NEW YORK--When Nathan M. Pusey '28 became president of Harvard in 1953, he was a Republican from the Midwest, who did not own a television.

Now, 30 years after he left Cambridge for New York City, he is a Democrat, watches TV all the time and talks like he has lived here in the Big Apple all his life.

Pusey, who is 93, has eased out of his part-time charity work in the last few years and now spends his days in the modest Upper East Side apartment where he has lived since 1971.

He reads widely--Peter Gomes' sermons, The New Yorker, books by his son James on Chinese literature--follows current events intently and spends time with Anne, his wife of almost 65 years.

Lately much of their attention has been focused on coverage of the national presidential election, which Pusey and his wife read in The New York Times each morning and watch on television every afternoon.

Anne Pusey switched parties before her husband, shortly after the couple departed Cambridge. She gives modest donations to political campaigns; this year Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 got one dollar. Pusey became an Independent around the time his wife switched parties, but it was some years later that he became a Democrat.

"We're all for Gore and just think Bush is the end of the world and just think it would be sick if Bush won," Pusey says. "I wish I could tell you who's going to be the next president of the United States if I can't tell you who's going to be the next president of Harvard."

In the spring--once the identity of both new presidents has been resolved--Pusey hopes to come to Harvard so that all four living presidents can be photographed together. He has been back for a number of commencements--five of his grandchildren have graduated from Harvard--but did not think he would be able to see four generations of presidents.