September 15, 2010
Nothing Personal: The Vietnam War in Princeton
Lee Neuwirth
Old Guard member, Institute for Defense Analysis (retired)
Nothing Personal: The Vietnam War in Princeton
Lee Neuwirth
Old Guard member, Institute for Defense Analysis (retired)
Minutes of the First Meeting of the 69th Year
President Bob Varrin presided and called the first meeting of the 69th year to order at 10:15 a.m. at the Carl Fields Center, 58 Prospect Avenue.
The invocation was led by George Folkers.
Jim Johnson read his report of the talk delivered at the May 25, 2010 meeting by Gillette Griffin entitled “The Art of Collecting”.
Harvey Rothberg introduced his guest, Frans Djorup.
President Varrin reported that member Hendrick van Oss had passed away during the summer.
Membership chairman Jack Riley distributed certificates showing elevation of six members to emeritus status: Frank Long, Rosemary O’Brien, Martin Rome, Charles Straut, John Tiebout, and Ralph Tottenham-Smith.
Scott McVey introduced the morning’s speaker, Lee P. Neuwirth, who would speak on the topic “Nothing Personal: The Vietnam War in Princeton”, which was also the title of his book on the subject.
Dr. Neuwirth provided an engrossing insider’s account, embellished by photographs, of the Vietnam War years in Princeton from his vantage point as deputy director and later director of the Institute for Defense Analyses’s Communications Research Division. He began by noting that while many anti-war demonstrations took place on the central Princeton University campus, another target was IDA’s building located on the far Eastern edge of the campus.. By way of background, he explained that IDA had been established in 1956 and was one of several non-profit federal contract research centers formed by the government to carry on work on various technical problems that had been left unresolved when World War II’s end caused many skilled scientists to return to industry and academia.
IDA took the form of a consortium under the sponsorship of ten universities, including Princeton. The university had other connections with IDA: President Goheen sat on its board of trustees; the university leased to IDA the building that had been built by the government on the Princeton campus to IDA’s specifications; there were interchanges of personnel, with some professors consulting with IDA and IDA staff members teaching classes; and the university leased time on IDA’s “supercomputer”.
The group at the Princeton facility consisted mainly of mathematicians studying codes and ciphers, and never did any work on the Vietnam War.
The first serious demonstration at IDA occurred in October 1967. About 30 members of the Students for a Democratic Society tried to impede IDA employees from entering work one morning, whereupon a number of protesters were arrested. This led to a large meeting in McCosh 50 where the issues of IDA’s presence on campus and the university’s affiliation with it were vigorously debated. A faculty committee was appointed to further examine the issues; its report issued in December concluded that the university could not terminate its lease to IDA before its end in 1975, but recommended that Princeton withdraw its sponsorship of IDA. As a result of this and similar expressions at other universities, IDA was restructured to remove sponsorship by the universities and the consortium structure was eliminated. Also, at a later date, President Goheen resigned from the IDA board.
In the spring of 1969, a second obstructive demonstration occurred, which was not so peaceful. At one point, when an IDA employee tried to force his way into the building he got into a scuffle with SDS demonstrators; another employee, Charles Terry, tried to pull one of the students off his colleague’s back. In turn, Dean Rudenstein grabbed hold of Terry from behind, whereupon Terry whirled around and punched Rudenstein, knocking him unconscious. Dr. Neuwirth showed a photo of the dean sprawled on the pavement.
A third major demonstration took place in May 1970, shortly after the U. S. incursion into Cambodia. This time, Dr. Neuwirth said, “Things became very unpleasant.” Several hundred students occupied the IDA building’s courtyard. An even larger force returned the next day, its mood made nastier by the Kent State killings, and its numbers augmented by high school students and outsiders. The building was defaced with graffiti, windows smashed and other acts of vandalism perpetrated. “Was trashing the building necessary to ending the war?” asked Dr. Neuwirth. “I doubted it then and I doubt it now,” he said. After an injunction was issued, the mob set up a tent camp across the street. The siege lasted five days.
After that demonstration, and the bombing of IDA’s Army Math Research Center in Madison, WI, a fence was put up around the building.
Under pressure from faculty and students, the university asked what it would take for IDA to leave the campus in advance of its lease ending in 1975. A meeting was held in New York City between senior IDA officials and President Goheen and members of the Princeton board. IDA stated that it would cost $600,000 for them to decamp early. President Goheen was flabbergasted and said the university couldn’t and wouldn’t pay such an amount. Princeton trustee Laurence Rockefeller suggested that the faculty and students should pay the money since they wanted IDA to leave. But after that the whole idea was put aside.
Stepped up bombing and the mining of Haiphong harbor led to a fourth serious disruption in May 1972. This demonstration attracted a wider group of protesters, partly due to the objection by some townspeople to IDA’s announced plan to move to a location on Thanet Road when its lease on the university campus expired in 1975. This time there was no vandalism but hundreds of arrests during the six days of demonstrations. During this interval, Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame gave a speech at Alexander Hall. When Dr. Neuwirth posed a question to Ellsberg, he was invited onto the stage and there occurred an impromptu debate after which Ellsberg allowed as how “if we were keeping score you would have won”.
Despite continuing community opposition to IDA’s relocation, a building permit was eventually issued, a building was built on Thanet Road, and IDA moved and remained there for 25 years until it moved to 805 Bunn Drive, where it remains today.
In conclusion Dr. Neuwirth said, “I think the schism still exists between those yearning for peace and willing to work for it through marching, demonstrating and negotiating, and those determined to keep the peace through military strength and occasionally making war on those who threaten us.”
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Scribner
The invocation was led by George Folkers.
Jim Johnson read his report of the talk delivered at the May 25, 2010 meeting by Gillette Griffin entitled “The Art of Collecting”.
Harvey Rothberg introduced his guest, Frans Djorup.
President Varrin reported that member Hendrick van Oss had passed away during the summer.
Membership chairman Jack Riley distributed certificates showing elevation of six members to emeritus status: Frank Long, Rosemary O’Brien, Martin Rome, Charles Straut, John Tiebout, and Ralph Tottenham-Smith.
Scott McVey introduced the morning’s speaker, Lee P. Neuwirth, who would speak on the topic “Nothing Personal: The Vietnam War in Princeton”, which was also the title of his book on the subject.
Dr. Neuwirth provided an engrossing insider’s account, embellished by photographs, of the Vietnam War years in Princeton from his vantage point as deputy director and later director of the Institute for Defense Analyses’s Communications Research Division. He began by noting that while many anti-war demonstrations took place on the central Princeton University campus, another target was IDA’s building located on the far Eastern edge of the campus.. By way of background, he explained that IDA had been established in 1956 and was one of several non-profit federal contract research centers formed by the government to carry on work on various technical problems that had been left unresolved when World War II’s end caused many skilled scientists to return to industry and academia.
IDA took the form of a consortium under the sponsorship of ten universities, including Princeton. The university had other connections with IDA: President Goheen sat on its board of trustees; the university leased to IDA the building that had been built by the government on the Princeton campus to IDA’s specifications; there were interchanges of personnel, with some professors consulting with IDA and IDA staff members teaching classes; and the university leased time on IDA’s “supercomputer”.
The group at the Princeton facility consisted mainly of mathematicians studying codes and ciphers, and never did any work on the Vietnam War.
The first serious demonstration at IDA occurred in October 1967. About 30 members of the Students for a Democratic Society tried to impede IDA employees from entering work one morning, whereupon a number of protesters were arrested. This led to a large meeting in McCosh 50 where the issues of IDA’s presence on campus and the university’s affiliation with it were vigorously debated. A faculty committee was appointed to further examine the issues; its report issued in December concluded that the university could not terminate its lease to IDA before its end in 1975, but recommended that Princeton withdraw its sponsorship of IDA. As a result of this and similar expressions at other universities, IDA was restructured to remove sponsorship by the universities and the consortium structure was eliminated. Also, at a later date, President Goheen resigned from the IDA board.
In the spring of 1969, a second obstructive demonstration occurred, which was not so peaceful. At one point, when an IDA employee tried to force his way into the building he got into a scuffle with SDS demonstrators; another employee, Charles Terry, tried to pull one of the students off his colleague’s back. In turn, Dean Rudenstein grabbed hold of Terry from behind, whereupon Terry whirled around and punched Rudenstein, knocking him unconscious. Dr. Neuwirth showed a photo of the dean sprawled on the pavement.
A third major demonstration took place in May 1970, shortly after the U. S. incursion into Cambodia. This time, Dr. Neuwirth said, “Things became very unpleasant.” Several hundred students occupied the IDA building’s courtyard. An even larger force returned the next day, its mood made nastier by the Kent State killings, and its numbers augmented by high school students and outsiders. The building was defaced with graffiti, windows smashed and other acts of vandalism perpetrated. “Was trashing the building necessary to ending the war?” asked Dr. Neuwirth. “I doubted it then and I doubt it now,” he said. After an injunction was issued, the mob set up a tent camp across the street. The siege lasted five days.
After that demonstration, and the bombing of IDA’s Army Math Research Center in Madison, WI, a fence was put up around the building.
Under pressure from faculty and students, the university asked what it would take for IDA to leave the campus in advance of its lease ending in 1975. A meeting was held in New York City between senior IDA officials and President Goheen and members of the Princeton board. IDA stated that it would cost $600,000 for them to decamp early. President Goheen was flabbergasted and said the university couldn’t and wouldn’t pay such an amount. Princeton trustee Laurence Rockefeller suggested that the faculty and students should pay the money since they wanted IDA to leave. But after that the whole idea was put aside.
Stepped up bombing and the mining of Haiphong harbor led to a fourth serious disruption in May 1972. This demonstration attracted a wider group of protesters, partly due to the objection by some townspeople to IDA’s announced plan to move to a location on Thanet Road when its lease on the university campus expired in 1975. This time there was no vandalism but hundreds of arrests during the six days of demonstrations. During this interval, Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame gave a speech at Alexander Hall. When Dr. Neuwirth posed a question to Ellsberg, he was invited onto the stage and there occurred an impromptu debate after which Ellsberg allowed as how “if we were keeping score you would have won”.
Despite continuing community opposition to IDA’s relocation, a building permit was eventually issued, a building was built on Thanet Road, and IDA moved and remained there for 25 years until it moved to 805 Bunn Drive, where it remains today.
In conclusion Dr. Neuwirth said, “I think the schism still exists between those yearning for peace and willing to work for it through marching, demonstrating and negotiating, and those determined to keep the peace through military strength and occasionally making war on those who threaten us.”
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Scribner