Greer v. Spock

On 18 September, the candidates' request was denied. General David wrote a letter explaining his reasoning:

The mission assigned to me . . . is to administer basic combat training to approximately 15,000 men at any given time. These men spend a period of eight weeks here during which they perform their training on very vigorous schedules occupying virtually all of their time . . . Political campaigning on Fort Dix cannot help but interfere with our training and other military missions.

Besides the possible disruptive effect, Dix had another reason for refusing to allow the People's Party or the Socialist Workers Party onto the base:

To decide otherwise could also give the appearance that you or your campaign is supported by me in my official capacity. I feel that I am prohibited from doing this for any candidate for public office.