> Unfortunately, it didn't seem to get much popular traction
In the ACLU pamphlet I cited earlier, the organization included the following practical tips to build up a momentum for impeachment of Nixon:
<blockquote>IMPEACHMENT: WHAT YOU CAN DO
Know exactly what impeachment means. Become an expert on the process itself. Explain it to your family first, your friends, neighbors and associates next.
Concentrate on your Congressional district. Remember, your Representative has one of the 218 votes necessary to impeach.
Write, wire, and call your Representative. Become a repeat correspondent with your Representative. Then organize your associates into Committees of Correspondence. Personally written letters and telegrams are more effective than form letters. Omit no representative because of party preference or "conservatism" or even stated opposition to impeachment. Get your friends to do the same. Write repeatedly if your Representative makes any excuses for inaction. Send copies of your Representatives' replies to the ACLU Washington National Office, 410 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003.
Work with your Committees of Correspondence to solicit signatures on petitions calling for impeachment. File them with your Representative.
Write letters to all your local and area papers including religious, minority and labor press. Visit editors personally. Do not omit them because they are "Conservative" or "'Republican" or "hopeless" or for any other reason. Bringing the President to trial is the responsibility of all Americans, regardless of party and other political preferences.
Give speeches to other organizations to which you belong. Urge their members to pass resolutions calling for impeachment. Send those resolutions to their Representative, and announce them in the media. Urge audiences to take individual action similar to action you have taken.
Help your affiliate compile lists of influential local individuals and groups. Speak to them. Write and urge them to communicate with their Representatives.
Help your chapter and affiliate operate a speakers bureau. Arrange speakers for every possible club, group or other meeting, including college and university groups. Local schools and PTA's often conduct forums.
Watch your newspapers for announcements of upcoming conventions. Try to get a speaker on impeachment put on the agenda. Set up tables for the distribution of literature and solicitation of volunteers. Have your chapter or affiliate ask that the ACLU resolution and the enclosed back-up material be distributed. Ask state and local legislators to call for impeachment.
Publicly identify yourself. Use bumper strips, buttons and signs. Make your feelings known and visible. This provides incentive for others to do likewise. It "reminds" your Representative and his friends.
Hold seminars and workshops on impeachment. Urge the public to attend.
Urge church leaders to speak on the moral issues at stake and to call upon the members of their congregations to become involved in this effort.
Insist that your Representative meet with your ACLU chapter or its representatives. Have other groups to which you belong request appointments too. Hold coffees in private homes. Invite your Representative to appear. Organize your neighborhoods.
Organize Committees of Correspondence in your congressional district. Try to involve influential individuals and groups.
Always keep in mind that the highest order of patriotism is the defense of our constitutional system, for ourselves and for our children. Every effort should be aimed at making certain that every citizen has an understanding of this issue, and the opportunity to confront it personally.
Your Representative must be made to understand that this is not merely another "come and go" political question. Only you can make your Representative understand the importance of the issue and the extent to which he or she will be held responsible in the 1974 elections for his or her actions.
It cannot be stressed strongly enough or often enough that Representatives who do not move to impeach, and who thereby fail to bring President Nixon to trial, are accomplices to a cover-up. They are either in favor of bringing 100% of the truth to the American people, or they are helping cover it up.
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/aclunixon.html></blockquote>
The ACLU today, in contrast, hasn't issued any call for a citizen campaign for impeachment of Bush.
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>