Calkins Insists U.S. Should Offer Haven To Vietnam Allies

Resettiement in the United States for any South Vietnamese people who desire it must be a condition for total American withdrawal from Vietnam, Hugh D. Calkins '45, Harvard's youngest Corporation fellow. said yesterday.

This is the only way "to make retreat from Vietnam morally acceptable to the American people," he said.

Speaking informally in the Winthrop House Junior Common Room, Calkins opposed what he sees as Nixon's plan for Vietnam-indefinite U.S. military support for any government chosen by free elections in Vietnam.

But, he said, simply withdrawing from Vietnam without making some attempt to protect those who might otherwise be slaughtered by the Communists would be "too easy, too cheap." Such a course is one the American people would never accept, he added.

Some negotiations with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese would be necessary to carry out the plan he advocates, Calkins noted. Since the United States must retain a position from which to negotiate, it cannot declare that it intends to withdraw unconditionally from Vietnam, he added.

Calkins commented that he is not an expert on Vietnam policy. He said he came to speak to students about Vietnam because this is a subject on which "people ought to speak up" and because he is in favor of dialogue within the university.

Calkins, who will be in Washington this weekend, said he will not participate in the planned demonstrations because of his distrust of the more extreme elements taking part in them. He indicated that he was referring particularly to supporters of the NLF.

After Calkins had made his initial statement, several of his 20 or more listeners engaged him in a debate concerning the basic principles underlying American foreign policy choices.

A number of students took issue in particular with Calkins's view that the chief goal of American policy is to reduce the chances of a nuclear war.