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In sum, the public interest in insuring the political neutrality of the military justifies the limited infringement on First Amendment rights imposed by Fort Dix authorities.3

III

The noncandidate respondents contest the Fort Dix regulation requiring prior approval of all handbill, pamphlet, and leaflet literature (even if nonpartisan) before distribution on the base. The public interest in military neutrality is not at issue here, but the restriction is more limited and is directed to another concern. Under Army Reg. 210-10, ¶ 5-5 (c) (1970), permission is to be denied only where dissemination of the literature poses a danger "to the loyalty, discipline, or morale of troops." This regulation is responsive to the unique need of the military to "insist upon a respect for duty and a discipline without counterpart in civilian life." Schlesinger v. Councilman, 420 U. S. 738, 757 (1975). We have said, in Parker v. Levy, 417 U. S., at 758, that “[t]he fundamental necessity for obedience, and the consequent necessity for imposition of discipline, may render permissible within the military that which would be constitutionally impermissible outside it."

Concern for morale and discipline is particularly strong where, as here, the primary function of the base is to provide basic combat training for new recruits. The basic training period is an especially difficult one for the

3 Of course, if the base authorities were to permit any candidate or his supporters to engage in personal politicking on the base, the interest in military neutrality would then require that all candidates and their supporters be allowed. The base authorities cannot select among candidates and permit the supporters of some to canvass the base without engaging in improper partiality. There is no indication in the record, however, that the Fort Dix authorities ever have permitted partisan appeals to take place on the base.

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newly inducted serviceman, for he must learn "the subordination of the desires and interests of the individual to the needs of the service." Orloff v. Willoughby, 345 U. S. 83, 92 (1953). For the first four weeks of the program the recruit must remain on the base. The military interest in preserving a relatively isolated sanctuary during this period justifies the limited restraints placed upon distribution of literature. Although the recruits may be exposed through the media and, perhaps, the mail to all views in civilian circulation, face-to-face persuasion by someone who urges, say, refusal to obey a superior officer's command, has an immediacy and impact not found in reading papers and watching television.

As the Court points out, there is no occasion to consider whether the regulation has been misapplied-or whether there are adequate procedural safeguards in the case of an adverse decision-for the noncandidate respondents have made no effort to obtain approval.

MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL concurs, dissenting.

Only four years ago, in a summary decision that presented little difficulty for most Members of this Court, we held that a peaceful leafleteer could not be excluded from the main street of a military installation to which. the civilian public had been permitted virtually unrestricted access. Despite that decision in Flower v. United States, 407 U. S. 197 (1972), the Court today denies access to those desirous of distributing leaflets and holding a political rally on similarly unrestricted streets and parking lots of another military base. In so doing, the Court attempts to distinguish Flower from this case. That attempt is wholly unconvincing, both on the facts and in its rationale. I, therefore, dissent.

According to the Court, the record here is "indispu

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tably to the contrary" of that in Flower. Ante, at 837.1 But in Flower, this Court relied on the following characterization of Fort Sam Houston-the military fort involved there-and its main street in holding that a peaceful leafleteer could not be excluded from that street.

""There is no sentry post or guard at either entrance or anywhere along the route. Traffic flows through the post on this and other streets 24 hours a day. A traffic count conducted on New Braunfels Avenue on January 22, 1968, by the Director of Transportation of the city of San Antonio, shows a daily (24hour) vehicular count of 15,110 south of Grayson Street (the place where the street enters the post boundary) and 17,740 vehicles daily north of that point. The street is an important traffic artery used freely by buses, taxi cabs and other public transportation facilities as well as by private vehicles, and its sidewalks are used extensively at all hours of the day by civilians as well as by military personnel. Fort Sam Houston was an open post; the street, New Braunfels Avenue, was a completely open street."" 407 U. S., at 198, quoting United States v. Flower, 452 F. 2d 80, 90 (CA5 1971) (Simpson, J., dissenting).

1 In support of its characterization of the record as "indisputably to the contrary," the Court points to the Fort commander's response to respondent Spock's initial request to campaign at the Fort. Ante, at 837 n. 7. According to the Court, the commander's refusal to permit Spock's rally indicated that the military authorities had not "'abandoned any claim [of] special interests in who walks, talks, or distributes leaflets . . . ." See ante, at 837, quoting Flower v. United States, 407 U. S., at 198. The commander's response, however, came subsequent to a history of unimpeded civilian access to Fort Dix. Thus its after-the-fact, self-serving nature no more supports the assertion that the military authorities had not "abandoned any claim" than did the arrest of the defendant in Flower.

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Fort Dix, at best, is no less open than Fort Sam Houston. No entrance to the Fort is manned by a sentry or blocked by any barrier. The reservation is crossed by 10 paved roads, including a major state highway. Civilians without any prior authorization are regular visitors to unrestricted areas of the Fort or regularly pass through it, either by foot or by auto, at all times of the day and night. Civilians are welcome to visit soldiers and are welcome to visit the Fort as tourists. They eat at the base and freely talk with recruits in unrestricted areas. Public service buses, carrying both civilian and military passengers, regularly serve the base. A 1970 traffic survey indicated that 66,000 civilian and military vehicles per day entered and exited the Fort. Indeed, the reservation is so open as to create a danger of muggings after payday and a problem with prostitution. There is, therefore, little room to dispute the Court of Appeals' finding in this case that "Fort Dix, when compared to Fort Sam Houston, is a fortiori an open post." Spock v. David, 469 F. 2d 1047, 1054 (CA3 1972). See Appendix to this opinion for photographic comparison of both forts.

The inconsistent results in Flower and this case notwithstanding, it is clear from the rationale of today's decision that despite Flower there is no longer room, under any circumstance, for the unapproved exercise of public expression on a military base. The Court's opinion speaks in absolutes, exalting the need for military preparedness and admitting of no careful and solicitous accommodation of First Amendment interests to the competing concerns that all concede are substantial. parades general propositions useless to precise resolution of the problem at hand. According to the Court, "it is 'the primary business of armies and navies to fight or be ready to fight wars should the occasion arise,' United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles, 350 U. S. 11, 17," ante, at 837-838,

It

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and "it is consequently the business of a military installation like Fort Dix to train soldiers, not to provide a public forum," ante, at 838. But the training of soldiers does not as a practical matter require exclusion of those who would publicly express their views from streets and theater parking lots open to the general public. Nor does readiness to fight require such exclusion, unless, of course, the battlefields are the streets and parking lots, or the war is one of ideologies and not men.

With similar unenlightening generality, the Court observes: "One of the very purposes for which the Constitution was ordained and established was to 'provide for the common defence,' and this Court over the years has on countless occasions recognized the special constitutional function of the military in our national life, a function both explicit and indispensable." Ante, at 837. But the Court overlooks the equally, if not more, compelling generalization that to paraphrase the Court-one of the very purposes for which the First Amendment was adopted was to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity," and this Court over the years has on countless occasions recognized the special constitutional function of the First Amendment in our national life, a function both explicit and indispensable. Despite the Court's oversight, if the recent lessons of history mean anything, it is that the First Amendment does not evaporate with the mere intonation of interests such as national defense, military necessity, or domestic security.

2

2 U. S. Const., Preamble. See also U. S. Const., Amdt. 1.

3 See, e. g., Buckley v. Valeo, ante, p. 1; Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U. S. 546 (1975); New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U. S. 713 (1971); Cohen v. California, 403 U. S. 15 (1971); Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U. S. 444 (1969); New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254 (1964); West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U. S. 624 (1943); Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U. S. 697 (1931).