Evening star., 1960-09-26

ments second to none-while
emphasizing our devotion to
liberty and self determination
for all our spiritual advantage
as well as our material ad-
vantges.
S. What Mould you do as
President to bring about greater
equality among the races In
the United States?
All men are already created
equal. The role Of Government
is to protect them in the en-
joyment Of their rights and
make certain of their equality
of opportunity. In addition to
his leadership on new legis-
lation designed to implement
the full constitutional rights
of every American, the next
President must carry out the
Civil Rights Commission re-
concentrations for executive
action, such as strengthening
he Governments Contracts
Committee. The executive
branch, as an employer and as
a law enforcement agency, must
set a high standard for all to
follow. Finally. the President
must be a moral leader-using
the educational and inspira-
tional powers of his office to
achieve the goals of harmony
and justice our national re-
sponsibilities require.
s. In your judgment tDtH the
So-cdlled religious issue be q
decisive factor In the election
outcome?
I hope that no one will cast
his vote in this election on re-
ligious grounds. With all of
the critical issues this Nation
is facing, at home and abroad,
I cannot believe that many
voterS-once they have salts
fled themselves as to the sin
cerity of my views on church
and state, and in support of the
American Constitution-will be
influenced by appeals to pre-
judice.
z. Do you believe American
security and intelligence opera
ttonS haze been satisfactory or
bungled? What action Mould
you take to GUoid a repetition
OF code clerk detection and the
U-2 incident?
I do not think that any
candidate in any election
should charge "bungling" in
our security and intelligence
operations without complete
access to executive files. I am
sure there is a common desire
by all Americans of both
parties to provide the most
effective System-and, while it
is difficult to provide complete
protection on all occasions
against human frailty, the next
administration, whether Demo-
cratic or Republican, must give
constant vigilance to improv-
ing these efforts. But may I
suggest that a question of
equal Importance is what is
done with the intelligence re-
ports after they are submitted
and whether we are taking
action in advance Of the crisis
stage on problems which are
clearly reported to be arising.
Vice President Nixon de-
clined to reply to the APPS
questions. His press secretary,
Herbert G. Klein, said in a
statement:
"The Vice President has had
requests from both of the wire
services to answer questions or
issue statements on key poll
cieS. The requests come at a
time when the campaign is in
full speed.
1T would be possible to have
a staff member turn out per-
functory answers although the
Vice Presidents staff is very
small. Mr.. Nixon feels, how
ever, that the requests from
the Associated Press with all
its member newspapers should
be fulfilled only if he, himself,
could honestly turn out the
work. Time does not permit
. this.
THE Vice President will
continue to answer questions
in. press conferences and make
his position clear on each of
the issues through his own
statements as the campaign
goes on"