Freund, Galbraith, Riesman Named Johnson 'Idea Men'

Three Faculty members have been appointed to an informal panel of 27 intellectuals to serve as "idea men" for President Johnson. They are Paul A. Freund, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, and David Reisman '31, Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences.

Under the supervision of Princeton professor Eric F. Goldman, a special consultant to the President, the unofficial group will serve as a source of fresh proposals for the administration's domestic policy.

Members Assigned Areas

With the exception of two introductory briefing sessions which have already been held, the group will not act primarily as a single unit. Each member has been assigned a specific area of American life, and will be consulted whenever an Administration policy decision bears on his specialty.

In addition, the members have been encouraged to communicate any ideas or proposals they have directly to Goldman. He will in turn channel them to appropriate government agencies.

Although the group will concern itself with a wide area of domestic concerns, according to Freund it is too early to predict its effect on legislation. "All of the Administration's current legislation antedates the formation of this group," he explained.

"The Presidency has always been in a state of cronic emergency, and this group has been created in an attempt to establish longer life lines," Riesman said yesterday. He added that the United States has been "badly prepared on an intellectual level to deal with future problem."

Both Riesman and Goldman stressed that the group was informal and unofficial. "It is not a committee," Riesman said, "and it's still in an embryonic stage, finding its way."

President Johnson appointed Goldman as a consultant last February "to help keep a continuous flow of specific proposals, general approaches and opinions from a wide range of experts outside the government."