On page 196 of President Nixon: Alone in the White House,
Richard Reeves quotes a memo from President Richard Nixon, in which
Nixon proposes a way to move young people away from the V-sign, long
hair, and marijuana:
"One thing you might lean on is the utter
silliness of youth using the V signal. Point out this is old hat.
After all, this is a relic of Churchill and World War 2....As far as
haircuts are concerned, you can really demolish them on this. Point out
that they are 25 to 50 years behind the time. Old Tom Connally, Mendel
Rivers, Senator Clyde Hoey of North Carolina and conservatives like Les
Arends today have worn their hair long for the last half a century.
Make it 'out' to wear long hair, smoke pot and go on the needle. Make
it 'in' to indulge in lesser vices, smoking (cigars, preferably
non-Castro!) and alcohol in reasonable quantities...."
The
stereotype that I get when watching TV shows about the 1970's is that
the counterculture wore long hair and smoked marijuana, whereas the
Nixon supporters (young and old) wore short hair. There was probably
some truth to this, for Nixon obviously was trying to move more young
people in the latter direction! But what's interesting to me is that
Nixon mentions a conservative who wore his hair long. I don't see that
in this picture of Les Arends, but this passage from the book Soldiers Back Home
says that Arends wore his hair long, as Arends "moved with the grace
and panache of a proud Indian chief." Why did Arends wear his hair
long? To be like a Native American chief? Out of a libertarian-like
desire to be free and to do his own thing?