Tracked in America

Here are stories from the history of U.S. government surveillance, which I find interesting because in the sixties I myself was a victim of this. Two stories.

"Sally" and I are sitting on the front porch of a wonderful little house we rented near the railroad tracks after we moved in together. Drinking something or other, I'm sure. Suddenly a fancy car cruises by, slows, two suits inside, and the passenger guy leans out with a monstrous camera and starts shooting away before the car speeds off.

Hmm. My divorce wasn't final, so I reckoned maybe my ex had hired a detective to spy on me/us. But this proved not to be the case; the divorce was without rancor.

Weeks later I am walking across the University of Oregon campus between classes. Approaching me is a hippy looking dude on a bicycle. Just as he gets to me, he puts a little camera in front of my face and snaps a photo! I ran after him but he got away.

Neither of these are pleasant experiences but actually they do make good conversation pieces. I never did find out what they were about. I should get my FBI file. I had a top secret codeword clearance in the Army Security Agency, maybe this made my "peace activities" in the Vietnam era of more interest or something. I suppose I was victim of a kind of blanket surveillance that happens in times of paranoia except that more "active activists" than I didn't have this happen to them.