Conant Sees No Third World War If Free People Accept U.S. Leadership

"I believe the chances still favor our avoiding an all-out struggle between Russia and the free nations of the world." President Conant told 400 seniors and their guests yesterday at the Baccalaureate Service in Memorial Church. "Buit it will not come about," he added, "until the world becomes convinced that strong leadership of the free peoples by the United States is an enduring fact."

Quoting Horace Mann ("Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity"), President Conant pointed out that "one of the potent factors in the building of this country has been the idea that a citizen has a civic duty requiring the expenditure of time and effort over a long period of years."

Stresses Community Feeling

Decrying an English writer's concept that the idea of the community is too big and too various to be grasped except theoretically, Conant stressed the importance of a community sentiment. "I suggest," he said, "that in these days when national service has had its impact on the lives of so many young men, we need to do all we can to nourish this feeling for the community among the citizens of this land."

President Conant expressed regret that the spirit of the American "reformer" has been broken in recent years under the burden of reactionary and fanatic Communist pressure. He referred to "the successful attempts by certain groups and individuals to undermine the status of all reformers... The conviction of Alger Hiss and the confession of Klaus Fuchs have been heavy blows to those who 'would win more victories for humanity.' For the time being, the reformer must struggle against a dark blanket of public suspicion woven by the same types of persons who have always fought him but now are aided by the revelations of the traitorous actions of a few fanatics."

Reaction Against Reaction

Unless there is a third World War, the President added, it will probably not be too long before "some of you will wish to take up the work of the American reformer. You will be in a position to do so without any possibility of the taint of a foreign ideology."