Evening star., 1949-03-20
President Of vassar
Quits Conference
On World Peace
By the Assoeiotsd Press

BY the Assoeiotsd Press.
NEW YORK, Mar. ia world
peace" conference that opens next
week-with the State Department
calling it medium for Communist
propaganda-today lost q sponsor
and possibly gained q speaker.
The conference. called the Cul-
tural and Scientific Conference for
World Peace. will open Friday
night with q dinner in the grand
ballroom Of the Waldorf Astoria.
Guests are scheduled to come
from Canada, Czechoslovakia,
England. France, French West
Africa, India. Italy. Norway. Po-
land, Puerto Rico, Romania, Rus
sia. Venezuela and Yugloslavia.
Five from Hungary have been re-
fused visas by the State Depart
ment.
Vassar President Withdraws.
The resigning sponsor is Sarah
Gibson Blandings, president of
Vassar College.
The possible new speaker is
Sidney Hook, philosophy professor
ut New York University.
The Vassar president said she
was withdrawing because she felt
there would not be fair balance
Of opinion" at the conference.
She added that she did so re-
luctantly because II am aware
that by so doing T will give COM
fort, or even aid. to that small but
increasing group of Americans
who appear to be willing to aban-
don our tradition of democracy.
freedom of ideas. their expression
and their interchange"
Says Place Was Denied.
Prof. Hook said today he had
been denied a place on the con-
ference program. When told in
Cambridge. Mass. of Prof. Hooks
statement, DR.. Harlow Shapely.
the conference head, said the
N. Y. U. professor had been in
vited to speak at a panel meeting.
Prof. Hook replied:
Let him tell me when and
where to appear and read my
paper. If he puts me on the pro-
gram and gives me time and
place. I shall speak"
Prof. Hook accused DR.. Shapely
of evasion" and said so far he
had only been invited to speak
from the floor.
Anybody can do that" he said.
"There is no guarantee that r
would be recognized"
He told a news conference he
was convinced "it is more OF a
war conference than q peace con-
ference, that its real purpose is to
further the war Of the Soviet Un-
ton against the free cultures of
the West"
Plans Counter Rally.
He said he planned to organize
q counter-rally "for democratic
Americans who oppose totalita-
rianism."
This rally is to be held next
Saturday at the Willkie Memorial
Building here. Prof. Hook said
he expected - terrific response"
from American intellectuals who
weuld discuss intellectual free.
dom culture and peace" 3 !
DR.. Shepley will be welcome to
address the rally, the philosophy
professor said.
Prof. Hook said the paper he
had sought to deliver at the con-
ference would have maintained
there are no national, class OF
party truths in science and that
the cause Of international scien-
tific cooperation has been very
seriously undermined by the in
f1uence of doctrines which uphold
the notion that there are ma
tional or class or party truths
in science"
Thinks Rally Is Good Idea"
Of the proposed counter rally,
DR.. Shapley said 1t would be
physically Impossible" for him to
address it.
He added, however, that he
thought the rally q good idea"
and expressed the hope that It
would ALSO make q useful contri-
button toward world peace"
Although the State Department
has warned that the world
peace" meeting will be used to
spread pro-Soviet propaganda, It's
leaders say 1t will be conducted
in "tne democratic tradition"
The conference chairmen say It
"is opposed by those who profit
from war and war preparations.
Panel sessions will be held Sat-
urday and Sunday. The confer
ence will end with meeting in
Madison Square Garden Sunday
night keynoted to the subject
"Unite for World Peace" Speakers
have not been announced.
Wallace to Be a Speaker.
One of the panel session speak
ers listed for Saturday is Henry A.
Wallace, whose topic is THE
Science of Abundance"
The State Department added
this week to the controversy sur
rounding the conference. 1t said
the meeting is closely related to
the World Congress of Intellec"
tuals held in Wroclaw, Poland, last
August.
The Wroclaw conference was a
predominantly pro-CommunistI
conclave which attacked British
American imperialism" Some
British and American delegates
dissented. The Wroclaw gather
ing appointed an international
Committee in Defense of Peace"
with 81 members.
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