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LT. GOVERNOR “FIDDLEDWHILEWATTS BURNED”
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NIXON, RICHARD M. Typed Letter Signed, “Dick,” to CEO of the Hearst
Foundation Richard E. Berlin (“Dear Dick”), explaining that this letter is not meant to
influence the editorial decisions that Hearst papers will be making [concerning the
endorsements for candidates in the 1966 CA state races], expressing hope that the Hearst
papers would endorse Reagan for Governor and Finch for Lieutenant Governor, claiming
that incumbent Lt. Gov. Glenn M. Anderson is responsible for the some of the death and
damage incurred during theWatts riots, and suggesting that an endorsement of Anderson is
an endorsement of radical views that are incompatible with the principles of the Hearst
papers. 2 pages, 4to, personal stationery, written on rectos only of separate sheets; loss at
upper corners of each sheet repaired with paper, horizontal folds. (TFC)
NewYork, 12 October 1966
[1,000/1,500]
“
. . . I would not for a moment impose
on your friendship to attempt to influ-
ence the editorial decisions which I
know the Hearst papers will be making
in Los Angeles and San Francisco
within the next few days.
“
. . . I strongly favor the election of
Ronald Reagan and the other statewide
Republican candidates. I . . . am aware
that . . . the decision as far as the gover-
norship is concerned is still to be made at
the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
. I
naturally hope that the Los Angeles
paper will do what it did in 1964 in
supporting the Republican ticket . . . .
“
There is one office, however, on which I
have the very strongest personal convictions
and where I hope both the San Francisco
and Los Angeles papers will reach the same
conclusion. Bob Finch, the Republican
candidate for Lieutenant Governor is
probably the best qualified . . . .
“
. . . The Hearst papers have been
strongly anti-communist, anti-radical,
for a strong stand against aggression in
Vietnam, and for a firm handling of the
disgraceful mob rule which brought the
great University of California to its
knees and made Watts such a symbol of terror for all the world to see. Anderson . . . is . . . a charter
member of the radical left in California. . . . [H]e refused to support action to deal with the lawless ele-
ments at the University of California.And . . . he delayed calling out the National Guard because of
his desire to curry favor with the radical civil rights elements with the result that damage to life and
property soared unnecessarily. . . . Anderson fiddled while Watts burned.
“
. . . I hope your editorial boards will not allow the . . . Hearst papers . . . to be used to promote the
candidacy of a man who throughout his public life has fought against most of the principles for which
the Hearst papers have stood.
“
This is a strictly personal letter . . . . I am not writing ‘for the record’ or to impress someone later who
may be writing the history of this election. . . .”