Over 200 Nieman Fellows, their guests, and Pierre Salinger honored Louis M. Lyons, retiring Curator of the Nieman Foundation, at a Faculty Club dinner Friday.

The Niemans applauded Lyons profusely and praised him lavishly. They also cheered President Pusey when he said, "I can assure you that the Nieman program will be continued." Pusey reported that a wide survey of journalists taken last winter indicates that "everyone wants to see the program continued."

Salinger received a mild reception. The former White House press secretary, now the Democratic candidate for the Senate from California, defended the Kennedy Administration press policy on Vietnam.

Salinger said he had an important hand in making this policy, and that it was the "farthest thing from the mind of the government" to restrict American reporters in Vietnam.

Just before Salinger spoke, the current class of Niemans gave their Louis M. Lyons Award for courage and integrity in journalism to three young American reporters who covered the Vietnam story.

The three were David L. Halberstam '55, of the New York Times, a former managing editor of the CRIMSON; Malcolm Browne, of the Associated Press; and Corneilius Sheehan '58, of United Press International.

'Get On The Team'

In accepting the award for the group, Halberstam said that one of his greatest difficulties in Vietnam was the pressure exerted by American officials to report the war optimistically. One Admiral told him pointedly to "get on the team."

Salinger replied that "the government was looking at policy in a larger view than that of reporters. We were concerned with the future of U.S. policy to help South Vietnam win that war."

"Within the limits of national security, we tried to let the American people know what was going on in Vietnam," Salinger said.

Then, he took a few puffs on his pungent six-inch cigar, and made some sharp comments about the general performance of the press. He particularly castigated the press in California for "not knowing what was going on in my primary campaign."