Angeles, California. The incident, nonetheless, cast its own light on the "spirit of Glassboro" or "spirit of Holly Bush," as some of the Washington propagandists preferred to call it, and perhaps it signified something new on the American political scene.
On Friday, June 23, after a final handshake and pat on the back for the representative of the Kremlin, who went far beyond the call of duty in displaying homely cordiality, the busy political chief of U.S. imperialism jetted to the West Coast for a $500-a-plate fund-raising dinner sponsored by the local Democratic party bosses.
But the antiwar movement had organized a reception of its own. In response to the call to show Johnson what the people of Los Angeles really think about his war in Vietnam, a tremendous crowd turned out -- in fact the biggest of its kind in the history of the city. Estimates put the figure as high as 25,000 although the sponsoring committee, deciding to be conservative, put it at 20,000.
The demonstration was a legal one, having obtained the proper police permits, and it was conducted in an orderly way.
The Los Angeles police, however, appear to have been briefed to try a tactic that had not yet been attempted
"LET US REASON TOGETHER"
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"LET US REASON TOGETHER"
by the authorities in response to the many and mounting demonstrations that have been staged against U.S. involvement in the Vietnamese civil war.
"The police used loudspeakers to instruct the crowd to disperse," writes a correspondent of World Outlook. "Only those in the front ranks heard the instructions." Those behind, not. hearing the police, kept moving forward.
"Shoulder to shoulder, the police advanced on the crowd, protected by crash helmets and with both hands on their clubs. The police separated the crowd into vulnerable sections and then when the demonstrators were unable to move they started swinging their clubs."
A 14-year-old girl reported: "The squad moved on us, swinging their clubs. My girl friend got knocked down. I tried to help her but a policeman kneed her in the stomach and hit her in the jaw with his club. We got to the parking lot, where police were still bashing and pushing and kicking people."
Dozens of similar scenes were reported. One demonstrator told the Los Angeles Free Press how people fell as they tried to get away and were then beaten senseless by the pursuing cops.
“Motoreycle cops rushed along the curb, stopping every ten feet or so and striking out. blindly with clubs."
"The police listed 200 as injured," writes our correspondent, "but many others were beaten and left to bleed. Unknown hundreds of others escaped to their homes. Only 51 were arrested, conpared to the hundreds beaten. As the frenzy of beatings ended, Police Chief Tom Reddin said, 'It was a perfect police exercise. I am very satisfied."
The June 25 Los Angeles Times reported him as saying, "It was a beautiful plan and well executed."
Democratic Mayor Sam Yorty, one of the main hosts of President Johnson at the banquet, left his $500 plate long enough to watch the execution of the "beautiful plan." According to the Los Angeles Times, he offered his thanks to the police, who are of course under his jurisdiction, "for making the President's stay an enjoyable and safe one."
Thousands of participants, for whom this was their first demonstration of any kind, were eyewitnesses of the police brutality, saw their fellow demonstrators being roughed up and clubbed, saw the blood streaming from lacerated skulls. Hundreds of thousands in the area saw the scenes on TV. As a result there was an uproar in the community.
Some of the participants began
speaking as charter members of a new
"June 24 Movement."
The civil-liberties organizations
rallied to the defense of the victims.
The issue became so hot that it finally
was given notice in the New York press
which had evidently hoped to ignore it.
Johnson, of course, was well aware
of what was occurring, including the ad-
vance plans. According to the July 1 New
York Post, "the President ate his dinner
at the Century Plaza Hotel expecting to
be rushed from the hotel at any minute."
The same source declares, "Ap-
parently the [Secret Service] agents kept
Johnson briefed on the developments out-—
side because he referred to them when he
later commended Police Chief Tom Reddin
on the ‘fine Job your officers have done
tonight.'"
Let us recall that Johnson flew to
Los Angeles to participate in the execu-
tion of this "beautiful plan" to use po-
lice clubs on antiwar demonstrators, af-
ter his first meeting with Kosygin. If
Johnson had had the slightest reason to
believe that a bloody incident like the
one contemplated against the antiwar
movement in Los Angeles would pain or
even embarrass the distinguished repre-
sentative of the Kremlin, would he have
gone through with it?
It is excluded, of course, that
Johnson consulted with Kosygin about the
evening's plans to use clubs on those who
were coming to protest the war in Vietnam
and to demand the withdrawal of American
troops among other things. But whatever
Kosygin said must have sounded extremely
reassuring to the boss of the U.S. imperi-
alist war machine.
If there were any doubts whatso-
ever, they were settled by the fact that
Kosygin did not at once cancel his sched-
uled Sunday meeting with Johnson in order
to indicate his solidarity with the anti-
war demonstrators who had been brutally
attacked and beaten in Los Angeles be-
cause they dared to engage in an action
that signified solidarity with the Viet-
namese people in their terrible ordeal.
Instead, wagging his tail to make
friends, while keeping it tucked between
his legs out of harm's way, Kosygin re-
turned for the second sniffing of noses.
Small wonder that Johnson was re-
ported to be "jubilant" over his success
in luring the Soviet "leader" into a ses-
sion of reasoning together. Of course,
Kosygin can reply that it was he who won.
He convinced Johnson of the virtues of
"peaceful coexistence" and this is proved
by what happened at Los Angeles.
AN