116 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
walked out of the Olympic Hotel ballroom in protest.” Others said Gor-
ton’s bill of particulars was devastating to Nixon. John Ryder, a banker
and former state senator, said Gorton said what had to be said. “It took
courage to come before this audience and make that speech.” Gorton told
Scates it was precisely the kind of audience he wanted. He took issue with
those of all political persuasions—liberals as well as conservatives—“who
would avoid taking action against Nixon because of the possible prece-
dent that might be established.” That included his longtime friends and
political allies, Governor Evans and Congressman Joel Pritchard, the lone
Republican in the state’s delegation. They had urged him to not give the
speech. (Frank Pritchard, however, backed his stand.) They “fail to recog-
nize that the future is always unknown,” Gorton said, “and that we will
change presidents in any event in 1977. But, most important, they fail to
consider that the precedent created by not acting decisively in the face of
such overwhelming provocation may well turn out to be far more danger-
ous than the precedent established by any form of positive action.” War-
ren G. Magnuson, Washington’s senior senator, had Gorton’s speech en-
tered in the Congressional Record.^8
ountyAngKt i c RepuBLicAn heAdquARteRs, Gorton’s speech started
hitting the fan practically before the cleanup crew had retired the Rotary
regalia and folded the tables. “People are fit to be tied,” a secretary to GOP
Chairman Dennis Dunn told Scates the next morning, adding that she
had fielded 15 to 20 angry calls. Dunn was vacationing in Mexico with his
wife Jennifer, Slade’s distant cousin, and hadn’t heard the news. “The
reaction to the speech ranges from highly irate to very negative,” the sec-
retary said. “Mostly they are saying, ‘If Gorton thinks he’s going to run
for governor, I don’t know where he’ll get Republican support.’” The state
chairman, Ross Davis, was more big-tent temperate, emphasizing that
Gorton was speaking for himself, not the party. “Those who support the
president should speak out,” Davis said. “Those who oppose the president
should speak out. There isn’t any party—or ideological pattern.”^9
Gorton gave the same speech in Bellevue the next day and in Spokane
a day after that. He received standing ovations on both occasions. The
Post-Intelligencer offered an editorial he likely was tempted to frame. Gor-
ton had taken “a courageous stand,” the Hearst paper said, adding that he
“has always been long on courage in the political arena, and he has always
disdained opportunism in public office, despite what his opponents have
said. He could have gone along playing a safe role on the Nixon ques-
tion He could have kept his views to himself and tried to ride out the...