Cambridge Council Urges Withdrawal From Vietnam

After two hours of debate the Cambridge City Council failed to endorse the People's Peace Treaty, but passed instead a substitute motion calling for President Nixon to "bring all the boys home by December 31, 1971-or as soon as is humanly possible."

A group of seven Cambridge women, representing no organization, had asked the Council to endorse the treaty and make it available at City Hall for interested citizens to sign.

Although the Council did not endorse the treaty, Councilor Barbara Ackermann, one of the leading supporters of the motion, got Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci to agree at the end of debate that the Treaty could be made available for signing in City Hall throughout this week.

A crowd of 250 people jammed council chambers to listen to debate on the motion.

Marched to Capital

Supporters of the treaty included Louise Bruyen, the Newton woman who recently marched from her home to Washington, and Jay Cravens, president of the student body at Boston University and one of the students who went to Vietnam last year to negotiate the treaty.

Cravens explained the provisions of the Treaty which call for an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Vietnam and an end to U.S. support of the Thieu-Ky-Khiem regime.

After receiving a standing ovation from the crowd Bruyen said, "Endorsing the Peace Treaty is one action that we can all make to work for peace."

During Cravens' speech Paul Ferolito, a longtime Cambridge resident, interrupted to say, "You people are all a bunch of shirkers. My son was over in Vietnam and he was proud to be there."

Laszlo Pasztor '73, chairman of YAF at Harvard, denounced the treaty as a "propaganda tool" and told the Council. "If you endorse this treaty you will be supporting those forces who want a Viet Cong victory, not peace."

The motion to endorse the Peace Treaty was never voted on. Councilor Ackermann's motion to put it to a vote was superseded by Mayor Vellucci's introduction of the substitute motion which was subsequently passed.

Ackermann's amendment to Vellucci's motion-to strike the words "as soon as is humanly possible" and demand instead a pullout by December 31-also failed.