University of Virginia Library

Moratorium Plans

Moratorium plans at this point include
special hourly masses in Georgetown University's
Dahlgren Chapel, a mock funeral march
through downtown Milwaukee, a bell tolling
every four seconds at Bethel College in Kansas.
October 15 will be marked by black armbands,
marches, rallies, prayer vigils, speeches,
teach-ins, poetry-readings, radio plugs, newspaper
ads and leaflets. In short, organizers hope
to make clear their message to President Nixon
—it's time to end the war.

At his press conference Friday, Mr. Nixon
stated, "Under no circumstances will I be
affected by it." Coordinators of the Moratorium
reacted to the President's statement with
amazement. "This is a deeply disturbing statement,
which was surely unintended," said Sam
Brown. Mr. Brown, a Moratorium organizer, is a
former divinity student at Harvard and
McCarthy organizer.

Mr. Brown continued, "President Nixon
cannot mean that he will not be affected by
opposition to the war. The other aspect of this
statement which is distressing is the degree of
isolation which it reflects. It is the kind of rigid
stance which contributed so much to the
bitterness of debate during the last days of the
Johnson administration."

David Hawk, another of the Moratorium's
national coordinators and a former McCarthy
crusader, said, "The administration seems to be
under the impression that students are against
the war simply because they or their friends are
about to be drafted. In fact students oppose the
war because Americans and Vietnamese are
dying needlessly and because the war is, in
every respect, a disaster for America." Mr.
Brown and Mr. Hawk were quoted in Sunday's
Washington Post.

The Post article continued, "Although Mr.
Nixon may try to ignore the Moratorium, the
administration will doubtless take keen note of
the breadth and intensity of the turnout, as will
Hanoi and the Vietcong, who view American
anti-war sentiment as one of their strong suits.
Mr. Nixon and his advisers are aware that public
opinion at home can play a role in defining
their political elbow-room for scheduling troop
withdrawals and negotiating in Paris."