The following are excerpts taken from a tape recording which the CRIMSON made at yesterday's meting in Lowell Lecture Hall. They begin with a statement by McGeorge Bundy and continue with questions from both the panel and the floor.

BUNDY:

It is sometimes suggested that the, Administration is looking for an excuse to get into a final contest [in Vietnam]. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not the purpose of the Administration, of the United States to conduct that kind of contest even against North Vietnam. We are talking about the use of limited means of military, political, economic, and social power in a situation in which there will be serious costs of failure.

QUESTION:

Administration reports as to the amount of aid supplied to the Vietcong have varied. Could you clarify the relative importance of both North Vietnam and Communism in the present contest?

BUNDY:

Current estimates of the Department of Defense are on the order of 30-40 per cent of the currently proven weapon supply comes from North.

This contest has its heart in a 40 year ambition of the Communist Party in Vietnam of taking over that whole country and I do not have to tell you that United States action is premised on, its assessment of that fact...

QUESTION:

What is the outlook on South Vietnam? Since 1961, there have been varying estimates by different government spokesmen as to when the war would end. We have sent troops and aid to Vietnam and the situation now seems worse than ever.

BUNDY:

Neither President Kennedy nor President Johnson has ever supposed that this was going to be an easy contest or one in which there would be a rapid and decisive solution... I do not think we can now predict the exact shape of the eventual settlement. I myself believe that the question of the internal political organization and prospects of non-Communist South Vietnam is quite critical. This indeed is one of the uncertainties in the current situation... The bulk of the effort in Vietnam-in terms of human suffering and human loss-is being made by Vietnamese. I do not think anyone... can say to anyone else that he knows exactly how the South Vietnamese, with our support, will work out this contest and this unfinished political story... I believe that the situation in Vietnam is serious, is dangerous, is critical. I do not believe that it is hopeless and it seems to me that that is the precise problem...

QUESTION:

Would you think it a sign of hopelessness if the military effort in South Vietnam came to depend wholly on American arms?

BUNDY: