University of Virginia Library

I was quite amused when I read
Mr. Ogden's letter of Nov. 2,
until I reread it and had to conclude
that he was serious. He objected
to the letter signed by fifteen faculty
members condemning anti-war
marches. He stated three reasons,
each was meaningless:

1) He talked about fundamental
misunderstandings of the nature
of the war and offered evidence
to prove his own opinion was correct.
In that "proof" he cited
"domestic successes of Hanoi,"
Allow me to point out that as
of 1960 (before massive aid was
being given to both sides), the
Hanoi government was an obvious
economic failure and that the Saigon
government, with all its
trouble, was an economic success.
May I suggest that the Hanoi
government is unwilling to negotiate
because it must either foster
the hope of or obtain a complete
victory, or perish.

2) Mr. Ogden is in his fourth
year here at the University. Possibly,
this explains why he would
arbitrarily insult fifteen distinguished
men. In any case no
more evidence is needed to show
that he is a very foolish individual.

3) Finally, these gentlemen are
not objecting to dissent; rather,
they are objecting to the gross
disrespect for legal authority associated
with such marches.