Asst. Dean Elder Whipped In Mass. Primary Contest

The conservative trend now surfacing a cross the country appeared in the Old Bay State yesterday in the primary elections. Doves and specifically McCarthy forces were defeated decisively.

In the seventh congressional district Democratic race, John D. Elder, assistant dean of the Divinity School, lost by a 3-1 landslide to President Kennedy's Harvard roommate and longtime incumbent Torbert H. MacDonald '40.

The seventh district includes mainly suburbs north of Boston--Arlington, Belmont, Winchester, Saugus, Medford, and other nearby communities.

In what was expected to be a very close race, early McCarthy backer, State Rep. Joseph Bradley, was defeated by a 2-1 margin in the third district Democratic contest. Incumbent Phillip J. Philbin, a hawk until very recently, beat Bradley in a large new district. Philbin's old district was put into other districts after court-ordered redistricting in 1967.

A third candidate in the Democratic race, Thomas Boylston Adams, the 1966 peace candidate for U.S. Senator, lagged far behind Philbin and Bradley.

Rep. Edward P. Boland, running for renomination for his ninth term, defeated former Springfield mayor Charles V. Ryan, a liberal in the second congressional district Democratic race. Boland received aid in his campaign from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass), his first campaigning since his brother's assasination.

McCarthy-backer Worcester Mayor Joseph Casdin ran far behind incumbent Harold Donahue in the Democratic nomination battle in the fourth congressional district.