Students Host Bachrach; State Sen. Presents Views

In the feisty style of a man whose campaign literature calls him "an incorrigible," State Sen. George Bachrach (D-Watertown), a congressional candidate, discussed his politics with 45 students last night in the Straus Hall common room.

The first candidate for the Eighth Congressional District seat to appear in a weekly Harvard-Radcliffe Democratic Club series, Bachrach advocated deficit reduction through cuts in defense spending and agribusiness subsidies.

He also said defense contractors should be required to use production methods that permit quick transitions to non-military production, to prevent defense cuts from causing the widespread layoffs that he said make them unpopular in Congress now.

However, he said, "deficit spending's not such a terrible thing," and said, "the question is, how much in the red and for what reason?" The candidate has advocated increases in government social services, especially in housing and health care.

Bachrach said he supported a protective tariff for the nation's ailing automotive industry--but not one for the shoe industry. He characterized the difference between these two cases as "between acute problems and chronic problems."

Bachrach outlined a liberal foreign policy agenda of improved relations with the Nicaraguan government, sanctions against South Africa, and pressure for democratic reform on authoritative regimes in Chile, the Phillippines, and South Korea.

Other Democratic candidates scheduled to speak in the series are: State Rep. William F. Galvin (D-Allston), Carla Johnston, Joseph P. Kennedy II, State Rep. Thomas M. Gallagher (D-Brighton), and two-time Boston mayoral candidate Melvin H. King.

State Rep. Thomas J. Vallely (D-Back Bay), James Roosevelt, Jr. '68, James Spiegal, Robert M. Cappucci, and Boston City Councillor Albert L. "Dapper" O'Neil, who is expected to announce his candidacy today.