Shapley Claims Meeting Was Highly 'Effective'

Harlow Shapley yesterday evaluated the weekend Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace as "unexpectedly effective," and defended the three-day meeting against attacks claiming that it was "exclusively propaganda for the Soviet Union."

One of the main reasons for the conference's success, the director of the University Observatory said, is that it "has identified clearly the opponents of international understanding and cooperation." Shapley, who was conference chairman, is still in New York completing final business.

Referring to the charges of Soviet propaganda, including those of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '37, associate professor of History, Shapley stated, "I refuse to comment on that type of phrase."

But he described certain actual addresses at the sessions as "brilliant, objective, and peace seeking," and declared that "plenty of criticism has been levelled at totalitarian systems."

Meeting "Misrepresented"

Shapley said the conference "has certainly been misrepresented in many ways, very interestingly." He expressly criticized the press because "it has chosen to ignore" the action of the State Department in denying visas to delegates from Western Europe.

"We continue to receive a flood of approving communications from all over the world," Shapley said. He also pointed to the fact that a number of cities and organizations have sent conference delegates offers for tours, receptions, and speaking engagements.

F.O. Matthiessen, professor of History and Literature, supported Shapley's defense to the "propaganda" charges when he said yesterday that the Writing and Publishing panel at which he spoke freely discussed the many opposing view which were presented.