Oliver Stone To Visit Here On Thursday

Film director Oliver Stone has accepted an invitation to come to Harvard to speak at the Kennedy School Thursday night on his controversial film, JFK.

Stone was first invited to Harvard by Peter A. Jordain, resident English tutor at Lowell House.

"I had an interest in both the Kennedy assasination and in filmmaking," Jordain said. "When I heard that Stone was making JFK, I thought it would be a good idea to invite him to speak at campus. What more appropriate place than at the Kennedy School of Governement?"

JFK tells the story of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, and his suspicions that President John F. Kennedy '40 was assassinated, not just by Lee Harvey Oswald but by a conspiracy involving leaders of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Critics have charged that Stone has blurred the line between fact and fiction in the film, and has given unnecessary publicity to an unlikely theory. Stone has defended his movie, saying that one of the roles of art is to interpret history.

The movie will be shown at 6 p.m. in the ARCO Forum at the Kennedy School, and Stone will discuss the film from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to Heather P. Campion, Director of the Forum.

Campion said a panel of "one or two historians from [the Kennedy] era" will participate in the discussion, which will be moderated by Murrow Professor of Press, Politics and Public Policy Marvin Kalb.

According to Jordain, "[the discussion] will be more of a Q-and-A session."

A small group, which is likely to include L. Fletcher Prouty, a former aide to the Joint-Chiefs of Staff during the Kennedy Administration, will accompany Stone, Jordain said.

"We're somewhat leaving the world of film," Jordain said, "and merging into the realm of political action.

"Christina Herr [Stone's personal assistant] told me that he is really looking forward to coming," said Jordain.