Overseer Candidate Gore Launches Presidential Bid

A candidate for Harvard's Board of Overseers threw his political hat into a much larger ring yesterday as he announced plans to enter the race for the 1998 Democratic Presidential nomination.

Sen. Albert Gore Jr. '69 (D-Tenn) yesterday joined a growing list of Democratic presidential hopefuls, calling on the nation to "turn to youth, to vigor and to intellectual capacity." Gore's announcement, made at a press conference in Washington, ended several weeks of speculation on whether the 39-year-old would run for the nation's top office.

At yesterday's press conference, Gore made reference to the election of President John F. Kennedy '40, who was the nation's youngest president and a member of the Board of Overseers.

Gore, who has long-standing ties to Harvard, is one of the 12 University nominated candidates for the Board. The 12 official candidates, along with a slate of six unofficial candidates running on a pro-divestment platform, are vying for six vacancies on the 30 member governing body this year. Ballots for the election were sent to Harvard's more than 200,000 alumni this week.

Because of the pro-divestment campaign, Gore's stand on Harvard's South African-linked investments has been of considerable interest. But despite his liberal views and his support in the Senate for sanctions against South Africa, Gore has been vague about his divestment stance.

In response to a recent questionnaire form the group sponsoring the pro-divestment slate, Alumni Against Apartheid, Gore said, "developments in South Africa present new reasons and new opportunities to review Harvard's divestment policy."

"All I can fairly say is that I would be eagerto see Harvard change its investment stance," Goretold the alumni group. "As a Board member, I wouldseek to negotiate an end to a stalemate that hasgone on far too long."

But in an official statement to Harvard alumniin the overseers voter handbook, Gore's positionis less explicit.

The Senator wrote that he "would seek toresolve the conflict" but does not say whetherHarvard should divest.

As is traditionally the case with Overseerselections, Gore aides said the senator will notcampaign for a spot on the Board. "I don't thinkwe look at [the overseers election] as anotherprimary," the Gore aide said yesterday.

The Senator's decision last fall to accept anAlumni Association nomination for the overseerswas not a move to bolster his presidential bid,the aide said. "He has no plans to use the Boardof Overseers as a stepping-stone."

Gore began to a consider a run for thepresident in March, the aide said