Oct. 24, 1963 - Anti-United Nations demonstrators shoved, booed, beat, and spat in the face of Adlai Stevenson, the chief U.S. delegate at the U.N., tonight after a speech he made in Dallas marking United Nations Day. Catcalls forced Mr. Stevenson to stop speaking several times. But when he was through, most of the 5,000 persons in the theater of the Municipal Auditorium rose and gave him an ovation. Outside, roughly 80 pickets waving American flags and carrying anti-U.N. signs several times blocked the police from escorting Mr. Stevenson to his limousine. They shoved him repeatedly. One woman rushed forward and struck him on the head with her picket sign. Later, Mr. Stevenson told the woman: “It’s all right to have your own views, but don’t hit anyone.” “All right,” she remarked and left. Mr. Stevenson asked the police not to arrest the woman. When Mr. Stevenson finally stepped to the door of his automobile, two young men leaped forward and spat in his face. One of the men was arrested. Later, Mr. Stevenson said that he could not understand why people of different points of view had to go to such extremes. He expressed shock at the “bad manners.” “It was a concerted action by members of [former Maj. Gen.] Edwin Walker’s following and the John Birchers,” said Jack Goren, president of the Dallas U.N. Association, sponsors of Mr. Stevenson’s speech. The police held a 22-year-old North Texas State University student whom they planned to charge with aggravated assault and inciting to riot. In the Municipal Auditorium meeting, fistfights broke out several times as anti-U.N. members of the audience clashed with other spectators.
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