Nixon 'enemy' Hans Loeser, 89; admired, civic-minded lawyer

[Forkboy]

Like many who found their names on President Richard M. Nixon’s enemies list when it became public in the early 1970s, Hans F. Loeser was delighted.

He was included for chairing the Boston Lawyers’ Vietnam Committee, an antiwar group, and shared a section of the list with the likes of Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general, and Theodore Sorensen, who had been a confidant of John F. Kennedy.

“We had a cocktail party that afternoon, we were all so proud of him,’’ said Jim Brown, at the time a colleague of Mr. Loeser’s at the Boston law firm Foley, Hoag & Eliot.

“I got a call from him and he said, ‘This is better than the Social Register. I am on the enemies list, I couldn’t be more proud,’ ’’ said his daughter, Helen of San Francisco. “And that’s how we felt. We were completely proud of him.’’

The accomplishment spoke to more than just a liberal Boston lawyer earning the enmity of a suspicious president. Mr. Loeser spent his career encouraging colleagues to become civically involved, even if it meant challenging authority, and organizing attorneys to oppose the war reflected his role at his law firm, where he was a mentor to scores of young lawyers for nearly 60 years.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/05/18/nixon_enemy_hans_loeser_89_admired_civic_minded_lawyer/

[Scuba]

1. Dick Gregory...

Political satirist and comedian Dick Gregory said that he was informed by a news reporter that he was on Nixon's 'enemies list' and was asked for comment. Said Mr. Gregory: "Tell him I accept".

[Forkboy]

2. I've heard that one.

:rofl:

Brilliant response! :)