Shriver Asks Students to Join In '76 Presidential Campaign

Sargent Shriver, the latest Democratic presidential candidate to personally seek support at Harvard, encouraged a renewal of active student participation in politics and vowed to bring the presidency closer to the American people in a speech at Boylston Hall last night.

"The politics of the last ten years are not typical of what they have been and can be in this country," Shriver said. "Political leaders do really need you. Don't just cop out."

The 1972 vice presidential candidate warned the audience of over 200 to be cautious in selecting a candidate to support.

'Not Much Difference'

"I don't think that there's that much difference between these candidates, myself included. The only thing you can do is study what a candidate has done with his life," Shriver said.

Criticizing Nixon and Ford administrations, Shriver said, "It's time that the president and vice president got back in touch with the American people. Once I'm elected I can guarantee we'll have a different attitude. We'll have an open government instead of a closed shop."

'Killing and Bombs'

Shriver, who is 60 years old, heatedly defended his directorship of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the mid-sixties.

"When you hear people say we never knew what to do in the sixties except throw money at problems--we had damned little money to throw. It was all thrown into killing and bombs," he said.

Shriver also criticized President Ford's stand on federal aid to New York City. "If you have a sick child in your family, you don't tell it to drop dead," he said.