Moynihan May Lose Post Here If He Becomes U.N. Envoy

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, professor of Government, who was reportedly selected by President Ford to replace John A. Scali as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, may not be able to retain his post here as well as hold the ambassadorship, members of the Faculty said yesterday.

The New York Times reported yesterday that government sources said Ford selected Moynihan for the ambassadorship and that the president will formally announce the appointment soon.

Moynihan last night declined comment on the impending appointment and would not say whether he will continue in his position at Harvard.

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr., '53, chairman of the Government Department, yesterday expressed uncertainty about Moynihan's future in the Government Department, saying, "at certainly is most unusual to leave again after saving a two-year absence to recently."

Moynihan was granted leaves of absence from Harvard in 1969, when former President Nixon asked him to serve as his personal advisor, and in 1973, when Nixon appointed him ambassador to India.

Paul M. Doty, Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry and a long-time personal friend of Moynihan's, said last night that since Moynihan has spent so much time away from Harvard during the last few years, "he might not be able to pull off" another leave of absence.

Dean Rosovsky declined last night to discuss whether Moynihan had made any arrangements with the University for a leave of absence.

The only precedent for granting a second leave of absence to a professor who recently returned from one is that set by John T. Dunlop. Lamont University Professor, John B. Fox, special assistant to Dean Rosovsky, said last night.

Dunlop returned in July, 1973, from a position as chairman of the Cost of Living Council. Last month he was nominated and confirmed by the Senate of Secretary of Labor.

Moynihan, who received his doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, also served the Johnson and Kennedy administrations as the assistant secretary of Labor from 1961 to 1965.

Moynihan turned down an offer from Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger '50 in September 1973, that would have made him "counsellor" to the secretary.