PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

On behalf of the more than 140 Presidential scholars who opposed the planned protest by other Scholars against U.S. policy in Vietnam. I must reply to Margaret Rossoff's misleading letter in the CRIMSON of 21 October.

Miss Rossoff has quoted our letter to the President out of context. With omitted portions italicized, the full quotation is: "Since our personal political persuasions are irrelevant here, this letter is neither an endorsement nor a criticism of your actions, of National policy, or of the convictions of any political movement." Thus our letter did not "plead . . . [political] noninvolvement" or imply that we had taken no stand on the war in Vietnam; It merely denied that our collective or individual political positions were germane to the repudiation of an III-advised means of protest. A substantial number of us have forcefully stated, in personal letters to the President, convictions on each side of the Vietnam issue.

We were guided not by "anticipation of the futility of protest," but by the belief that our inaction might seriously harm a Program to which we felt a moral obligation: not by "(anticipation of) the harassment (protest) might entail," but by the reasoned judgment that renouncing our awards and insulting the President was an inappropriate, fruitless, and irresponsible way to express our political views. Amory B. Lovins '68