Anti-War Presidential Candidate In City

Socialist Workers party presidential nominee Fred Halstead was in Detroit Friday, October 6 to kick off his campaign at a rally sponsored by the S.W.P. campaign committee.

Halstead spoke about the positions of the Republican and Democratic presidential aspirants on the Vietnam war before an audience mostly made up of young people. Picking up on Governor Romney’s statement that LBJ had “brainwashed” him on Vietnam, Halstead pointed out that even the “dove” candidates and mass media evidenced brainwashing in the unconscious racism of assuming that somehow the U.S. had a mission in Vietnam.

If the S.W.P. got equal press and TV coverage, and if all its votes were counted, he said, the S.W.P. might have a chance to challenge the two-party monopoly in this election. In calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops, he said, “we speak for more Americans than the Republicans’ or Democrats.”

Campaign chairman Paul Lodico read a letter from the state official in charge of receiving petitions to put minority parties on the ballot. This letter indicated that the S.W.P. had submitted enough signatures to qualify it as a ballot party in ’68.

Only a formality remains before the S.W.P. is certified in the state as a ballot party.