Kahn Calls Morality of War Irrelevant

"Moral issues in the Vietnamese war are beside any point," said Herman Kahn, director of the Hudson Institute, before 300 people in the Ames Courtroom of Harvard Law School yesterday.

The Hudson Institute, founded by Kahn, receives public and private funds to study and plan military strategy.

Derisive comments from a few members of the audience marked various points of Kahn's talk, particularly in response to Kahn's statement that morality is a non-issue.

At one point, a student burst out, "This guy is insane. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

Kahn stated that the Vietnamese war has caused the death of half the North Vietnamese men in the 17-24 age group.

This statistic caused one student to ask, "How are you able to say, with half of the 17-24 age group wiped out, that you favor any continuation of the war? How can you sleep well at night? This is a moral issue, don't give me any of your facts."

Kahn's reply received sustained applause from most of the audience. "I cannot turn this country over to those who threaten it, and would divide it," he said. He said he favors leaving troops in Vietnam for the next ten years.

One student received a few cheers when he said, "Some Vietnamese would rather have peace and communism than peace and Americanism. Morality intrudes into this issue, even if you say morality doesn't matter."