LAS VEGAS, Nov., May 20—At the time of the war in Vietnam, Jimmy Carter was a strong supporter of the American involvement there. Earlier this month, at a black church in Indianapolis, he characterized the war as “racist,” saying that because the skins of Vietnamese were yellow “we did not regret their deaths as much” as if they had been white.

In April 1971, on the heels! of the conviction of First Lieut., William L. Calley Jr. by a tary, court for the murder of 22 Vietnamese civilians in the hamlet of My Lai, Mr. Carter, then the Governor of Georgia, proclaimed ‘American Fighting Men's Day in Georgia and described the lieutenant as a

“scapegoat.” Lieutenant Calley's conviction, ‘he said, was “a blow to troop morale.”

Today, at a news conference here, Mr. Carter denied that he had ever supported Lieutenant Calley or condoned his actions. Mr. Carter, the front‐runner for the Democratic Presidential

nomination, says these positions are not contradictory. He says that he “never thought Calley

was anything but guilty” but that “it was not right to equate what Galley did with what other American servicemen were doing in Vietnam.”