Schlesinger's Job Will End With Election

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '38, associate professor of History, will leave Gov. Stevenson's personal staff after the November election. In a telephone interview with the CRIMSON last night he stated that he "will definitely be back at Harvard in the spring term" even if the Illinois Governor wins.

Schlesinger thus squelched speculation that he would follow Stevenson to Washington in the tradition of other Harvard professors like former professor of Law Felix Frankfurter.

Schlesinger would not reply "at this time" to Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon, who has repeatedly attacked him as one of the left-wing "captors" of Gov. Stevenson. Nor would he comment on Nixon's acceptance of an $18,000 trust fund from wealthy Californians.

A more important issue, he believes, is Eisenhower's apparent reconciliation with Robert A. Taft. Schlesinger labelled it "the unconditional surrender on Morningside Heights." He believes that "this will have a great impact on the voters."

Schlesinger was one of the earliest supporters of Stevenson for the Democratic nomination. As early as March, he spoke for the Governor at an open meeting sponsored by the Harvard Liberal Union, and attended by two of Stevenson's sons. When Stevenson announced in April that he "could not accept" the nomination, however, Schlesinger switched his support to Averell Harriman and went to the Democratic National Convention as a Harriman supporter.

Because he knew both men personally, he became the "catalytic agent" who brought them together for a breakfast meeting when it became evident that the convention would draft Stevenson. It was at that meeting that Harriman decided to withdraw in favor of Stevenson.

To students who have noticed that some of the expressions in Stevens's speeches smack of Schlesinger's lectures in History 169, Schlesinger reassured that he rarely, if ever, chips in a phrase. "The Governor is a better speech writer than any of the men around him," Schlesinger said. "Not since Wilson," he added, "has any candidate written more of his own material."