Pouring money into social programs will not solve the multitudinous problems of the United States, conservative author William F. Buckley said in a speech at the Harvard Law School Forum yesterday.

Buckley, the founder of the National Review, gave a decidedly downbeat assessment of the nation's economy, its educational standards and its political leaders before an ideologically diverse audience of more than 100.

"Things are here and there a little better, here and there a little worse, and here and there a lot worse," said Buckley, giving a mixed picture of the state of the nation.

Citing polls indicating that voters are dissatisfied with their choices for president, Buckley said Americans did not know what they wanted in a leader.

"Should [our leaders] be quietly inscrutable? Should they have the power to transform great crowds [with their oratory]?" he asked. "We seem to yearn for a touch of Napoleon in our head of state."

He went on to outline what he called the greatest problems facing the country: education, crime and the lack of social mobility.

But Buckley said that bigger government is not the solution.

"What is vexing is the disparity between the amount of money spent on education and the results obtained," he said, citing a recent survey that lists Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota as states with the highest SAT scores and some of the lowest education expenditures per student.

He criticized both President Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, the former for his overall economic plan and the latter for failing to explain his plan, and his call for an across-the-board 15 percent tax cut, in more detail.

Instead, Buckley praised the free market's responsiveness, calling it a "democratic instrument" and lamenting "misinformation [to the contrary] in which the public has indulged that has misdirected economic policy."

Buckley finished after 35 minutes and then took questions on such diverse topics as gun control, affirmative action, welfare, drug legislation and euthanasia.

Audience members had positive reactions to Buckley's speech, if not his politics.

"I found him to be very eloquent and articulate of conservative ideas," said Burnan A. Gafoor, a student at the Kennedy School of Government. "But I just don't know for whom he is a spokesperson anymore, because his views seem quite far removed from the concerns of people."

Regardless of their views, many audience members expressed frustration at the poor acoustics that, combined with Buckley's trademark mumble and drawn vowels, made his speech difficult to hear.

"Even with giving it the utmost attention, it was still difficult to hear," said one audience member.