The Cavalier daily :: Thursday, December 11, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

As one of the most powerful
exponents of the current Administration's
policies on law and order,
Richard G. Kleindienst, the Deputy
Attorney General of the United
States, offers a unique study of a
man willing to postpone a successful
legal practice to take on the
unglamorous, frustrating, taxing
work of a sub-Cabinet position.
After almost one year as the
number-two man in the Justice
Department, Mr. Kleindienst has
become one of the most often
mentioned subjects of criticism in
the Administration.

During an era of social upheaval,
racial and political dissent, rising
crime, and bloody riots, the unenviable
task of answering for what
Administration opponents and
sceptics have labeled the Justice
Department's turn to strong-arm
tactics reminiscent of police-state
societies has become the duty of
Mr. Kleindienst. This charge is
seemingly the result of Mr. Kleindienst's
own readiness to use
federal troops at the first sign of
public disorder, as evident in his
proposals to station troops on every
street corner and in every alloy
during the November 15th Moratorium.

It also lies within Mr. Kleindienst's
province to oversee the
national operation of police departments.
This area has been especially
volatile during the last year which
has seen increasing conflicts and
hostility between local enforcers
and dissident groups.

Mr. Kleindeinst's job has become
even more frustrating and
difficult since the Violence Commission's
report was published,
calling the country's police an
"independent political power", that
"reveals even duly elected officials in
influence." In a survey of five
major cities, the commission found
that the police were "coming to see
themselves as the political force by
which radicalism, student demonstrations,
and black power can be
blocked." The report continued,
stating that "the response of police
to mass protest has resulted in
steady escalation of conflict" and
that many police riots in addition
to the one in Chicago have been
documented.

Mr. Kleindienst was raised in
Winslow, Arizona a member of
what he describes as "a poor
family, a labor-union family." After
attending both the Harvard undergraduate
and law schools, where he
was Phi Beta Kappa, the Arizonian
served as a navigator with the 15th
Air Force in Italy during World War
Two. His political career began in
1953 when he was elected to the
Arizona House of Representatives.
In 1956 he became the state
Republican chairman.

In 1964 he was national director
of field operations for Barry Goldwater.
During this time he was
described by a colleague as the
most controversial member of the
Arizona Senator's "inner circle."
The colleague recalled "he was the
only one who ever questioned the
inner circle decisions, and he
stepped on a lot of feet in doing
it."

Deputy Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst

His affiliation with Goldwater
made him the most visible symbol
of ties between Nixon and the 1964
Republican nominee in the 1968
presidential campaign in which he
served as the western field director.
Because of his connections with
Goldwater, there were many
political enthusiasts who assumed
Mr. Kleindienst tended to lean
more to the right than the
traditional middle-ground approach
to major issues the nominee took.
This political liability may have
been the reason Mr. Kleindienst was
relegated to the fairly obscure post
of general counsel to the
Republican National Committee
once Nixon had won the
nomination.

While Mr. Kleindienst has often
been chastised by opponents for his
right-wing tendencies, colleagues
are quick to point out that in 1952
he bucked the conservative wing of
the party led by Robert A. Taft by
trying to line up Arizona votes for
Dwight Eisenhower. There is little
doubt that it was from this
republican that he discovered a
description of his own political
persuasion which cut through all
party lines. When asked about his
particular leanings Mr. Kleindienst
likes to use the Eisenhower ploy "I
find myself a conservative on
economic matters and a liberal on
human matters."

When Mr. Kleindienst's
appointment was announced, but
not yet confirmed, Tom Wicker,
writing in his column in "The New
York Times," asserted that such
sub-cabinet appointments were "a
grievous fumble, a missed
opportunity to give blacks and the
poor a symbolic assurance that the
new President is interested in them."
Wicker felt that th e appointment
of Mr. Kleindienst "might well
jeopardize any remaining
confidence, among the blacks, in
the Nixon Administration."

Despite such comment in the
press, Mr. Kleindienst was
confirmed after only routine
questioning before the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Before this
committee, he stated on January 29
that he endorsed "carefully
controlled" wiretapping in the
investigation of organized crime,
seconding such a view already
stated by Attorney General
Mitchell.

In reply to questions from
Senator Edward Kennedy, Mr.
Kleindienst said he favored vigorous
enforcement of civil rights laws. He
added that while "all elements"
should have the right to present
their views and demonstrate
peacefully, "restraining laws"
should be enforced.

Since the transition of the
Justice Department from the
Johnson Administration to the
present one, Mr. Kleindienst has
repeatedly stated that he believes in
vigorous criminal law enforcement
and that he supports "hard-line"
tactics in dealing with student
activists. He has recently suggested
the possibility of prosecuting the
organizers of mass demonstrations.
This was in direct reference to the
November 15th March on
Washington which was the
responsibility of the New
Mobilization Committee.

The 46-year-old attorney's
speech is being sponsored by the
Student Legal Forum. Following
his speech there will be a question
and answer period in which
questions on the Administration's
policies concerning police, student
dissent, racial problems, and
increased crime are likely to arise.