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The man on the motorcycle was an anarchist, a lawbreaker, a guy the Black Panthers could turn to when their leader needed transportation; his FBI file fretted that he might “participate in violent activities, such as bombings, should the right opportunity present itself.” He was in Vermont to speak at a hippie college, but he took a detour to visit someone else in a mountainside cabin about 40 miles away.

It was the middle of the 1970s. The man in that cabin was a longtime Republican who had served in the state Legislature. He used to work for Richard Nixon, and he would soon write radio scripts for Ronald Reagan. He and the anarchist had never met before.

They chatted in the kitchen for hours, enjoying each other’s company. After all, they agreed about a lot. . . .

— Jesse Walker, The Anarchist and the Republican
Reason, May 2025