Openly, Gore didn't talk much about Vietnam, preferring to debate over intellectual issues. "I don't remember too much," Somerby says. "I think freshman year was a pretty non-political year for him."

Gore and his friends were aware of the heat on campus, but they stayed in their own worlds. Dunster by 1969 had become very radical, but Gore's blocking group never took part in demonstrations or protests.

Kapetan says Gore and his friends were surprised when they heard that students had occupied University Hall on April 9, demanding that the Reserve Officer Training Corps be removed from campus.

" We were all shocked. It was a major surprise," Kapetan says.

Several members of Gore's blocking group joined students who were holding a vigil for their friends inside.

"Al came down in the evening," Kapetan recalled, and with his friends, expressed wonder about the events of the day.

"None of us were sympathetic, though all of us were troubled and opposed to the war," he says.