The low morale of the American public stems from the failure of intellectuals to find a national purpose, Patricia L. Harris, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said last night before about 150 people at the Kennedy School's ARCO Forum.

In a lecture entitled, "The Role of the American Intellectual Community in Redefining our National Purpose," Harris, the first black woman every to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, said academic communities must develop new ideas and provide constructive criticism of federal programs.

Yearning

Intellectuals must encourage the aspirations of ordinary people, Harris said, adding that the public must see that "it's appropriate to yearn for something bigger."

She said the American public began to expect too much from government officials after making them "superstars" to replace the movie idols of the 1930's and 40's.

She said morale declined when politicians failed to live up to the ideals of the public.

No Escape

"There is no escaping the conclusion that intellectuals must be the initial innovators in society," Harris said. She explained that the government's role is only to respond to--not create--these ideas.

"Machiavelli wrote for a prince, but he wasn't the prince himself," she said.

Public officials are too busy to lead in the development of new ideas, she said, adding that intellectuals have failed to respond to the need to pull the public out of the "narcissism" of the '70s.

"I am unnerved by the intellectuals' lack of nerve," she said.

Harris said 27 million Americans live in poverty which only the government can alleviate. "But the attitude of the people now is that the best government is the one which governs least," she added.

If the search for a purpose occurs outside the intellectual sphere, it will result in experiences like the deaths in Jonestown, Guyana, and the killings in Iran, she said.

"I think that intellectual debate is far preferable to Kool-aid cyanide or the firing squad." Harris said