HW 50529 _" TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM “Memphis, Tenuessee, dated October 20, 1967, in this matter. tives of the Momphis, Tennessee, Police Department. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE " FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CIA HAS NO OBJECTION To ie | DECLASSIFICATION ANDIOR In Reply, Please Refer to . RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT File No. ; Memphis, Tennessee i imemoriL October 24, 1967 i MICROPILKS uz i Dfcl i6/ DOS. MISAS. scr.” i ne: ONATIONAL MOBNLIZATION COMMITTER INFORMATION CONCERNING . _ CINTERNAL SECURITY) Reference is made to the memorandum prepared at Beginning at approximately moon on Saturday, . — October 21, 1967, a group totaling 12 individuals demonstrated 7 in front of the Federal Office Building, 167 North Main - Street, Memphis, Tennessee, et This demonstration was cbserved by a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as representa , The demonstration lasted approximately 64 minutes _ with the demonstrators holding crudely made Signs, hand .§s—S printed, with such notations as “End the Draft"; “Support © Our Boys In Vietnam, Bring Them Home —-- Alive!"; "Get Out of Vietmam"; “X Oppose the War, the Draft": and “We Protest the Indecent and Inhuman Acts of the VietNam : War -- Leave!" The group consisted of three white females, namely Frances Kathryn Hetzer, Mary Helen Evans, and Susan _ Macdonald, #11 students at Memphis State University (MSU);_ one Negro male, Coby Vernon Smith, currently a student at Southwestern College; and eight white males, including Howard Sidney Chilton, III, Memphis State University student, and Douglas Turmer Howard, Jr., MSU English Instructor, The identities of the others are mot known, Im general the group consisted of lomg-haired boys, some with beards, They jo 3 69. DoclId: 3273466867 Page 2? . . . . . . . one EL AP eeneney Leap lieth a tein ante imei ah cade aneenin edi ahah otk adioe sae atiaet ee a ann anna anne nee Pe ait Letene dun mnadsinae autaaitm stake naan aden anamaiee = eremnyer: omrnnetns =
JOR HW 50529 NATIONAL MOBILIZATION COMMITTEE did mot distribute any literature, did not move off the sidewalk in front of the Federal Office Building, and were ' observed by vary few spectators due to the fact that in the immediate vicinity of the Federal Office Building is located the State Office Building, Memphis City Hall, and Ellis Auditorium, a11 of which were > unoccupied, since this was a _Saturday. COBY VERNON SMITH On July 3, 1967, a first source advised that . Coby Vernon Smith, male Negro, then a student at Southwestern College, Memphis, Tennessee, was one of the early organizers of a Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) chapter at Memphis, Tennessee, in the Fall of 1966; that consistently since that time Smith has been a vociferous agitator, preaching racial militancy and “black power,” fancying himself as a follover of the renowned hatemonger Stokely Carmichael, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader, On Jume 5, 1967, a second source advised that Coby Smith attended the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) National Committee Plenum held at 783 Broadway, -New York City, Jume 2, 3 and 4, 1967. (A characterization of the SSOC is set forth in the Appendix section of this communication.) (The SWP has been designated by the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to Executive Order 10450.) Docld: 32346367 Page 3
1 . . . | APPENDIX» : Pe SOUTHERN STUDENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (SSOC) eee eee anne a ae On November 1, 1966, a first source advised that the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) with headquarters at 1703 Portland Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, was formed on the weekend of April 3-5, 1964, to stimulate activity of Southern student groups in areas of civil rights, peace, academic freedom, civil liberties, capital punishment and unemployment, Originally, it was to be a white counterpart of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It has agreed to work with similar interested groups such as SNCC .and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Southern Con-: ference Educational Fund, Inc, (SCEF)., SSOC is a fraternal affiliate of. SDS, a Beginning in the fall of 1966, SSOC became a membership organization and embarked on a campaign to form local chapters on various college campuses throughout the South, SSOC publishes, October through May each year, a publication, "New South Student," which according to the o: above source has increasingly espoused and defended the. pro- a. Communist and anti-United States position on domestic and foreign policy, On September 27, 1966, a second source advised that Donald Boner of Nashville, Tennessee, while in attendance at a Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) Youth Conference, Camp Webatuck, New York, September 12, 13 and 14, 1966, gave a report regarding Nashville, saying that CP personnel were concentrating on organizing rent strikes, working with SSOC and SCEF and ,eStablishing a Socialist Study Group for students, He predicted future rioting, which, he said, the CP must take advantage of, He emphasized that more CP youth must be sent South, On August 12, 1966, a third source advisedtthat Donald Leslie Boner, white male, age 22, of 3105 Louise Drive, Nashville, Tennessee, had been in the CP about four months,: ee APPENDIX HW 50529 DBocld:32346867 Page 4
Xp, “a we 2 ‘ APPEND IX SOUTHERN STUDENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ¢Ssoc) th On September 27, 1966, and ayain on June 2, 1967, the second source advised that during tic Summer of 1966 the CPUSA concentrated its youth cadre in organizing projects in several cities in an effort to recruit for and strengthen local CP youth organizations, Nashville} Tennessee ,; was included in this project, The youth placed in charge of the Nashville project was Donald Leslie Boner, with funds to be oe made available for three to five full-time organizers in an Nashville, Jacqueline’ Saindon, also knows; as Jackie, of the 7 CP in New York, New York, a Queens College student, came to Nashville in the Summer of 1966 for this purpose, At the CPUSA Youth Conference held at Camp Webatuck, New York, September 12, 13 and 14, 1966, Boner reported that effective liaison had been made with SSOC; that contact had also been made with black militants on Nashville Negro college campuses; ‘and that a beginning had been made toward organizing in the Nashville Negro community. He said he thought a riot was possible. in the near future in the Negro community and the CP must take advantage of same. He emphasized that some main efforts were to NSE work with SSOC and SCEF. Following the conference, attendees _ Brian Heggen and Patricia Louise Rabbitt, also known as Patti Rabbitt, traveled to Nashville to join Boner's organizing efforts there, On February 28, 1967.2 fourth source advised that Patti Rabbitt of Seattle, Washington, a member of the Northwest CP District, had gone to Nashville, Tennessee, to organize: in connection with a CP assignment, On June 8, 1967, source five advised that Patti Rabbitt, Brian Heggen, Donald Leslie Boner and wife Carol Stevens Boner are all active members of SSOC in Nashville and that Heggen is now editor of the official SSOC publication, "New South Student," x On July 7, 1967, source six advised that Donald Boner ‘and wife Carol Boner attended a CPUSA Youth Conference at Camp Abelard, New York, July 1 through 4, 1967, APPENDIX 120-300-295 HW 50529 Docld: 32346367 Page 5
HW 50529 3. | . APPENDIX SOUTHERN SSUDRNT ONGANIZING COMMITTEE (SSOC) The masthead of the Jume, 1967, issue of “Southern Patriot,” official publication of SCEF, lists Carol Stevens Boner and Anme Braden as Editors and lists Carl Braden as Executive Director, The ‘Nashville Banner,” Nashville, Tennessee, newspaper issue of May 5, 1967, reported that SSOC was: ~preparing for the May 17, 1967, appearance of Mike Zagarell, National Youth Director, CPUSA, at Vanderbilt University; - that Bill Doss, Press Agent for SSOC, om May 12, 1967, brought to the "Banner" office publicity material which the CP had sent to SSOC, The April, 1967, issue, Volume IV, No, 4, of "New South Student, f published each month, October through May, by SSOoCc, carried an article on page 32 entitled, "CIA American Labor , " py Donald Boner, a review of a book * entitled, "The CIA and American Labor, authored by George Morris, Labor Editor of "Phe Worker," east coast communist newspaper. Boner is described therein as an active member of the Nashville SSOC chapter, ® 7 APPENDIX Docld: 3273466867 Page 6