![]() | The Cavalier daily Friday, March 19, 1971 | ![]() |
Committee Sponsored
The delegation was sponsored by the
American Friends Service Committee, the
Fellowship of Reconciliation and Clergy and
Laymen Concerned about Vietnam.
The group, Mr. Ogle said, was made up of
lawyers, teachers, clergy and students. Their
ages ranged from 17 to 76 with the average age
being around 45 to 50.
Mr. Ogle said that he felt that the group
was politically moderate to liberal. Most of the
members of the committee were against the
war. After the conferences, some of those who
had been in agreement with American policy
"came back radically opposed the war", he
added.
The Citizen's Committee was the first group
to speak with the chief of delegation of all four
parties. They found all factions very
cooperative, Mr. Ogle said. The entire
committee met with the three different
Vietnamese parties for a full day and a half.
They gave partial information and partial
propaganda, he added.
"It seemed ironic that we would go to Paris
to try to understand the negotiating position of
all parties and would be received much more
hospitably by all three of the Vietnam
delegations than by the U.S. delegation", Mr.
Ogle said. Yet, he added, that he found that Mr.
Bruce was much more "frank" that the other
three factions.
In talking with the American delegation, Mr.
Ogle remarked that Mr. Bruce stressed that he
American policy could never be understood 'if
you felt in any way that the war was a civil
war." Mr. Bruce spent only three hours with 12
elected representatives of the committee. Mr.
Ogle was one of the 12. He said that he thought
the reason he was elected to represent the
group was because he was a graduate diplomatic
history major.
![]() | The Cavalier daily Friday, March 19, 1971 | ![]() |