John B. Connally, former Secretary of the Treasury, will arrive at Harvard next week as the first of four Visiting Fellows invited for the spring semester by the Institute of Politics.

Eugene McCarthy, former senator and presidential candidate, Ron Nessen, former press secretary to ex-president Gerald R. Ford, and Bella Abzug, former congresswoman, have also accepted invitations to speak at Harvard and meet informally with students, Janet Fraser, associate director of the Institute of Politics, said yesterday.

Carla Hills, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said yesterday she will be a Visiting Fellow next fall. Hills said she prefers to meet informally with groups of students rather than give a public address.

Visiting Fellows scheduled for next year include Jack Anderson, newspaper columnist; Elmo Zumwalt, former Chief of Naval Operations; David Halberstam '55, journalist; and Leonard Woodcock, President of the United Auto Workers, Jonathan D. Low, executive assistant to the director, said yesterday.

Connally will speak before the Institute of Politics study group on "Political Campaigns of the 1980s." He will also deliver a public speech on March 16.

McCarthy, who ran for president as an independent candidate in 1976, and for the Democratic nomination in 1968, said yesterday he expects to speak on the "one and a half party system" he says exists in the United States.

McCarthy said that by working on the Committee on Fair Ballot Access he hopes to insure that independent candidates can more readily appear on state ballots. The Committee is currently bringing suit against restrictive state laws which it considers unconstitutional and is working with state legislatures to frame new laws.

"The Visiting Fellows Program was devised two years ago in an effort to get people who draw big crowds," Joy F. Kahlenberg '78, chairman of the subcommittee which selects the Visiting Fellows, said yesterday.

"Except for the budget, students are responsible for everything, including "generating the names of the Fellows," she added.

"This is the first time we have had more than one in a semester," Low said.

Each Visiting Fellow will attempt to reach different constituencies within the University community, Low said. "We have tentatively scheduled McCarthy to read his poetry in conjunction with the Harvard Advocate," Low added.

James C. Thomson Jr., Curator of the Nieman Fellowships, said yesterday he hopes Nessen will speak to students in Thomson's course, government and the press.

Thomson said he would like to know "what it's like being a Presidential press secretary, and what the difference is from switching from one side of the fence as a reporter to the other side, having to fend off reporters."

Elizabeth Griffiths, an Institute of Politics fellow, said yesterday Abzug will speak to her study group on "Issues of the Second Women's Movement" about abortion. Griffiths added that since Abzug "is capable of talking on any subject," she expects to cover a wide range of womens' issues