1968 Alma College professors M.J.J. Smith and Robert Smith. An international radio debate on United States involvement in Vietnam, featuring Alma College historian Professor Michael J.J. Smith and Russian historian Giorgi Mirski, was broadcast by Radio Moscow on August 16 over short wave radio. Plans for the half hour debate on the topic "Resolved, that the United States should withdraw immediately from Vietnam" was conceived by Alma College speech Professor Robert W. Smith.