February 1962
February 1, 1962
President Kennedy expressed satisfaction yesterday with the actions taken against Cuba by the conference of American foreign ministers at Punta del Este, Uruguay. The President called attention to the fact that all of the twenty-one members of the Organization of American States except Cuba had joined in resolutions opposing "Communist penetration of this hemisphere" and supporting the Alliance for Progress. Despite his expression of satisfaction, there was widespread opinion in Washington that the Administration was disappointed by the failure of six large nations to vote for Cuba's exclusion from participation in the inter-American system. (1, Col. 5)
Guests at President Kennedy's news conference included Mr. and Mme. Aleksei I. Adzhubei, a son-in-law and daughter of Premier Khrushchev. The President said that he was gladdened by every exchange of views, information and courtesies with Soviet officials, but he warned that East-West relations remained "very hazardous." (1:6-7)
Communist leaders of Outer Mongolia were said to have accused a late Stalinist premier of having fostered a "cult of personality." A party resolution, as reported in Moscow, placed Outer Mongolia in line with Moscow's views rather than Peelings (4:4-5)
President Kennedy called for a Congressional investigation of the war-emergency stockpiling program. He said it was overgrown and a "potential, source of excessive and unconscionable profits." The President said that, in some cases, the Government had acquired "more than seven times the amount that could possibly be used." Informants said the inquiry could embarrass some former officials. (1:8; Text, 10)
Mr. Kennedy used the occasion of his news conference to chide New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts for relying on the Federal Government to save the ailing New Haven Railroad. (1:3)
Proposals that are certain to set off a lively debate in Congress were embodied in the President's farm message. It called for the toughest control program yet devised to cure chronic surplus production. The plan would give wheat and feed-grain producers a choice of accepting the new controls or facing a cut-off of Federal price supports and other aids. Dairy farmers would have a choice of accepting for the first time controls on the marketing of milk or of facing much lower Federal aid. (1:1; Text, 14)
A Congressional commission presented to Mr. Kennedy a five-point program designed to preserve and make more effective use of outdoor resources and to acquire more public outdoor playgrounds. The plan is designed to meet needs for the next forty years. (1:2-3; Excerpts, 16)
Secretary of Labor Goldberg reported that the unemployment rate in January dropped to 5.8 per cent--the lowest in sixteen months. (1:1)
U.S. fights Soviet aviation inroads in Americas. (3)
Bonn Army will take over larger NATO sector. (5)
Kennedy calls space program essential to U.S. (3)
McCone confirmed as head of C.I.A., 71 to 12. (9)
President foresees no new controls over TV. (11)
February 2, 1962
A Bulgarian pilot who has been hospitalized since his camera-equipped plane crash-landed near Bari, Italy, Jan. 20, was formally accused of espionage. (2:8)
The President also asked Congress for a broad program of welfare reforms to relieve "poverty that persists in the midst of abundance." Mr. Kennedy's program, which stresses prevention and rehabilitation services, would add $193,000,000 to welfare costs. (1:3, Text, 10)
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy left Washington for a goodwill trip around the world. The relatively informal tour will last about a month. The President's brother will spend a week each in Japan and Indonesia and make shorter visits to Iran, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries. (1:4-7)
The Attorney General asked Congress to permit Federal wiretapping with strict controls, put tougher restrictions on wiretapping by state and local authorities and outlaw private wiretapping. His position was outlined in a letter and a draft bill. (1:5-6)
A Senate subcommittee rejected a move by Secretary of Defense McNamara to shield the identity of individual speech censors at the Pentagon without invoking executive privilege. But the group made no final ruling on demanding such identification. (1:2)
Russians bid U. S. back Bonn-Moscow talks. (2)
India promises U. N. not to use force on Kashmir. (3)
Argentina seen about to withdraw envoy to Cuba. (6)
U. S. official sees extremists as menace. (17)
United States gold stock declines 25 million. (39)
February 3, 1962
President Kennedy is expected to announce this week-end a ban on all remaining imports from Cuba, which give the Castro Government an income of about $3,000,000 a month. The purpose of the boycott, which will strike most severely at the Tampa, Fla., cigar industry, is to deny the Cuban regime the dollars it is said to be using for subversive activity against other Latin-American governments. (1, Col. 8; Text, 2)
The Atomic Energy Commission reported that the Soviet Union had apparently set off an underground nuclear explosion. Officials speculated that the Russians had been staging other underground tests. (1:7)
Senator George D. Aiken assailed the Administration for saying that United States' failure to buy $100,000,000 of United Nations bonds would help the Soviet Union. In a Senate speech, the Vermont Republican charged that Congress had been committed without consultation or consent. (3:6)
The United Nations General Assembly heard an appeal by Congolese Premier Adoula for more military aid to end the secession of Katanga Province. Mr. Adoula spoke quietly but forcefully in French, and avoided inflammatory remarks about Congolese personalities. (1:5)
President Kennedy's request for a Congressional investigation of the Government's stockpiling operations evoked a caustic reaction by Senator John J. Williams. The Delaware Republican told the Senate that Mr. Kennedy's votes as a Senator in eight out of nine roll calls had helped to build the stockpiles he now deplores. (1:1)
Former Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker flew from Dallas to Austin to file as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas. Mr. Walker, who has been associated with groups considered to be extreme rightists, paid a $1,000 filing fee. (1:2-3)
U. S. bars Soviet plan to put Berlin in U. N. (1)
Fanfani resigns to pave way for "opening to Left." (3)
U. S. health aides defend monkey research. (17)
TV networks concerned about Minow's remarks. (45)
February 4, 1962
Acting Secretary General Thant is holding out against a Soviet demand that eighty high-ranking positions in the United Nations Secretariat be given to Soviet citizens. For one thing, Mr. Thant is understood to have told the Soviet delegation the United Nations would not discharge employees to make room for the Russians. (30:1)
President Kennedy ordered a ban on almost all trade with Cuba to deprive the Castro regime of an annual income of about $35,000,000. The embargo will go into effect Wednesday. The only exceptions will be some food and medicines, exempted "on humanitarian grounds." (1:5; Text, 22)
President Frondizi of Argentina lashed out at military leaders who are pressing him to harden his policy toward the Castro Government. In a long speech at Parana, Dr. Frondizi also implicitly assailed the United States and other countries that support the exclusion of Cuba from the inter-American system. (1:6-7)
A bitter, behind-the-scenes struggle about a resumption of atmospheric nuclear tests is under way in Washington. President Kennedy has ordered necessary preparations made that would permit testing in the Pacific, presumably this spring. But he has reserved final decision, and the capital is driven by a great debate between opponents and proponents of the tests. (1:6-7)
Senator Clair Engle of California said that Mr. Kennedy had voted for only one proposal to increase the stockpile acquisitions, involving a $30,000,000 appropriation for strategic materials. (1:4)
Budgetary limitations imposed by the Administration are causing the construction of experimental atomic power plants to come to a standstill. The policy is proving politically embarrassing to Democrats in Congress. (57:3)
White House wary on censorship inquiry. (34)
President signs du Pont tax bill. (46)
February 5, 1962
Cubans gathered in Havana to hear Premier Castro denounce the United States' embargo on imports from Cuba as "another economic aggression." The crowd cheered as he declared they were not afraid of such "aggressions" and assailed President Kennedy as a "shameless person." (1:5)
Officials of the Kennedy Administration look upon the United Nations' $200,000,000 bond issue as setting a possible pattern for the financing of any future peace-keeping operations like those in the Congo and the Middle East. (1:2-3)
Cuba will renew U. N. drive on United States. (13)
February 6, 1962
The United States accused Cuba of appealing to the United Nations in order to divert attention from the decision to exclude Cuba from the inter-American system. Adlai E. Stevenson, in a General Assembly debate, denied Havana's charge that Washington was planning armed intervention. (1:7)
President Tshombe of Katanga has agreed to the United Nations' demand for creation of joint commissions to expel mercenary soldiers from the Congolese province. (1:5)
The problem of Katanga's secession attempt was discussed by Premier Adoula of the Congo and President Kennedy after a White House luncheon. Mr. Kennedy said the stability of Mr. Adoula's regime was vital to the United Nations and a free Africa. (1:7)
President Kennedy will propose to Congress this week that ownership and operation of communications satellites be turned over to a broadly owned private corporation. The plan will open the first major debate on incorporating results of the Government's space research into the economy. Some stock in the satellite system would be owned by present communications companies, but the corporation itself would be new. (1:4)
The Senate voted to exclude any facilities used primarily for religious worship or teaching from receiving funds under the proposed $1,500,000,000 construction loan program for colleges and universities. The decision confirmed an action taken last week by the House. (1:2)
U. S. bars fueling by Dutch troop planes. (1)
Costa Rica elects Orlich as President. (2)
Allies decline U. S. offer on Berlin crossing. (3)
U. S. denies tax-fraud drive against Wall Street. (41)
U. S. to import wheat from Israel for Jews. (13)
Glenn pays "courtesy call" on Kennedy. (14)
U. S. borrows $25,000,000 of Italian currency. (45)
February 7, 1962
President Kennedy called on Congress to put more than $5,700,000,000 into the nation's schools and colleges in the next five years. (1:8, Text, 20)
The Kennedy Administration appealed directly to the steel industry and the United Steelworkers of America to start contract negotiations as soon as possible. (1:4)
The White House began pushing harder for Congressional approval of Mr. Kennedy's controversial plan to create a Cabinet-level Department of Urban Affairs and Housing. (21:1)
Kennedy confers with NATO's Secretary General. (9)
February 8, 1962
The United States and Britain will announce today their willingness to have a foreign ministers' meeting with the Soviet Union in an effort to reach agreement on a ban on nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere. (1:8; Text, 14)
The President told his news conference that the Administration definitely would not identify official censors who were responsible for specific deletions in speeches and statements by military leaders. (1:2-3)
In New York, Cardinal Spellman said that passage of Mr. Kennedy's aid-to-education measure would mean the eventual end of Roman Catholic schools in this country. (1:2; Text, 19)
Kennedy urges privately operated satellite system. (1)
Kennedy names panel for stockpiling inquiry. (20)
February 9, 1962
The United States set up a new military command in South Vietnam, primarily to show Washington's determination to prevent a Communist take-over in the embattled country. The new group will be commanded by Gen. Paul Donald Harkins who was promoted from lieutenant general to four-star rank to emphasize the importance of the command. (1:6)
Britain would make Christmas Island in the Pacific available for possible United States tests in the atmosphere. (1:5; Text, 2)
Britain would test a nuclear device underground in Nevada. (2:3)
Argentina became the fourteenth hemisphere nation to sever diplomatic relations with the Castro Government of Cuba. (1:7)
President Kennedy invoked the doctrine of Executive privilege for the first time in his Administration. He did so to prevent the identification of a Pentagon censor before a Senate investigating subcommittee. The President's view that to permit the disclosure of the censor's name would be "contrary to the public interest" was accepted by Senator John C. Stennis, chairman of the inquiry into whether military leaders have been curbed in their efforts to speak out against communism. (1:1; Text, 10)
The United States placed its fourth Tiros weather satellite in orbit. Within two circuits, the 285-pound satellite, with two television cameras abroad, was transmitting back "excellent" pictures of cloud formations, which were being incorporated in conventional weather forecasts. (1:2)
February 10, 1962
The Soviet Union failed in an effort to restrict Western air traffic between West Germany and Berlin. Allied officials in Berlin said yesterday that Moscow had demanded exclusive use of one of the three air corridors Thursday and of the two other yesterday. The reason was said to be "military maneuvers." The Western powers considered the Soviet demand a major probing of their determination on the sensitive air-access issue. They refused the demand and flew both military and civilian craft without incident. (1:6-7)
President Kennedy's chief disarmament adviser said the United States could not afford to let the Soviet Union stage another series of nuclear tests before the United States resumed testing in the air. The statement by William C. Foster tended to confirm the Administration's reported decision to proceed with atmospheric tests. (1:5)
After more than a year of debate in Madrid, the Spanish Government applied for association with the European Common Market with the declared goal of ultimately becoming a full member. The decision could have great political, as well as economic, consequences for Spain and Europe. (2:5)
After hearing testimony by 120 persons, a Rhodesian commission of inquiry blamed pilot error for the plane crash that took the life of Dag Hammarskjöld and fifteen other persons last Sept. 18. (4:3-4)
The Administration asked Congress for authority to pay all or part of the costs of building neighborhood fall-out shelters for 20,000,000 people over the next few years. The proposed legislation would clear the way for the Government to help local authorities and schools, hospitals and other nonprofit institutions finance public shelters for fifty or more persons. (1:1)
Soviet frees Powers in exchange for Abel. (1)
February 11, 1962
Officials in Washington said the 32-year-old Mr. Powers would not be available for meetings with the press for at least ten days. In the meantime, intelligence officers will question him on the many unexplained aspects of the U-2 incident. (38:7-8)
The Kennedy Administration viewed the exchange as only a part of the current East-West attempt to ease the "cold war" but not as a diplomatic break-through. (1:7)
What may be the next important step in efforts to take some of the rawness out of the "cold war" atmosphere will be a joint television broadcast by President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev. The United States and Soviet Governments are nearing an agreement for such a broadcast to the peoples of the two countries. (1:6-7)
In a Presidential memorandum to all Government agencies, the White House issued new "standards of conduct" designed to prevent scientific and other advisers from using Government positions for personal gain. The new rules require advisers to keep the Government informed about their private financial interests and specifically enjoin them against using governmental "inside information" for "private gain." (1:1; Text 60)
U.S.-Soviet talks said to fail again. (44)
Kennedy weighs offer of Newport summer home. (74)
February 12, 1962
The Soviet Union proposed last night that the government leaders of eighteen nations meet in Geneva on March 14 to begin the scheduled conference on general disarmament. (1:8)
The Western Allies rejected another Soviet request for temporary exclusive use today of two of the three flight corridors to Berlin. Allied officials view the requests as a possible Soviet attempt to whittle away Western rights in the city. (1:6)
Concern of officials in Washington is the increasing ferocity of the war in South Vietnam and the increasing involvement of the United States. (3:1)
The United States has looked back on its fourteen-year trusteeship over the primitive and placid islands of the South Seas and has found its record meager and wanting. It has pledged to put more money, more planning and more direction into the islands and to step up the creeping pace of development. High-level United States officials, exuding hope and plans, are talking of a "new frontier" for the 78,000 Pacific islanders. (1:4-6)
Walter Spalding, Harvard Professor Emeritus, died. (23)
February 13, 1962
Washington and London are expected to reject Premier Khrushchev's proposal to "start" the coming disarmament talks as a summit parley. (1:8)
Racial barriers in Federally aided hospitals were challenged for the first time in a suit filed by the N.A.A.C.P. in a North Carolina Federal court. The suit attacked parts of the Hill-Burton Act of 1946, under which Federal funds have been used to help build more than 2,000 "separate but equal" medical facilities for Southern Negroes and Whites. (1:4)
Kennedy urges fair-pay standard for women. (1)
February 14, 1962
Washington was worried yesterday that it would eventually have to agree to summit talks despite its rejection of Premier Khrushchev's call for a heads of government meeting on disarmament next month in Geneva. (13:3)
Cuba was said to be unable to send Eastern Europe most of the sugar promised under trade deals with the Soviet bloc. Instead, 500,000 of the 560,000 tons earmarked for East European buyers will be sold for dollars on the world market. The move may be a result of the United States trade embargo, which reduced Cuba's dollar earnings. (1:4)
A Tariff Commission hearing on the domestic cotton industry's plea for higher duties on imported cottons. Such cases are particularly significant now that President Kennedy is seeking a freer trade program. (1:5-7)
King Saud and Kennedy discuss U.S. base. (1)
More U.S. warships arriving to aid Vietnam. (1)
Soviet may purchase U.S. patents. (1)
Most of Lafayette Sq. in capital to be razed. (37)
February 15, 1962
With care and diplomacy, President Kennedy has urged Premier Khrushchev not to press his proposal for an eighteen-nation summit meeting on disarmament in Geneva starting March 14. (1:8; Text of Note, 2)
Mr. Kennedy reaffirmed his position at a news conference in which he also said that Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 pilot could testify before Congressional committees and talk with the press after he had completed "important interviews" with the Government. (1:6; Text, 14)
A problem facing President de Gaulle is acute West German displeasure over Paris' resistance to European integration and its insistence on independent nuclear capacity. President de Gaulle will discuss the differences in Baden-Baden today with Chancellor Adenauer. (1:7)
A Cuban delegation angrily stalked out of the Council of the Organization of American States shortly before the twenty-nation group took action to expel it. (1:5)
In his news conference President Kennedy declared that reaching full employment at a time when machines are replacing men is "the major domestic challenge of the Sixties." The statement was considered the President's strongest in recent months on the nation's persistently high unemployment--currently about 4,700,000. (1:4)
U.S. assistant military attach’ killed in Congo. (1)
Gen. Henry Irving Hodes of the Army died. (29)
February 16, 1962
The Russians intensified yesterday their harassment of Western air access to Berlin, flying MIG fighters in formation and in acrobatic maneuvers close to Western military craft. (1:8)
United States' military efforts in South Vietnam received the backing of former Vice President Nixon. In a speech in Sacramento, Calif., he assailed recent criticism of the build-up to bar a Communist take-over. (3:3-4)
Cuba's charge that the United States was planning "aggression" against her was overwhelmingly rejected in the Political Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. Every Latin-American nation except Cuba supported the United States. The vote rejecting the charge was 50 to eleven, with 39 abstentions. (1:7)
The United States was said to have won a significant degree of protection for the powerful textile industry in a new five-year international trade agreement. Congressional sources said that the terms of the agreement give this country the right to hold textile imports to present levels at first and to limit annual increases thereafter to not more than 5 per cent. The nineteen-nation agreement is a major step the Administration is taking to win Congressional support for liberalizing trade. (1:1)
Vice President Johnson assured Negro leaders that the Administration would increase efforts to end racial discrimination by unions and Southern industries. (1:2)
F.B.I. chief assails "experts on communism." (16)
United States leasing off-shore oil acreage. (39)
February 17, 1962
The Soviet Union appeared yesterday to have called off, for the time being at least, its harassment of Allied flights from West Germany to West Berlin.
High United States officials predicted that the Government of South Vietnam would ultimately defeat Communist guerrillas. But they conceded that even with material help from the United States, the flight might take years. These views were expressed as Secretary of Defense McNamara and Assistant Secretary of State Harriman prepared to fly to Honolulu tomorrow for talks on the situation in Southeast Asia. (1:7)
Thousands of striking demonstrators, determined to topple British Guiana's Leftist Government, fought with policemen and put torches to the business center of Georgetown. At the urgent request of Prime Minister Jagan, British troops arrived to help smash the uprising. (1:6)
After nearly two years of discussions, the Governor of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul decreed the expropriation of the American-owned telephone company there, a subsidiary of I. T. & T. (1:8)
By car, bus and train, college students from across the nation arrived in Washington and began picketing outside the White House in a two-day demonstration for peace. About 1,400 registered at the Student Peace Union headquarters and about 2,000 more were expected to arrive today. (1:2-5)
Western Europe has promised to buy substantially more cotton goods from Japan and other low-cost producers and thus ease the pressure of those goods on the United States industry. The pledge was made in a new five-year agreement among the nations that account for most of the non-Communist trade in cotton textiles. (1:3-4)
U. S. is reviewing Federal grants to hospitals. (44)
February 18, 1962
The State Department assailed the expropriation of the American-owned telephone system in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Washington called the seizure a blow to the Alliance for Progress program. (1:6-7)
Almost every high official in the Kennedy Administration except the President has reached the conclusion that the United States should resume nuclear testing in the atmosphere as soon as possible. Only Mr. Kennedy can make the decision, and the odds are that he will order a test soon. (8:1-2)
Bruno Walter, one of the world's foremost conductors, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. His age was 85. (1:4-5)
Kennedy issues plan for attack preparedness. (43)
Kennedy greets students' parley on peace. (51)
February 19, 1962
The Soviet Union renewed last night its pressure on Allied air access to West Berlin, demanding exclusive use of the three flight corridors for three hours today. The Western powers immediately rejected the demand. Allied officials said they would answer it as before--by flying extra military transports in the corridor the Russians wanted to reserve. In Moscow earlier, the Soviet Government rejected Western protests against the harassment of Allied planes in the Berlin air corridors. (1:8)
Two United States Cabinet members made airport statements expressing this support determination to support the Government of South Vietnam against Communist guerrillas. Secretary of Defense McNamara, leaving Washington for political-military talks in Hawaii, said he was "very optimistic" about the efforts to curb the guerrillas. (1:5-7)
Attorney General Kennedy, who spent two hours in Saigon en route from Indonesia to Thailand, declared that United States troops would remain in South Vietnam until Communist aggression was defeated. (1:5)
Secretary of State Rusk sent two of his aides to Paris to ask the NATO allies to restrict their trade with Cuba. (1:6-7)
Senator Hayden marks 50 years in Congress. (1)
February 20, 1962
The nuclear weapons problem occupied the attention of President Kennedy and a smiling and urban Washington visitor, Hugh Gaitskell, British Labor party chief. Mr. Gaitskell told the President that atmospheric nuclear tests should be had only to maintain the West's deterrent strength and not on a "tit for tat" basis. (4:3)
President Kennedy sent Congress a request for a $2,000,000,000 public works program to use whenever rising unemployment indicated a recession was brewing. The funds would go into projects designed to create jobs, inject money into the economy, increase state and local spending and expand consumer purchasing power. This was the first of the President's three promised plans to head off future slumps. (1:1; Text, 19)
Unemployment struck Lebanon, N.H. The mill whistle that was part of the morning din was silent yesterday for the first time in more than fifty years. Instead of flocking to the gates of the city's two woolen mills, nearly one of every four of Lebanon's workers queued up for jobless pay. The mills, seized by the Federal Government for tax debts, closed last Friday. (28:7)
U. N. rebuffs Cuba anew on anti-U.S. move. (3)
February 21, 1962
The United States put a human being into orbit around the earth yesterday and recovered him safely. Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr., a Marine Corps test pilot, thus became the first American and third man known to have circled the world in space. Despite control problems that threatened to shorten his flight, Colonel Glenn completed three orbits before his Friendship 7 capsule landed in the Caribbean. (1:8)
President Kennedy telephoned him immediately and arranged to meet him at Cape Canaveral Friday. (1:4)
Chancellor Adenauer suggested holding a Big Four foreign ministers' conference on Berlin "soon." This proposal reflected Dr. Adenauer's belief that United States Ambassador Thompson has made unnecessary concessions in his series of meetings with Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko. (1:5)
In Tunis, the Algerian rebel government gave full approval to the peace agreement negotiated with France. Its ministers were confident that the rebel "parliament" would ratify the accords quickly. (1:4)
The Senate defeated an Administration effort to force a quick test of President Kennedy's plan to create a Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. The issue was whether to take the plan away from committee for a floor vote ahead of the House. The defeat made it likely that the House would vote first and kill the project. (1:6)
President Kennedy urged Congress to make Federal jobs as attractive as private ones by increasing salaries and promotion opportunities to lure and retain competent personnel. He outlined a reform of Federal pay systems to cost $1,000,000,000 a year, a 10 per cent payroll increase spread over three years. (18:3)
Opera star sings at White House state dinner. (17)
February 22, 1962
Initial Soviet reserve over the orbital flight of John H. Glenn Jr. melted yesterday as Premier Khrushchev and Soviet astronauts and scientists joined in congratulating him. In a warm message to President Kennedy, Mr. Khrushchev urged the United States to combine efforts with the Soviet Union in conquering space "for the benefit of mankind." (1:5; Text, 10)
In a prompt reply, Mr. Kennedy wrote the Soviet leader that he hoped representatives of their two government s could meet "at a very early date" to discuss cooperative space projects. The President said he welcomed the Premier's suggestion and was instructing his aides to prepare "new and concrete proposals for immediate projects of common action." Earlier, Mr. Kennedy told his news conference that the offer was "most encouraging" and was an echo of previous American proposals. (1:8, Text, 10)
In the two adjacent trouble spots of Southeast Asia, South Vietnam and Laos, the United States intends to continue its efforts to bring about stability. This was indicated, by President Kennedy, who acknowledged that the problems in both countries presented many obstacles. (1:2)
The President said at his news conference that a special board on inquiry headed by E. Barrett Prettyman was seeking to determine whether Francis Gary Powers had fulfilled his contract with the Central Intelligence Agency and was entitled to $50,000 in back pay. (1:3-4)
The French Government approved an agreement for peace in Algeria twenty-four hours after it had been approved by the Algerian Provisional Government. (1:2-3)
The House of Representatives buried the President's proposal for a Department of Urban Affairs with hostile votes from both parties and all regions of the country. The vote against it was 264 to 150. (1:4)
Gold drain halts dependents of overseas troops. (2)
Fanfani forms Center-Left Cabinet in Italy. (3)
Heckscher named White House cultural coordinator. (1)
February 23, 1962
Premier Khrushchev again urged President Kennedy to meet him at the disarmament conference in Geneva, but was quickly turned down again. The Soviet leader gave no indication whether he would appear at the March 14 talks, nor did he accept or reject the Western suggestion that the delegations be headed by foreign ministers. Mr. Khrushchev's twenty-page letter to the President dropped the cordial tote of the first invitation and at one point questioned the good faith of the United States. (1:8)
Turkey appeared to have weathered during the night an attempt by mutinous army units to overthrow the Government. Premier Inonu early today reported the situation under control and the leaders of rebellious units were said to have been seized. (1:5)
President Kennedy took the family of John H. Glenn Jr. Florida, en route to their reunion at Cape Canaveral today with the 40-year-old astronaut.
Information on Colonel Glenn's flight will be submitted to the United Nations. Sources in Washington said that this country would provide data on "orbital and transit characteristics" of the space journey. (13:1)
Czechs open first section of Soviet oil pipeline. (3)
Kennedy hopeful of steel accord without strike. (17)
February 24, 1962
The first American to orbit the earth returned to his takeoff point at Cape Canaveral yesterday to be honored by President Kennedy and to receive the first cheers of a grateful nation. The President told John H. Glenn Jr. how "proud of him" his countrymen were. Then Mr. Kennedy pinned a medal on the 40-year-old astronaut and read a citation that praised his "great professional skill" and his "unflinching courage." (1:8; Texts, 14-16)
Prime Minister Macmillan is pressing President Kennedy to take a more favorable attitude toward Premier Khrushchev's proposal for a summit conference. Sources in London reported last night that Mr. Macmillan had telephoned Mr. Kennedy on their private trans-Atlantic line to urge a more flexible attitude on a meeting with the Soviet leader in Geneva prior to next month's disarmament conference. Initial reaction in Washington was negative. In a note to the President made public yesterday, Mr. Khrushchev accused him of dooming the arms conference in advance. (1:1; Text, 2)
President Kennedy's proposal for a more liberal foreign trade law received the endorsement of the United States Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has a tradition of liberalism on trade, but the Administration had been worried that dissent among the members might force a change. (1:5)
Secretary of Labor Goldberg declared that when the Government moved into collective bargaining in the future, it would define and assert the national interest, not just mediate the immediate issues. He set forth the new policy in a speech before a business group in Chicago. (1:2-3)
February 25, 1962
Britain's Foreign Secretary called yesterday for a temporary arrangement reconciling Moscow's demand for recognition of East Germany with the West's rights of access and garrisoning of West Berlin. The Earl of Home stressed Britain's desire to negotiate a settlement of the Berlin problem by reconciling the conflicting interests of the great powers. His speech at a conference of young conservatives was viewed as an indication of a more flexible attitude toward negotiations on Britain's part. (1:8)
Attorney General Kennedy answered a series of questions about United States policy on Berlin and Germany raised by university students in Bonn. He said Washington had no "trick" or "magic" solutions and declared that the United States would not go to war to reunify Germany. The Attorney General met with the students after a private talk with Chancellor Adenauer. (1:5-7)
President Kennedy rejected for the second time Premier Khrushchev's proposal for a summit meeting at next month's disarmament conference in Geneva. The President's reply was fully coordinated which was said to be in full agreement with it. (14:3)
In an effort to solve differences in the Communist world, the Kremlin has placed liaison between the Soviet and Chinese Communist parties in the hands of one of its top-ranking specialists in intelligence work. The move was interpreted as a slap at Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese party leader. (1:5)
The Peiping Government declared its security was threatened by an "undeclared war" being waged by the United States in South Vietnam. It warned that United States military aid to that country could not be allowed to continue. (1:4)
The Administration will open a drive soon to give the Virgin Islands and Guam a greater measure of freedom. Bills that would give citizens of the territories the right to elect their own Governors are expected to be sent to Congress soon. (42:1)
Rhodesia indicates U.N. group will be barred. (1)
U.S. preparing space proposals for Soviet. (9)
February 26, 1962
In firm but moderate tones, President Kennedy has held out to Premier Khrushchev the hope of a summit conference on disarmament before June 1. But, in a note delivered to Moscow yesterday, he again rejected Mr. Khrushchev's proposal for a meeting of heads of government at the opening on March 14 of the eighteen-nation arms conference in Geneva. The President declared that summit talks should be preceded by "the largest possible measure of agreement" at lower diplomatic levels and, accordingly, repeated the West's proposal to open the Geneva conference at the foreign-minister level. (1:8; Text, 2)
The United States is not interested in taking part in any international talks on the situation in Vietnam, according to Administration officials. They said that, despite Communist China's demand for such talks, the United States would continue to offer all necessary aid to South Vietnam in its fight against Communist guerrillas supported by North Vietnam. (1:7)
For the first time, the Soviet Union is in arrears on its payments to the United Nations' regular budget Moscow's indebtedness last year totaled $2,736,432. The Soviet delegation has offered no explanation. (1:6-7)
Moscow appeared to be more concerned over the travels of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy. Pravda denounced the President's brothers for what it described as "cold war activities," in Berlin. (4:3)
The Attorney General continued his journey with a one-day visit to the Netherlands. He spoke privately for more than one hour with Queen Juliana in a small, seventeenth-century palace near The Hague. The dispute over West New Guinea was apparently the main topic. (1:5-7)
President Kennedy will escort the astronaut on a flight from Florida. (3:2-3)
U. S. envoy to Mexico hails open border policy. (7)
February 27, 1962
Two fighter bombers bearing markings of the South Vietnam Air Force yesterday bombed and strafed the palace of President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon. The President was reported safe and in full control of the situation, although the building was damaged. He was said to have called in troops to prevent further disorders. Washington considered the attack an isolated incident--not a wide rebellion. (1:8)
An authoritative source in the French Government said relations between France and the United States would remain unsettled as long as Washington opposed French plans to become a nuclear power and a major European military force. The source reflected the basic views of President de Gaulle. (1:5)
The Irish Republican Army--announced the end of its campaign of violence against Northern Ireland. The I.R.A. indicated that the main reason was public apathy to its effort to end the partition of Ireland. (1:8)
Thousands of drenched spectators cheered the astronaut as he perched on the back seat of an open car in a forty-minute drive up Pennsylvania Avenue to address Congress. (1:6)
Congress received a Presidential request to double the Peace Corps. Mr. Kennedy asked $63,750,000 to provide for 6,700 corps members by mid-1963. (1:7; Text, 12)
Mr. Kennedy's Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Goldberg, was strongly criticized by George Meany, who was angered by Mr. Goldberg's plan to assert the national interest in intervening in labor-management negotiations. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. chief warned the Secretary to keep out of collective bargaining except in a peace-making capacity. (1:2)
Mr. Meany said the current steel industry contract talks had made no progress. (18:3)
Kennedy bids Voice of America give full story. (17)
February 28, 1962
The Soviet Union warned yesterday that United States military action against Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam risked "alarming consequences" for world peace. Moscow said there was no doubt that Communist North Vietnam's recent appeal for support against "United States aggression" would be heard. The warning, which appeared in Pravda, was viewed by Western officials as a prelude to a Soviet diplomatic effort to curb American assistance to South Vietnam. (1:8)
The United States, however, assured South Vietnam that its massive military and economic aid would continue. At the same time, President Kennedy sent a cablegram expressing his relief that President Ngo Dinh Diem had not been hurt in Monday's air raid on his palace. (2:3)
Saigon announced that the attack was made by two "discontented" pilots in an isolated attempt to kill the President. (1:5-7)
The performance of Francis Gary Powers was clarified on several points. An inquiry board concluded he had done his best to follow instructions when his U-2 went down in the Soviet Union. The board was satisfied that the plane's spinning had kept Mr. Powers from pressing a button to destroy it. Officials were convinced that the U-2 was not directly hit by a Soviet rocket, but they still were uncertain what brought it down. (1:4)
Washington officials were unsure about Allied unity. As one put it: "Every time the direct threats from Moscow let up, even for a few days, the seams of the Western alliance begin to show." French disdain for American policy was so open that diplomats doubted whether the French Foreign Minister would join his Allied counterparts at the Geneva disarmament talks next month. (1:6-7)
President Kennedy again asked Congress to set up a national health insurance system under Social Security for persons over 65. (1:1)
John H. Glenn, Jr. seemed as much at ease in a Congressional witness chair as he did in his space capsule. He warned a House committee that some Americans would die in space exploration but he said the program would still be a wise investment. He spoke as the Administration's star witness on behalf of its $20,000,000 plan to land men on the moon. (1:7)
At a separate space hearing, Senators learned that an unfriendly nation could jam a communications satellite system. (15:1)
Other lawmakers listened to Under Secretary of State George W. Ball, who derided a characterization of United States foreign policy as either "win" or "no win." He told a Senate unit that such terminology did not reflect realities. "The cold war," he said, "is not an adult game of cops and robbers." (1:5; Text, 10)
Industry's reaction to Secretary of Labor Goldberg's new policy of intervening in collective bargaining to assert the national interest was as negative as labor's. Industrialists questioned whether intervention of the type espoused by Mr. Goldberg was compatible with free labor-management negotiating. (1:2-3)
The chairman of the Board of Governors of the New York Stock Exchange. Truman Bidwell was indicted by a Federal grand jury on income tax evasion charges. (1:2-3)
U.N. Council rejects charges by Cuba. (6)
Talks held in Rio on phone seizure. (7)
Kennedy widens conflict-of-interest curbs. (12)
U.S.-Michigan aged medical care called failure. (18)
Federal school aid called segregation spur. (18)
F.A.A. drops fight for airport at Mitchel. (35)
U.S. asks hearing on group air fare cut. (65)