Democrats Need 'Party Reforms,' Declares Freidel

The Democrats can build a dynamic, imaginative party only with the help of interested and enthusiastic young workers, Frank B. Freidel, professor of History, told the HYDC last night.

Addressing a meeting sponsored by the HYDC freshmen, Freidel declared that the Democratic Party faces a choice between the "old boys" of the party and a dynamic liberal group. "Most of the Democrats who won elections in November were not very inspiring," he said, adding that the "old boys" are the loyal party workers who sustained the Democrats through the lean years. These men, Freidel claimed, "see Congress as a system of loyalties," and he asked whether this was the "sort of man you want to see as President?"

The function of the regulars may be to serve as "kingmakers" for imaginative candidates, he added, but the "old boys" are not the ones who will propose new solutions to pressing problems.

In response to a question put by Derek T. Winans '60, President Emeritus of the HYDC, Freidel claimed that "institutional" reform" is the answer. Citing California as an example, Freidel said that the enthusiasts, organized into local Democratic Clubs, had "worked to capture existing party machinery."