Evening star., 1961-02-12
BY CECIL HOLLAND
Star Staff Writer


Star Staff Writer
President Kennedy spent a
busy morning yesterday at the
White House reviewing Ameri-
can-Soviet relations with his
top foreign policy advisers, be-
fore flying off for his first week
end at Glen Ora, the estate he
and Mrs. Kennedy have leased
in Middleburg, Va.
Participants in the confer
ence included Ambassador to
the Soviet Union, Llewelyn
Thompson, who has come home
specially for consultation, Sec
retary Of State Dean Rusk. and
Vice President johnson.
Later the meeting was au-
thoritavely described as ex-
ploratory in nature. InformantS
said any necessary decisions on
the future development of
United States policy toward
the Soviet Union await further
conferences.
BOhlen, Kennan Participate
Other participants included
Charles Bohlen, a specialist on
Soviet affairs in the State De-
partment: George Kennan, for
mer Ambassador to the Soviet
Union who has been designated
Ambassador to Yugoslavia, and
w. Averell Hartman, whom
Mr.. Kennedy has selected as
his rowing ambassador.
It is understood that AmbaS-
sador Thompson will appear
before the Senate Foreign Re-
lationS Committee tomorrow
to discuss recent developments
in Soviet-American relations.
The White House also an
nounced that President Ken
nedy will hold another live
television news conference at
z pm. Wednesday-an hour
later than the evening news
conference he held several
days after entering the White
House.
White House Press Secretary
Pierre Salinger said theWednes-
day news conference would be
like the first except that it. and
all future conferences, would be
limited to a half hour. His
first televised news conference
and two others he has held
have run beyond this time.
See Larger Audience
The shift to the Z pm. time
appeared to be designed to OBJ
tain the largest possible audi
ence for the news conference
broadcast.
Mr.. Salinger said that the
White House had received
hundreds of letters" about the
televised news conference and
"991a per cent were favorable. "
Some said that they wanted to
see the President but the 6 pm.
time was inconvenient, he
added.
The Press Secretary said the
White House made the decision
on limiting the news conference
to a half hour. The President
felt the conferences lose their
effectiveness when they go be-
yond that time, Mr.. Salinger
explained.
Gain From Tape Feared
He said also the White House
is considering abandoning the
practice begun at last weeks
news conference Of making a
video tape Of conferences not
broadcast live because it is pos
sible that the tape might be
used for private gain while the
President was still meeting with
newsmen. Mr.. Salinger ex-
planned that there was a posi-
bility some "unscrupulous per-
son" might make premature
use of information coming out
of the news conference to his
advantageous in stock market
speculation.
Mr.. Salinger said the news
conference would be televised
live by the National Broadcast
ing. Co. and the American
Broadcasting Co. and would be
carried on the NBC radio net
work. The Columbia Broad
casting System said it would
not televise the conference live
because of a conflict with q
regularly scheduled program
WRC-TV, (Channel A., is the
NBC outlet here, and WMAL-
TV, (Channel y, is the ABC
affiliate in Washington.
AS he wound up his thirc
week in office, President Ken.
nedy announced one new ap.
pointment. He said he will
name Aubrey ]. Wagner o1
Knoxville. Tenn, as a director
of the Tennessee Valley Au.
thority.
Mr.. Wagner, 49. an engineer
and officer with the iva since
1884, will succeed former Rep
resentative Brooks Hays Of
Arkansas. Mr.. Hays has beer
named by the President as AS.
sistant Secretary of State fol
Congressional Relations.
Praises iva Progress
Mr.. Kennedy said the nom.
ination of Mr.. Wagner to tht
$20,000-a-year post was 9