[5] He had received popular support for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign promise to ramp up pressure on administrators of California's public universities to quell campus protests.

[5][6] In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Higher Education Protection and Freedom of Expression Act of 1969 was introduced in response to mass protests and demonstrations at universities and colleges across the nation.

[7][8][9] Reagan supported the federal legislation; in a March 19 statement, he urged the U.S. Congress to "be equally concerned about those who commit violence who are not receiving aid".

[10] However, on April 28, Berkeley vice chancellor Earl Cheit announced that the university planned to build a soccer field on the site, though he promised he would notify park supporters before construction.

"[21] Arriving in the early afternoon, protesters were met by the remaining 159 Berkeley and university police officers assigned to guard the fenced-off park site.

Officers in full riot gear obscured their badges to avoid being identified[citation needed] and headed into the crowds with nightsticks swinging.

As the protesters retreated, the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies pursued them several blocks down Telegraph Avenue as far as Willard Junior High School at Derby Street, firing tear gas canisters and buckshot at the crowd's backs as they fled.

[29][30] The Alamada County Coroner's report listed cause of death as "shock and hemorrhage due to multiple shotgun wounds and perforation of the aorta".

Reagan conceded that Rector was probably shot by police but justified the bearing of firearms, saying, "I think it is being very naive to assume that you should send anyone into that kind of conflict with a fly swatter.

[33] Local medical students and interns organized volunteer mobile first-aid teams to help protesters and bystanders injured by buckshot, nightsticks, or tear gas.

[25] Reagan was steadfast and unapologetic, saying, "Once the dogs of war have been unleashed, you must expect things will happen, and that people, being human, will make mistakes on both sides.

"[23] During the People's Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeley's empty lots to prevent protesters from planting flowers, shrubs, or trees.

[27] According to commanding major general Glenn C. Ames, "LSD had been injected into fudge, oranges and apple juice which they received from young hippie-type females.

[42][1] Although Heyns supported a proposal to lease the site to the city as a community park,[43] the Board of Regents voted to proceed with the construction of married student apartments in June 1969.

[48] Young women slid flowers down the muzzles of bayoneted National Guard rifles,[34] and a small airplane flew over the city trailing a banner that read, "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom".

In the early summer, troops deployed in downtown Berkeley surrounded several thousand protesters and bystanders, emptying businesses, restaurants, and retail outlets of their owners and customers, and arresting them en masse.

[52] In an address before the California Council of Growers on April 7, 1970, Reagan defended his policies for dealing with campus protests: "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with.