Murphy Avoids Meeting Because of Schlesinger

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert F. Murphy failed to appear at last night's meeting of the Young Democrats because of the presence on the speakers' panel of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., '38, professor of History and national co-chairman of ADA, the CRIMSON learned last night from reliable sources.

Murphy, who is minority leader of the State House of Representatives, had been scheduled to speak at the forum, devoted to a discussion of "Democratic Prospects for 1954," along with Schlesinger and State Senator Mario Umana '36. Umana attended, but Democratic campaign headquarters told Young Democrats' President Frederick J. Willman '56 yesterday morning that previously arranged engagements would prevent Murphy from appearing.

Despite denials from Democratic campaign leaders, it is known that Murphy's advisers feared that an adverse public and newspaper reaction might result if their candidate appeared on the same platform with Schlesinger. Murphy himself is not believed to have known of the decision to cancel his participation in the meeting until it had already been made.

Latest Move

The decision is apparently the latest in a series of moves by state Democratic leaders to disassociate the party from any connection with the ADA. Senatorial candidate Foster Furcolo set the pattern when he appeared before the ADA state convention earlier this year and advised the organization to disband.

ADA's existence as an independent group generally committed to Democratic principles but outside the Democratic party hurts the party's election chances, Furcolo claimed. He repeated his attack on ADA at a meeting of the Young Democrats last spring.

After learning that Murphy did not plan to attend the meeting, the Young Democrats talked most of the afternoon to several Democratic campaign officials in an unsuccessful effort to induce Murphy to be present. But Democratic headquarters insisted that a television appear and and later "private engagements" would prevent him from making even a brief appearance.

One Democratic official claimed that no explicit commitment had been made for Murphy to appear. The Young Democrats argued that a definite agreement had been arrived at, leading them to print posters and send out notices announcing Murphy's participation on the panel.

Despite his failure to persuade Murphy to appear, Willman himself and two of Murphy's campaign aides denied that the candidate's failure to attend the meeting was related to Schlesinger's role on the program. "I absolutely deny this," Willman said. "Furthermore, the reason that Murphy wouldn't appear because of Schlesinger seems to me foolish, since both Schlesinger and Murphy have expressed loyalty to the principles of liberalism that are the basis of the philosophy of the Democratic party."

Refuses to Comment

Schlesinger himself refused to comment directly on the situation. His speech on the Democratic party's electoral hopes contained no reference to Murphy, however, and at times seemed deliberately to omit the expected mention of the Democratic candidate.

At one point, Schlesinger said, "For Democrats to make concessions because the press is hostile to them is to be disloyal to the Democratic party. Hope lies in the fearless, courageous leadership of various state leaders like Averell Harriman in New York, Ed Muskie in Maine, Bob Meyner in New Jersey, and Mennen Williams in Michigan."

Both Murphy's scheduling director, Maurice Flynn, and his campaign treasurer, Rep. Charles Artesani, insisted that a rigorous schedule of previous commitments had forced Murphy to forego the meeting. "There's certainly no reason why he wouldn't want to speak," Flynn said. "It's a matter of scheduling, a matter of commitment."

Artesani added that Murphy's schedule of appearances had to be selected from among many requests, not all of which could be filled. "We try to weigh the thing," he said. "About eight factors go into where he goes and when he goes.