Rizzo defended his actions in a 1971 interview: "Look, I thought we handled ourselves well. We broke it up before it got out of hand. It might have been much worse if we had just stood by. I believe it is easier to blow out a match than extinguish a forest fire." He also blamed Superintendent Shedd for not requesting an injunction to prevent protests. Spencer Coxe, head of the local American Civil Liberties Union, countered that Rizzo was the direct cause of the violence: "There was a lot of noise, the crowd was very large. But when Rizzo took charge, there was a dramatic change in police behavior. ... after he arrived, they acted, I think, with great brutality. ... The police took their cue from the commissioner and their character changed in response to his wishes." Board President Dilworth also blamed Rizzo for acting precipitously: "Things were under control until Commissioner Rizzo, without our request, saw fit to loose a couple of hundred men, swinging clubs and beating children."