Evening star., 1961-05-06
KENNEDY PRESS CONFERENCE
Voluntary Effort by All Is Stressed


eign Relations Committee, and
a valuable citizen, and I think
his counsel is useful, and I
think that he should say what
he thinks. If he has indicated
disagreement on occasions, he
has indicated general support
on a good many other occa-
SionS, although that has not
become as newSworthy.
Funds a Difficult Issue
@. Secretary of the Interior
Udall has been involved in a
situation in which one Of his
friends, believing to have acted
on his suggestion, solicitated
members of the oil and gas in
dustry for contributions at a
100 dollarS-a- plate Democratic
rally.
Now, do you believe that eth
ical standards have appeared
to falter or have you had any
advice for your Secretary in
this case?
A. Well, I know that the
| Secretarv did attemnt to
have those letters recalled. I
think this whole question of
trying to raise funds for cam
paigns is a very difficult one,
and it leads to embarrassments.
I wish, and I hope, that be-
fore we get into another presi-
Dental campaign, that we can
work out some system by
which the major burdens of
presidential campaigns on both
sides would be sustained by the
national government.
| I made it clear in the cam
paign, and I make it clear
again, that no one should
contribute to any campaign
funds under the expectation
that it will do them the slight
est bit Of good and they should
not stay home from a cam
paign fund or dinner or cam
paign under the slightest ex-
pectation that it will do them
a disservice.
@. Mr.. President, Has the
administration made any de-
termination with respect to an
embargo on trade with Cuba?
A. We had a meeting of the
National Security Council in
which we discussed the prob
lens of Cuba. AS you know, the
only kind of supplies that are
now being sent to Cuba involve
food and medicine, so that we
have to consider carefully all
Of the implication of further
action, and that is being done.
On Minimum Wage Coverage
@. Mr.. President, during your
campaign you repeatedly men,
toned the plight of laundry
workers in some of our cities,
being paid Substandard wages.
How do you feel about both
Houses having passed a mini
mum wage bill which excludes
them from coverage?
A. I wish we could include
them in the coverage. 1 am
hopeful that we will not settle
with what we now have. but
that we will get the laundry
workers in. It was neces-
sary to drop them in order to
get the coverage we did. The
coverage we pasSed-3.6 million
was the first time that we
expanded the coverage since
1898. It was a hard fight.
Must Face Risks
@. Mr.. President, in that
connection, were you satisfied
with the coverage given today
Of the space shot, and if you
were, and it was not a success
full thing, would we be back in
the orphanage?
A. I agree that if it had fail
ed. having had some expert
ence with that, 1t would be a
very difficult time for NASA
and for us all. But fortunately,
it succeeded. I have not got
the answer, however, to the
question of the build-up.
What I think is somewhat
unfair is when press men them
selves, or editorial writer's, crit
icize NASA for attempting a
big build-up with all of the
implications it would have to
our prestige and standing if
there is a failure. We are not
responsible, at least we ar9
making every effort not to be
responsible, for encouraging a
press concentration en- this
event, because quite obviously
if we fail we are humiliated
here and around the world.
But in a free society, if a
newSpaperman asks to be rep
resented, and to come, then he
can come. So think every
body ought to understand that
we are not going to DO what
the Russians did, of being
secret and just hailing our
successes. If they like that
system, they have to take it
all, which means that you
don't get anything in the paper
except what the government
wants. But If you don't like
that system, and l don't, then
you have to take those risks
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