Nixon’s Victims

To the Editors:

We are asking for your help in a major civil liberties case which will be an important step exposing further suppressions of democratic liberties.

Attorney Leonard Boudin has filed a suit against the government Watergaters on behalf of the Socialist Workers Party which has been continuously subjected to illegal government harassment and surveillance.

We hope you will join us in supporting this important effort, to protect the Bill of Rights and end the Nixon administration’s schemes to silence dissent. While we are not necessarily in agreement with the views of the Socialist Workers Party, our sentiments are expressed by this quotation from Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

The Political Rights Defense Fund has undertaken a national campaign to publicize the issues at stake and raise the funds necessary to cover the legal costs and related expenses. Total expenses will exceed $50,000 for the first year.

As we all know, actions of this kind are enormously expensive. We are depending on sympathetic persons to respond generously—and promptly—to this appeal.

You can mail your contribution to Political Rights Defense Fund, 150 Fifth Ave., Suite 311, New York, N.Y. 10011.

Philip Berrigan

Ramsey Clark

Benjamin Spock

Gloria Steinem