Professors Predict National, Local Election Wins for Democratic Party

The Democratic Party will carry both houses of Congress "by a fairly comfortable margin" and win the two major elections in Massachusetts, three Harvard professors predicted when polled yesterday.

Charles R. Cherington '35, professor of Government, Frank B. Freidel, professor of History, and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '38, professor of History differed, however, on the outcome of the key gubernatorial election in New York.

According to Cherington, "Rockefeller might squeak past Harriman," but Freidel and Schlesinger gave the incumbent Governor an edge. All agreed that Rockefeller has gained considerable strength during the campaign and that a victory would make him a good possibility for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1960.

Schlesinger termed the major issue of the campaign "the nation's realization that it lacks leadership." He noted that "while there is considerable skepticism and disappointment about Eisenhower's accomplishment, people feel a deep personal sentiment towards him."

Recession and individual local matters are the main campaign issues, according to Freidel. "People don't care as much about Quemoy and Matsu as they do about their own problems."

The three agreed that a party similar to the Dixiecrat attempt in 1948 might grow out of Southern Democrats' resentment on the segregation issue.

However, Freidel guessed that any move in the South would be a bid "to short-circuit the Presidential nominee rather than start a major political party. Southern Senators don't want to lose their Senatorial seniority," he explained.

Schlesinger doubted that Governor Faubus "would be foolish enough to head a Dixiecrat ticket" despite his landslide victory in the Arkansas primaries last summer.