Technical notes from George Blood:

Technical Notes:

3/22/2018 MM:

Levels fluctuate throughout both files.

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(From Swarthmore College Peace Collection finding aid for Business Executives Move for New National Priorities Records, 1966-1984, DG 116):

The first national meeting of BEM was held at the Statler-Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, on September 27, 1967. Among the speakers at that meeting were Senator Thruston B. Morton; Marriner S. Eccles, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board; Ambassador Tran Van Dinh, Former Ambassador of South Vietnam to the United States; and Rear Admiral Arnold True, US Navy (retired). Considerable publicity was given to this meeting, attended by about 250 executives. A public campaign to rally support among business executives for a negotiated settlement in Vietnam was launched, and by November, over 11,000 executives had signed either the original Open Letter or a new letter which was formulated in September. The membership of BEM continued to grow during the next few years as public opposition to the Vietnam war increased. After the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973, BEM’s membership and income fell off drastically.

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0352_01:

recording continues from 0351_02 with audience members asking questions [sometimes inaudible] of  Rear Admiral Arnold True, US Navy (retired); Niles thanks True and introduces Ambassador Tran Van Dinh who talks about opposition to the Vietnam War; Henry Niles invites questions from audience  [sometimes inaudible] to Tran Van Dinh; Niles then announces lunch break

topics mentioned:

Vietnam War; [Gulf of] Tonkin Incident; United Nations; Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO); American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); nationalism; Buddhism; voting and elections in Vietnam; Chinese involvement;  

people mentioned:

Professor H. Bruce Franklin (Stanford University); President [Lyndon] Johnson

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0352_02:

Henry Niles acknowledges congressmen in the audience, reads telegram from Sam D. Griffith, veteran, and introduces Co-Chairman, Harold Willens, who introduces people at the head table; Willens announces outside support from New York and financial support; Willens introduces Marriner S. Eccles, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board; Eccles talks about Vietnam War; recording cuts off mid-sentence

topics mentioned:

communism; Johnson administration; Viet Cong; U.S. casualties in Vietnam; North Vietnamese; Russia; China; effects of Vietnam War on U.S. economy, veterans, society; growth of nuclear weapons in the world; option of U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam; self-determination

people mentioned:

Senator [---] Brooks; [Robert] McNamara; Erwin Salk; Bronson Clark; Lee Thomas; Senator [Ernest H.] Gruening (Alaska); Bill Fisher; Karl Marx; Soviet Premier Kosygin; General [William] Westmoreland; Major General [Phạm Văn] Phú; Ho Chi Minh; President [John F.] Kennedy; President [Dwight] Eisenhower; Hans Morgenthau; [Lyndon] Johnson