O'Neill Receives 30,000 Signatures Calling for Impeachment of President

Supporters of a campaign to impeach President Nixon yesterday presented petitions containing 30,000 signatures to Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill (D-Mass.).

Elizabeth Tarnes, a representative from Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) said in a press conference at Government Center that more than 20,000 of the signatures had been collected from citizens residing in O'Neill's own eighth congressional district.

Terming the drive "successful," Tarnes said: "It proves that people from this district and throughout the state are in favor of expediting the impeachment procedure."

Tarnes said that a coalition of organizations, including ADA, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CCPax), Clergy and Laity Concerned, and the Indochina Peace Campaign will continue to collect impeachment signatures until "impeachment is actually achieved."

"I know and understand the sincerity of the people behind this drive," O'Neill said upon receiving the petitions. "It is not with great joy that I get these letters."

House Majority Leader O'Neill refused to take a stand on the question of the impeachment of President Nixon. In a speech made at the Buffalo Statler Hilton last week, O'Neill predicted that Nixon will not complete his term as president. He also said in the same speech that the president should resign.

Jerome Grossman, a representative from CCPax said that O'Neill should take the lead in impeaching Nixon. He said that two of every three people solicited were eager to sign the petition.

O'Neill responded that he had never received so much mail in his entire political career. He said that some Alabama congressmen's mail is running "two to one and three to one in favor of impeachment."

Joan Tuttle of the ACLU said that the petition drive proves that there will be strong constituent support for O'Neill when "he comes out definitively for impeachment."