Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolt Thinking Big: The Story of the Los Angeles Times, Its Publishers and Their Influence on Southern California, G.P. Putnam's Sons: NY, 1977. 603 pp., 1969
Chapter 24 Politics in Flux
3. The Disgrace: Sam Yorty
"Thirteen candidates entered the April 1, 1969, [L.A.] mayoralty primary, including Yorty, black City Councilman Tom Bradley, and Republican Congressman Alphonzo Bell . . . Tom Bradley placed first with 42 percent of the vote . . .
"Within several days after the primary, the mayor [Yorty] organized a "truth squad" to demonstrate links between radicals and the Bradley campaign. . . . membership in the New Democratic Coalition . . . "anarchists and revolutionaries."
" . . . The red-baiting continued throughout the campaign.
"[Yorty] . . . accused [Bradley] -a twenty-year veteran of the LAPD- of being antipolice . . . released leaflets . . . pro-black forces . . . would terrorize the white communities . . ." p. 406
". . . The campaign slogan for Sam Yorty in 1969 would become the campaign slogan for Richard Nixon's reelection in 1972 . . . both defending individualism and competitive values [along with] a strong probusiness policy . . . Their law-and-order style explained away the issues of racism and the war in Vietnam by attacking those who raised the issues in the first place.
"Yorty and Nixon presented themselves as mainstream America. They attacked their opposition as "intellectual" or "elitist" or just plain different. Like Ronald Reagan, these law-and-order politicians used the same low-key, low-profile, media-oriented public relations approach, combined with scare tactics, and accusations about the opposition in league with the devil's forces-be they students, blacks, or antiwar activists. By 1969 this politics was still on the rise. On election day, Yorty turned Bradley's lead around, and won with 53 percent of the vote."p. 407