"Double Oink" by Dick Mauer
It was 1969 and I was an Immigration Patrol Inspector (IPI) stationed in Buffalo. (Patrol Agent status would come a year or two later) Nixon was going to be inaugurated on January 20th and several of the Buffalo Sector Officers were detailed to WashingtonD.C. to be sworn in as U.S. Marshals during the "festivities".
As the "days of rage" were in full swing at that time the "intelligence communities" were predicting that
the hippies would try to disrupt the inauguration.
The Washington Police had issued a permit for a circus tent on the grounds of the Washington Monument and the hippie nation had announced its intention to inaugurate a pig in the tent.
We met at the Department of Justice building, were teamed up, and assigned various areas to observe events that the "counter culture"were preparing. One of the assigned duties we were given was to track and report on the arrival of buses and hippie caravans, and try to get a count of the "disaffected bastards" as they rolled in.
I was at a position close to the tent and when it was really crowded I walked over and went in to see the sights. (when I took of my coat and
tie, and rolled up my sleeves I could blend in with that bunch of
misfits, UNOIMSAYIN) I found myself standing next to David Dellinger, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, and Rennie Davis, all members of the "Chicago 7"
They did their thing with the pig and had no effect on Nixon's party.
Needless to say, we weren't invited to any of the balls and I think we were on our way home while they were still dancing. I think that the per diem was $16.00 a day on that detail.
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