Nixon, Watergate and the Newhall Connection

This afternoon I was reading Rick Perlstein’s excellent Nixonland when I about jumped out of my chair in surprise and curiosity.

Perlstein was detailing a 1972 press conference between a Des Moines Register reporter and Clark MacGregor, President Richard Nixon’s campaign manager. The context of the press conference was, of course, Watergate and the election, and MacGregor was busy trashing the Washington Post for its reporting and supposed bias when he said this:

I had to read that passage three times to make sure I understood it correctly. But indeed it’s true- President Nixon’s campaign manager used a Molotov Cocktail incident in obscure Newhall, CA as a way to trash the Washington Post just as the Watergate scandal was starting to make Nixon sweat.

You can read the entire press conference here (search for Newhall to find the quote).

It’s funny isn’t it? Way back in 1972, someone in the Newhall-Saugus area (there was no Santa Clarita back then), probably upset about the war in Vietnam, Watergate, or Tricky Dick himself, apparently put a Molotov Cocktail at the front door of the local Nixon/GOP HQ. A little hippie vigilantism right here in the 91321 (or perhaps Black Power, Women’s Libbers or Gay rights?) Or was MacGregor right? Had George McGovern’s secret political operatives planted a Molotov Cocktail on the doorstep of an office building in our sleepy little town? *snicker*

I’ve searched the internets to find more about this incident; alas I’m coming up blank. Do any of you SCV old-timers know this story? Was anyone hurt, and were any arrests ever made? Where was the local Nixon reelection HQ?

Given that this is Richard Nixon-related, dare I ask whether it was really a Molotov Cocktail at all, and not just an empty bottle of whiskey?

This is but one of a few stories involving the SCV and various US Presidents. I know Bill Clinton flew over our town after the El Nino season in 1997, and Reagan helped open COC back when he was governor, but I had never heard of the Newhall-Watergate connection.

Paging John Boston!