Sept. 12, 1963 - Following are highlights of President Kennedy’s news conference today:
Test ban: He urged the Senate to give the “widest possible margin of support to the nuclear treaty” so as not to impair U.S. leadership in the world hereafter.
Vietnam: He said U.S. policy in South Vietnam was a “very simple one.” “We want the war to be won, the Communists to be contained, and our men to come home. We are not there to see a war lost.”
Racial: He said that although there were some trouble spots among the 150 Southern cities where school desegregation took place in the last two weeks, what prevailed in most places “was not emotion but respect for the law.”
United Nations: He confirmed that he would address the U.N. General Assembly “later this month” but did not mention a specific date.
Cuba: The President denied he had entered any secret agreements with the Soviet Union during the Cuban crisis last fall, as hinted this week by Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz). He also said he did not favor U.S. military invasion of Cuba.
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