Democrats Toot Horns for Naught On Dull Election Night at Harvard

Five old boys, collars turned up against the drizzle, lined up outside the Harvard Garden Grill at 8 p.m. last night. As the Cambridge polls closed and the bars opened, the lights and the tube went on and early news of Republican victories arrived as the first scotches passed across the bar.

Across the Square, the Young Republicans sipped their ten-cent beers in Harkness Commons. They called the party a victory celebration, but it looked like a mixer. Girls stood about playing nervously with the buttons on their college-kid camel's hair coats.

"Are you getting excited about everything?, "a law student in a red parka asked one as he sipped a glass of pink punch. "Isn't it dull? I've never seen a duller group."

Cambridge was dull last night. Most students stayed home, listening to results on radio or television, or studying for hour exams.

There was none of the excitement of 1964 when Lyndon Johnson swept 60.8% of the country and 88% of Harvard.

The Young Democrats tried living it up for a few hours. They drank beer, blew horns, and batted balloons around the Winthrop House junior common room. But by 10 p.m. their candidate, Edward J. McCormack, was on television saying how "it isn't easy to lose," and the horns stopped tooting.

Edward C. Banfield, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Urban Government, cancelled his post-election day exam in city politics, but city planning and intellectual history exams went on today. A few students griped.

"How sad," History 169's Donald Fleming remarked when told some people disliked studying on election night. "I asked when the students wanted the exam, but I couldn't get anyone to agree on a date."