Reply #10: Remember - Hell, I was on the list [View All]

[OutNow]

About 6 months after the list was identified (not when the entire list was published because I don't think it was published in its entirety in the 70s) I got a phone call from a lawyer friend of mine. He had just finished participating in a meeting that was putting together the strategy on lawsuits against the government for COINTELPRO crimes against the New Left, Black Panthers, etc.

"Hey", my friend said, "you're on the list". I thought he meant the list of plaintiffs for the lawsuit. I expressed my thanks for inclusion in the lawsuit. "No, no", he replied, "you're on the enemies list - Nixon's enemies list. We had a copy at the meeting." Well, I was a political activist, I was arrested about a dozen times, etc. My FBI file that I obtained later via a FOIA and a later COINTELPRO lawsuit explained how I was included on the list.

The Boys Club in my town had just built a new center and Tricia Nixon was coming to town to speak at the grand opening. No one but folks associated with the Boys Club and the local cops knew of her visit. (In those years no one associated with the Nixon regime could go anywhere without causing a near riot of antiwar protests). Someone on the board told us of the event. We showed up with about 200 protesters and a very graphic display of black coffins and members of the local VVAW drenched in fake blood, with a large banner "Nixon's Boy's Club". We outnumbered the local dignitaries about 200 to 100 and made some folks very pissed off. Tricia (or her handlers) was shocked by the gore. (why the 50,000 GIs dead in Vietnam wasn't shocking to her is the puzzling thing to me). The subsequent FBI investigation (you might ask yourself why the FBI was investigating since no crime was committed) quite easily identified the leak (he told the first FBI guy who asked) and the organizers of the protest (including me). For this, I was added to the list.

This was not a joke by the way. My employer and landlord were "interviewed" by the FBI. my taxes were audited and my wages garnished for about $25.00 (just to piss off my employer I'm sure) and other nasty stuff occurred.

Thanks for creating this thread. I haven't thought about Nixon's list in quite some time.

For the record, I'm 58, and a strong supporter of Barack Obama.