CBS NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY: PRESS CONFERENCE (TV)
Summary
This special report features edited coverage of President John F. Kennedy's May 5, 1961 press conference. Kennedy's prepared statements cover the following topics: the status of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty conference in Geneva and prospects for a positive Soviet response to the latest U.S. proposals; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's upcoming fact-finding mission to Asia; developments in the president's Alliance for Progress program; and the sale of a government-owned aluminum plant in Michigan. In response to questions from the press, Kennedy discusses the following topics: the day's successful manned space flight, with Alan Shepard becoming the first American in space; the need for cooperation on common goals among government, management, labor, and the people; whether he would send U.S. forces to South Vietnam; whether the U.S. should continue to train and arm Cuban exiles; criticisms of U.S. foreign policy by Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.); Kennedy's view that the federal government should fund presidential campaigns; the possibility of a trade embargo on Cuba; his hopes for a stronger NATO and for better relations between countries of North and South America; the communist threat in Southeast Asia; how to enforce the Monroe Doctrine given the political situation in Cuba; the usefulness of a proposed trip to Japan by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower; the lack of minimum wage coverage for laundry workers, as well as hotel and restaurant workers; and areas such as defense and the space program, which may require more government spending.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: May 5, 1961 5:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:55
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T81:0862
- GENRE: News
- SUBJECT HEADING: Alliance for Progress; Arms control; Communism - 1961; Cuba; Disarmament; Monroe Doctrine; North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; Manned space flight; Space exploration; Treaties; U S - Foreign relations - Cuba; U S - Foreign relations - Japan; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; Vietnam War - 1961
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1961
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John F. Kennedy … Speaker
- Alan Shepard
- May Craig
- Merriman Smith
- J. William Fulbright
- Dwight D. Eisenhower