Well, according to one of his aides he _did_ plan to use them, and the November Demo changed his mind. No one can know his secret thoughts of course, but the evidence is fairly strong.
ALSO -- according to Haldeman's memoir, the tipping point for deciding the war could not be won was a much smaller demonstration at Ohio State -- which he had regarded as "safe" territory. His visit had been kept secret, but leaked out and some students demonstrated. That opposition in the heart of Mid-America did the trick.
There is no bit of ruling class propaganda more vicious than the idea that demonstrations and petitions (PETITIONS -- not private letters) are ineffective. Thousands in the streets of D.C. represent 10s of thousands NOT MERELY OPPOSED but ACTIVELY ENGAGED in opposition. And petitions reflect organization and cooperation -- people talking with each other.
Short of armed conflict there is nothing that has as much impact on policy as large demonstrations.
And large demonstrations grow out of protracted work expressed in SMALL demonstrations -- so under some circumstances scattered small demos can be absolutely terrifying to rulers.
The number of people who don't believe this reflects the strength of ruling-class ideology.
Carrol
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Spot on, Carrol. Organizing at the grassroots may not feel as sexy as HBO-mania; but it is the best, most effective way to promote human progress. Local demos are important. We had the streets of East Lansing up to the state capitol building in Lansing filled with anti-war sentiment in October, 1969. When 'the Movement' had nearly a million people in the streets of Washington D.C. in November, 1969, Nixon and entourage freaked. It wasn't long after that he announced the end of the draft, a fulfillment of his election pledge. Of course, this reform was a concealed measure of reaction. Such is the nature of reform politics under the rule of Capital. Still, Vietnamese nationalists were quite pleased with our support of their struggle for independence and knew that it weakened pro-imperialist war advocates, making it impossible for them to mount an electoral challenge, even within U.S. bourgeois democracy. As Carrol and others have said before, it is the situation on the ground which can make even a conservative polytrickster like Nixon look lefter than today's DP Presidential wanna-bes and while it is true that the President sets a political tone, which is very important in shaping the ebbs and flows in the body politic, what's happening at the grassroots, on the street, in the workplace and home is even more of a determining factor.
********* During the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon campaigned on a promise to end the draft.[3] Towards this end, the Gates Commission was formed, which issued a report in February 1970 describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without having conscription.[3][4] The existing draft law was expiring at the end of June 1971.... full: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States
Mike B)
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