Elite for Peace

A standing contention in the youth militant canon is that the Establishment elite support the war in Viet Nam for reasons of profit. That narrow notion has often been refuted by the stock market, which usually begins to rise when peace talk is in the air. Now it has been all the more firmly refuted by a survey conducted by Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research. In canvassing 456 of the nation's leaders, including 24 people with personal assets of more than $100 million and the chief executives of 96 major corporations, the study found a nearly universal rejection of the war in Viet Nam, a widespread disenchantment with staggering defense budgets, and a distinct feeling that the U.S. has often exacerbated the cold war with the Soviet Union by overreacting. As it happened, the only group holding consistently divergent attitudes on these subjects was Republican politicians. Even a majority of these joined their fellow interviewees (all of whom remained anonymous) in agreeing with the statement: "The rebellious ideas of youth contribute to the progress of society."

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