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The Last Time I Saw Nixon...There will hr a paint-in tonight (Friday) to make signs to greet Mr. Nixon upon his arrival in Burlington. Materials will he supplied, everyone invit ed, particularly artists and pundits. 7:00 in The Campus office.as if the future President would he pulled off the platform. Two Secret Servicemen rushed up from behind and rescued him by linking arms around his waist. Pat Nixon, expressionless throughout the night, look startled and then relieved.Her husband went on shaking hands.President Nixon will touch down briefly in Burlington Saturday to boost the re-election drive of his fellow Republican , U S Sen. Winston L Prouty. Sen Prouty announcedeWS h',PPil'' °n ...The Rutland He,aidOctober 13,1970by STEVE EARLYThe first time I saw Richard Nixon (and the last time except for a brief glimpse during the Inaugural parade) was while h? was campaigning for President in the fall of 1%K. He was speaking at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, N Y. to a group of suburban Republicans who gave him a rousing reception. The evening, in fact, was my introduction to the ways of suburban Republicanism several thousand of the Party faithful were there, well fed and satisfied. wearing Nixon- Agnew buttons and waving little American flags, booing the names of liberals like Senator Javits and Congressman Ogden Reid (Charlie Goodell was soon to be added to their shit list.) Even then, many in the crowd brandished * Buckley for Senate” signs, and there was real anger when a few longhairs from Scarsdale stood in the back balcony and shouted Peace Now'” before they were hustled out by guardsM re reassuring to the older folks were the 'Nixonettes,” freshly-scrubbed teen-age girls wearing white dresses and plastic boaters. They showered the candidate with confetti and clapped joyously when a net full of balloons was released from the ceiling Nixon himself was in an exuberant mood. \Uien he linished his stock campaign speech (livened up a bit with a pitch to the locals about suburbia being the new backbone of the nation”—exactly what they wanted to hear), he acknowledged the cheers and applause by raising both arms above his head and flashing the V-sign. Grinning broadly he stepped to the edge of the stage and reached for the ex tended hands of those in the front of the crowd People surged forward, the hands grasped his, and for a moment it seemedAbout four months later, when I briefly saw Nixon again, Pat was there also. It was right after the Inauguration ceremony and the two of them were riding together with the late Senator Everett Dirkson in the closed limousine that led the Inaugural parade. I was standing on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street in the midst of a crowd of people who were not Westchester Republicans .They were anti-.wari demonstrators who had come to Washington for the counter-inaugural protests. Some of them had already “inhoguratcd” one President that weekend, Pigasus J. Pig of Yippie fame. But that is not to say they were not ready to welcome Richard Nixon tlt;x; they were»-with anything they could get their hands on to throw at him.As the President’s car approached, it was met with a barrage of eggs, fruit, pennies, dirt bombs, and the chant, “Fuck you, Agnew” (accent on the last syllabic). The chant rhymed well but Agnew was nowhere to be seen. The President’s car was surrounded by Secret Servicemen who broke into a run at the first sign of trouble. One agent suddenly leaped and batted down a ball of tin-foil headed for the windshield. The limousine speeded up and the President and his wife went on waving to friendlier folks on the other side of the avenue. Everett Dirkson, who was never stfmcd in Caracas, )ust glared.Such have been my encounters with Richard Nixon andat least two methods of Hailing the Chief Now it seems thathe is coming to Vermont this weekend, due to set foot on oursoil sometime Saturday at the Burlington Airport It remainsto be seen how he will be greeted Probably with cheers andapplause, balloons and confetti, and the verbal bouquets oflocal Republicans. An anti-Nixon demonstration is not inconceivable. though Students at Goddard. UVM. and Middlc-bury have been known to protest the war on occasion. Two weeks ago. at a Yippie” meeting here, students discussed the possibility n| meeting Nixon at the airport and drowning him out by singing, over and over, the various verses of The Star Spangled Banner. Either that.or loudly playing the anthem on kazoos Senator Proutys opponent Phil Hoff, and people in the Hoff campaign are worried that any disruptive incidents will somehow be linked to Hoff and used against him. President Nixon may yet find that breezing into Burlington1 is not like breezing into Kansas Slate, and Phil Hoff may end up spending the last two weeks of his campaign explaining away the kids” and whatever it is they might do on Saturday.
Newspaper Details
Middlebury Campus
Middlebury, Vermont, US
Fri, Oct 16, 1970
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Peter O.
MN, USA 25 Dec 2023
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