William Sloane Coffin will speak at the Senior Dinner on May 8 and Sander Vanocur will be the Class Day speaker on June 11.
The Class Committee, Marshals, Class Secretary and Class Treasurer made the selections.
Andrew J. Rudnick '69, Class Secretary, said that President Nixon had been the first choice for Class Day speaker. "We figured, who could be more relevant to us than the President?" Rudnick said.
When Nixon refused, pleading to "previous commitments," the selection committee chose Vanocur in mid-March. "He is someone concerned with the problem of communication, as well as a speaker who would not espouse political rhetoric," Rudnick said. Vanocur is an NBC news commentator.
Coffin, chaplain at Yale and a leader of the draft resistance movement, was chosen last week. Rudnick said that the selection committee had tried to get Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.) and Norman K. Mailer '43, but that both had refused.
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The Ellsberg File
