propriety.

H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Rob Odle all testified that the frequency and intensity of demonstrations in the 1972 campaign were a cause of major concern both within the White House and within the Committee to ReElect the President.814 Finally, the Committee received both testimony and extensive documentation describing some of the violent demonstrations which occurred in Miami Beach, Florida, during the Republican convention week, August 1924, 1972. Congressman Tim Lee Carter testified before the

807. 11 Hearings 4539. 808. 11 Hearings 4571.

809. 11 Hearings 4540-41.

810. 11 Hearings 4549. 811. 11 Hearings 4550.

812. 11 Hearings 4558.

813. 11 Hearings 4559. Pat Buchanan, however, testified that this demonstration was a "near violent [demonstration] denying the President of the United States a right to speak." (10 Hearings 3942) Lt. Hickman testified that the demonstration did not deny the President that right to speak. (11 Hearings 4560).

814. See 6 Hearings 2502; 7 Hearings 2874-2876; 12 Hearings 5188-5192.

Committee and outlined some instances of physical violence to which he and his wife were subjected while attending the Republican convention.815 Congressman Carter also testified about a number if personal injuries and property damage that he observed while attending the Republican National Convention. 816

The Committee also received in evidence the "Chronological Log of Events" prepared by the Miami Beach Police Department, which recites the number of incidents of violence which were perpetrated on delegates and their families by demonstrators in Miami.817 These incidents included, for example, the pelting of delegates with eggs and rocks, slashing tires, attempts to set buses filled with delegates on fire, stuffing potatoes in exhaust pipes, smashing windows, throwing ignited papier mache bombs into the convention compound, tear gas grenades thrown by demonstrators, shots fired at police officers, and demonstrators marching on Convention Hall attired with helmets, gas masks, and night sticks.818 As a result of these tactics, more than 1,200 arrests were made in two days during the convention week.819

A delegate from South Carolina described in a letter to the Committee that the entire South Carolina delegation to the convention had stones thrown at them as they boarded their bus to proceed to the Miami Convention Hall on the last evening of the convention.820 In addition, the South Carolina delegate described the slashing of the bus' tires, the destruction of the gas lines of the bus by the demonstrators, and the physical abuse to which the delegates were subjected:

we were pushed and shoved, struck by eggs, stones, and fists and spit on, we found ourselves separated into twos and threes. They tore clothing and screamed obscenities. The slogans many of them chanted called for either ending the war in Viet Nam or dumping President Nixon. In the confusion my wife and I were temporarily separated. I finally was able to rescue her from a doorway where she was trapped by the mob. Her dress had been torn and she was hysterical. 821

From the evidence in the Committee's records, it appears that most of the demonstrators in Miami Beach during the Republican Convention were part of demonstrations against

815. 12 Hearings 4986-4996.

816. Ibid.

817. 12 Hearings 5219-5257.

818. Ibid.

819. For full expostion of the events, see 12 Hearings 5196-5264.

820. 12 Hearings 5262.

821. 12 Hearings 5263.

the war.822 Any act of violence directed at participants in the political process has no place in the American political system.

It should be noted here that the Select Committee received letter on June 8, 1973, from John H. Davitt, Chief of the Internal Security Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice which stated that neither the I.S.D. files nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation had any information which linked any Democratic candidate in the 1972 campaign to any criminal acts or any conspiracies to commit unlawful or disruptive acts.823

2. CAMPAIGN VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT Another problem in the 1972 Presidential campaign was the violence directed against CRP and Republican campaign offices in various cities. In Phoenix, Arizona, the CRP headquarters building was gutted by fire resulting from arsonists splashing some five gallons of gasoline throughout the headquarters. 824

The affidavit of George Willeford, Jr., described a fire set in the State Republican headquarters offices in Austin, Texas in the Spring of 1972.825 Other affidavits describe attempted arson against CRP headquarters in Albuquerque and New Hampshire.826 Further affidavits describe gunshots being fired into campaign headquarters of the CRP in Massachusetts and in Pennsylvania.827 In Springfield, Mass., the room into which the shot was fired was full of people but no one was injured.828

Other acts of destruction directed against the 1972 campaign to re-elect President Nixon included the smashing of plate glass windows,829 the spraying of vulgar anti-Nixon signs on buildings and windows 830 and alleged break-ins to the campaign headquarters where campaign property was destroyed.831

822. 12 Hearings 5198. 823. 8 Hearings 3321.

824. 12 Hearings 5034-5047.

825. 12 Hearings 5176.

826. See 12 Hearings 5143-5146; 5127-5142.

827. See 12 Hearings 5116-5119; 5173.

828. 12 Hearings 5117.

829. 12 Hearings 5097-5101.

830. 12 Hearings 5147-5150.

831. See, e.g. affidavit of Chester Oman stating that motor oil was poured on Nixon campaign literature, 12 Hearings 5125-26; affidavit of Ella Jacques stating that Dayton CRP headquarters were broken into and McGovern signs printed on the walls, 12 Hearings 5163; and affidavit of Toni Greenwood stating that the Washington, D.C. Democrats for Nixon headquarters was occupied by 75-100 demonstrators and campaign literature destroyed and pro-McGovern literature left in its place. 12 Hearings 5185-87.