New Anti-War Committee Solicits Names for Letter

Faculty and student members of the newly-created Ad Hoc Committee on Vietnam are hoping to collect the signatures of 60 per cent of Harvard's undergraduates and Faculty members on a letter expressing discontent with Administration conduct of the war.

The complete letter will be sent to President Johnson.

The Committee has ten Faculty members acting as sponsors. They include Edwin O. Reischauer, University Professor, and Robert G. McCloskey, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History and Government, as well as Masters Richard T. Gill '48 and John H. Finley '25.

Richard M. Neustadt '69, student chairman of the group, said yesterday that he believes "this is the first time Faculty members and students have gotten together to take a stand on such a crucial issue."

The Harvard Undergraduate Council has endorsed the letter, Daniel B. Magraw '68, president of the HUC, said yesterday. The Council has also made a small contribution to the Committee to help meet mailing costs.

The letter urges the President to make a speedy negotiated settlement a primary objective of American policy. The letter also calls for the President to refrain from further escalation and to accept a settlement in which the National Liberation Front is represented.

"If a clear majority of individuals here at Harvard--which is certainly a special community--signed the letter, other groups across the nation might be inspired to do likewise," Reischauer said yesterday.

"The letter represents a consensus of all those who lean toward negotiation, rather than escalation," he said.

The Committee will circulate the letter in Harvard and Radcliffe dining halls at the end of this week and will mail the letter to the Faculty, Neustadt said.