Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120118-1
Body:
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/22 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120118-1
O PA3L
WASHINGTON POST
26 `larch 1985
JACK ANDERSON
Kissinger's Ordeal by LaRouche
The decade-long feud between Henry Kissinger
and Lyndon LaRouche was an exasperating
experience for the ex-secretary of state,
according to internal FBI investigative files.
After years as one of the targets of LaRouche's
verbal slings and arrows, Kissinger took unerring
aim with an arrow of his own. He wrote FBI
Director William H. Webster in 1982 asking for an
investigation of his tormentor.
"I want to make clear," Kissinger wrote, "that I
do not ask the FBI to interfere in any manner with
LaRouche's First Amendment rights even when
they are exercised in a scurrilous and obscene
manner. The LaRouche campaign against me,
however, seems to go far beyond free speech."
Over the years, LaRouche's followers had
written and shouted accusations of personal and
political misbehavior against Kissinger, sometimes
confronting him in public. The charges ranged from
drug smuggling to homosexuality. One incident
resulted in the trial-and acquittal-of Kissinger's
wife, Nancy, on an assault charge following an
airport confrontation with a LaRouche supporter.
A LaRouche spokesman who reviewed the FBI
documents told my associate Tony Capaccio that
their quarrel with Kissinger was about policy
issues. "We want Kissinger's political career to be
over," he said.
The LaRouche spokesman maintained that the
campaign never became illegal harassment, and
said of Kissinger's request for an FBI investigation,
"He got downright paranoid.'
Kissinger refused to comment, but sources close
to him said he was subjected to "intense verbal and
physical harassment" during the period when he
asked for the FBI investigation. It has subsided
considerably since, the sources said.
Kissinger first wrote to Webster in August
1982-a "Dear Bill" letter of thanks for forwarding
a LaRouche flyer that assailed Kissinger.
The following month, Webster wrote to
Kissinger's attorney: "I certainly can understand
Dr. Kissinger's concern over the persistence which
these individuals have displayed in their campaign
against him."
As the campaign continued, Kissinger wrote
again to Webster in November 1982, asking for an
investigation. Within a month, he was informed that
the Justice Department could find no actions
alleged by Kissinger that violated civil rights laws.
He was told, however, that the actions he
described might indicate violations of laws against
interstate harassment by telephone.
The FBI files show that Webster wrote a meo
to another bureau official about another angle. "The
question was raised whether the U.S. Labor Party
[a LaRouche organization might be funded v
hostile intelligence agencies," he wrote. "Can you
give me an update ... on this matter?"
The FBI investigation did uncover a letter by a
LaRouche committee to a Texas organization to
which Kissinger was scheduled to speak. The letter
contained, in the words of an FBI memo, "violations
[having to do] with mailing a threat to injure the
reputation and-or accuse a person of a crime."
The FBI finally gave up in late 1983. It found no
prosecutable offenses and closed its investigation.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/22 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120118-1