They could have been having cocktails with Warburg Professor of Economics John Kenneth Galbraith or eaten dinner with colleague Joseph P. Kennedy II.

Instead five freshmen Republican Congressmen elected to eat and meet with more than 40 members of the Harvard Republican Club last night at the Freshman Union.

Fred Grandy '70 of Iowa, Amory Houghton Jr. '50 of New York, Thomas C. Ballenger of North Carolina, Frederick S. Upton of Michigan, and Ernest L. Konnyu of California chose to rub elbows with the young politicos instead of accepting other invitations.

In a question-and-answer session after dinner, the congressmen fielded questions on topics ranging from aid to the contras to the trade deficit to the arms deals with Iran.

"There are more ideas in this party right now, more flexibility," said Grandy, answering questions on the future of the Grand Old Party. Grandy used to play the part of the purser Gopher on the TV show "Love Boat."

"I think there's an ideological move towards the Republican party," said Houghton. The future of the Republican party looks bright, he said, "if we can get over this terrible situation with Iran."

Addressing the situation in Central America, Konnyu said that without contra aid several refugees would flee to the United States from Nicaragua and El Salvador. "The American people simply do not want thousands of people on welfare on their backs as we had to do with the Vietnamese folks," he said.

Kris W. Kobach '87, president of the Republican Club, said, "It's encouraging that national political leaders are willing to sit down for two hours to talk to college students."

Konnyu expressed no regrets about having to forego the proferred invitation for cocktails and dinner. It was much more important to talk to the students he calls "the future leaders of America," he said.