A View of N.Y. Contest

To the Editors of the Harvard CRIMSON:

I do not understand from your article of October 13 whether the student organization being formed for the New York senatorial election is dedicated to the victory of Senator Keating, the defeat of Mr. Kennedy, or both. Your headline would suggest that the second of these possibilities is the group's primary aim. If I am correct in this inference, I find it a sad commentary on U.S. politics in 1964.

The two major parties have nominated for the presidency men who seem to command little affection or respect from the electorate. The almost universal addendum to all declarations of support that one hears is that one presidential candidate or the other is the lesser of two evils.

This regretable fact seems to have contaminated the contests for public office on the lower levels. If I were a resident of New York, I believe I would feel quite proud to be able to choose between two such capable men as Kennedy and Keating, both of whom have already served their country with distinction. I would also be humiliated that so many of my fellow New Yorkers have allowed the mediocrity of the presidential candidates to diffuse through and sour their outlook of an honorable and capable man seeking their support for the continuation of a fine public career. Martin B. Vidgoff '66