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The difference between the two groups soon became starkly clear. The New Mobe, though it has a middle-aged leadership, attracted to Washington and San Francisco a youthful following. The Moratorium events, though organized by McCarthy campaign veterans who are mostly in their 20s and early 30s, managed to draw a broader cross section of support because of their less strident tone. A number of public officials who participated fully in the October Moratorium wanted nothing to do with the New Mobe's operation, for the most part because they feared becoming associated with radicals who might cause violence. Among the prominent dropouts: Senators Edmund Muskie, Edward Kennedy, Frank Church and Jacob Javits. Other doves stuck with the movement, particularly Senators Charles Goodell, Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern.
Freelance Fanatics. The apprehensions of the more cautious Senators were at least partly borne out. While last month's Moratorium activities were violence-free, a group of young extremists in Washington last week twice marred the peace kept by the overwhelming majority of demonstrators. Breaking off from the main force, an ad hoc collection of Crazies, Yippies, Mad Dogs, Weathermen and freelance fanatics numbering more than 1,000 banded together as the Revolutionary Contingent for the Vietnamese People. On Friday night, as nonviolent activities continued elsewhere in Washington, they tried to march on the South Vietnamese embassy. One chant along the way: "Two, four, six, eight/Organize and smash the state!" When District police blocked their path, the kids threw bottles and rocks. The police replied with tear gas. With one or two exceptions, they held nightsticks in check; the cops acted, in fact, with cool competence. The retreating kids retaliated by breaking store windows, stoning cars and burning a police motorcycle. Ten policeman were injured and 26 youths arrested in the skirmish, which lasted for nearly four hours.