Sen. Prescott Bush (R., Conn.) last night charged the Democratic party with "trying to make the United States appear a second-rate power."

"This is dangerous," Bush told 150 graduate Young Republicans meeting at Harkness Commons. "It might under-mine the confidence of our allies and might lead the Rusians to attack merely by mistake."

Democratic attempts to ring false alarms are insincere, he said, since Democratic majorities in Congress have dominated legislation in the last six years. "If they are sincere, why didn't they do something about it?" Bush asked.

Speaking on "The Campaign Issues of 1960," Bush said that the greatest issue today is "which party can best attain our national goal of peace in this world, with honor."

Secondary--though still important--is the pocketbook issue, Bush said. "This is the question of which party can produce the most job opportunities, and the most stable economic growth," he said. Listing achievements of the Eisenhower administration, Bush said that the dollar has only lost five cents in value in the last seven years, compared with a 25 cent drop under Roosevelt and a 28 cent drop under Truman.

"Inflation has been arrested," he said. In the light of this, the $23 weekly pay increase which the average worker has received under Republican administration is truly significant, he said.

Asked about U.S. hesitation at intervention during the Hungarian rebellion. Bush described the whole Hungarian affair as "unfortunate," but said U.S. hands were tied.

"We can't risk global war unless we're pretty sure of winning," he said candidly. He said it would have been very difficult to maintain U.S. troops in Hungary.