California Aggie, Volume LXXI, Number 119, 23 May 1969 — Reagan Blames Berkeley Violence On Revolutionaries [ARTICLE]

Reagan Blames Berkeley Violence On Revolutionaries

Governor Ronald Reagan, commenting on the situation at Berkeley in a press conference Tuesday, blamed the violence on “revolutionaries” arming to provoke a confrontation with the police. Reagan began the press conference by reading a prepared statement concerning BerkeleyHe said, “It should be obvious to every Californian that there are those in our midst who are bent on destroying our society and our democracy and they will go to any ends to achieve their purpose-whether it be a so-called park or a college curriculum,” said Reagan. “I now urge-more deeply than before and more fervently than it is possible to express-that those relative few who are seeking to destroy us by turning one against the other must be dealt with firmly, swiftly and with the justice they deserve.” Reagan commented that he believed that certain campus leaders were behind much of the unrest on campuses across the nation. He also noted that U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell has said the Justice Department may act against student leaders involved in campus disturbances. Reagan commented on the alleged presence of a hard core of agitators promoting campus disturbances, saying, “We know that several of these well-known names that are always associated with this trouble wherever it may be in the country are present in Berkeley now in this latest uprising over there.” Reagan, in response to questioning, listed names; including Tom Hayden, recent speaker at UCD and founder of SDS, Arthur Goldberg, Mario Savio, and Mike Delacour. The last three are former UCB students active in the 1964 Free Speech Movement. Reagan was also questioned about his opinions on the use of shotguns and birdshot by police. He said, “I think it is being very naive to assume that you should send anyone into that kind of conflict with a fly swatter. He’s got to have an appropriate weapon.” The governor said the Berkeley fighting is not “simply

the acts of youngsters sowing their wild outs or seriously and legitimately questioning our society and its values. Violence erupted at Berkeley last Thursday when the University of California moved squatters from the university-owned property that has for more than two years been part of the university’s planned expansion.” “The report that>l had was

that this property had become a kind of junkyeard and because it was standing there vacant, that there were abandoned cars on it and so forth, and that the university probably in the area of good citizenship, cleaned up the yard and hauled some of this junk away,” said Reagan. “And it was following this...that the devotees of this part project moved in.” Asked whether the

University had made funds available to allow the students and others to clean up the park, Reagan responded, “Now that you have to check with the university. Once it is in their hands, they’ve got autonomy in whatever they choose to do.”