What Politicians Must Do When Protesters Attack
Reason magazine|March 2019

Learning from Robert McNamara’s mistakes and magnanimity.

Mike Riggs
What Politicians Must Do When Protesters Attack

In June, secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled out of MXDC, an upscale Mexican eatery in the nation’s capital. In September, Sen. Ted Cruz (R– Texas) and his wife were hounded from Georgetown’s Fiola. In each instance, protesters associated with the group Smash Racism D.C. entered the restaurants and harangued their targets until they left.

The incidents provided further fodder for a newly heated national conversation about “civility” under Donald Trump’s presidency. Critics of the protesters bemoaned the radical left’s lack of good manners, while defenders argued that, with family separations at the border and the confirmation of an accused rapist to the Supreme Court, the time for politeness had passed. Both sides seemed to think the other was crossing lines that had previously been inviolable.

But such a claim is historically illiterate at best. The U.S. government has done worse, both domestically and abroad, and America’s public servants have faced much harsher blowback.

Consider former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, today remembered as the overseer of America’s disastrous war in Vietnam. On November 2, 1965, he was in his office at the Pentagon when a young Quaker from Baltimore named Norman Morrison parked 40 feet from McNamara’s window, stepped into plain view, and doused himself in kerosene while holding his own infant daughter. As the story goes, Morrison tossed his daughter to a bystander seconds before burning himself alive to protest America’s military presence in Southeast Asia. McNamara watched him die; even three decades later, talking about the incident with his literary collaborator Brian VanDeMark “brought him to tears.”

This story is from the March 2019 edition of Reason magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the March 2019 edition of Reason magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM REASON MAGAZINEView All
THE LIBERTARIAN MIND OF DAVID BOAZ
Reason magazine

THE LIBERTARIAN MIND OF DAVID BOAZ

Threats to freedom, Trump vs. Biden, and the wins libertarians can’t seem to acknowledge

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
DARE TO Fail
Reason magazine

DARE TO Fail

THERE’S NO SUCH thing as a universal millennial experience, but DARE comes close.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2024
CULTURE WARRIOR IN CHIEF
Reason magazine

CULTURE WARRIOR IN CHIEF

THE MODERN PRESIDENCY IS A DIVIDER, NOT A UNITER. IT HAS BECOME FAR TOO POWERFUL TO BE ANYTHING ELSE.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
Progress, Rediscovered
Reason magazine

Progress, Rediscovered

A NEW MOVEMENT PROMOTING SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS TO HUMANITY’S PROBLEMS EMERGES.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
'Smoking Opium Is Not Our Vice'
Reason magazine

'Smoking Opium Is Not Our Vice'

AMERICA’S FIRST DRUG WAR WAS DRIVEN BY XENOPHOBIA AGAINST CHINESE MIGRANTS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
HOW CAPITALISM BEAT COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM
Reason magazine

HOW CAPITALISM BEAT COMMUNISM IN VIETNAM

IT ONLY TOOK A GENERATION TO GO FROM RATION CARDS TO EXPORTING ELECTRONICS.

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2024
50 Years of D&D: You Can't Copyright Fun
Reason magazine

50 Years of D&D: You Can't Copyright Fun

THIS YEAR MARKS the 50th anniversary of the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the granddaddy of tabletop role-playing games and one of the urtexts of nerd culture.

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2024
The Pupil Panopticon
Reason magazine

The Pupil Panopticon

BIG BROTHER—and Parent, and Teacher— are watching.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2024
Congress Could Swipe Your Credit Reward Points
Reason magazine

Congress Could Swipe Your Credit Reward Points

A PLOT TO kill credit card reward points has bipartisan buy-in, with lawmakers framing the effort as an attempt to curb stillstubborn inflation.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2024
Regulators Killed a Lifeline for Roombas
Reason magazine

Regulators Killed a Lifeline for Roombas

IN JANUARY 2024, Amazon terminated its agreement to acquire iRobot, the company that manufactures the Roomba robot vacuum.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2024