Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-21
Partial Transcript of Kennedy's Press Conference

FOLLOWING Is a partial tran
script of President Kennedy's
mems conference yesterday,
his first in more than ttDo
months:
The President. I have today
been informed by Chairman
Khrushehev that all Of the IL
% bombers now in Cuba will be
withdrawn in 80 days. He also
agrees that these planes can be
observed and counted as they
leave. Inasmuch as this goes a
long way toward reducing the
danger which faced this hemi-
sphere four weeks ago. I have
this afternoon instructed the
Secretary Of Defense to lift our
naval quarantine.
In view Of this action, I want
to take this opportunity to
bring the American people UP
to date on the Cuban crisis and
to review the progress made
thus far in fulfilling the under
standings between Soviet Chair
man Khrushchev and myself as
set forth in our letters Of Octo-
Der 81 and %. Chairman Khru-
shchev, it will be recalled,
agreed to remove from Cuba all
weapons systems capable Of of
fensive use, to halt the further
introduction Of such weapons
into Cuba, and to permit ap-
propriate United Nations OBJ
servation and supervision to
insure the carrying out and
continuation of these commit
ments. We on our part agreed
that once these adequate ar
rangements for verification had
been established, we would re-
move our naval quarantine and
give assurances against inva-
sion of Cuba.
The evidence to date indi-
Gates that all known offensive |
missile sites in Cuba have been
dismantled. The missiles and
their associated equipment
have been loaded on Soviet
ships. And our inspection at sea
of these departing ships has
confirmed that the number of
missiles reported by the Soviet
Union as having been brought
into Cuba, which closely CORE
sponded to our own informa-
ton, has now been removed. In
addition, the Soviet government
has stated that all nuclear
weapons have been withdrawn
from Cuba and no offensive
weapons win be reintroduced.
No Safeguards Yet
nevertheless, important parts
of the understanding of Octo-
Der 81 and % remain to be car
ried out. The Cuban govern
ment has not yet permitted the
United Nations to verify wheth-
er all offensive weapons have
been removed, and no lasting
safeguards have yet been es-
tablished against the future in
PRODUCTION Of offensive weapons
back into Cuba.
Consequently. If the Western
Hemisphere is to continue to be
protected against offensive
weapons, this Government has
no choice but to pursue its own
means of checking on military
activities in Cuba. The impor-
lance of our continued vigil
lance is underlined by our iden-
tification in recent days Of q
number of Soviet ground COM
bat units in Cuba, although we
are informed that these and
other Soviet units we're associ-
ated with the protection of Of
fensive weapons systems, and
will also be withdrawn in due
course.
I repeat, we would like moth
ing better than adequate in
ternational arrangements for
the task Of inspection and veri-
fication in Cuba, and we are
prepared to continue our eff
forts to achieve such arrange
ments. Until that is done, diff
ficult problems remain. AS for
our part, If all offensive weap-
ons are removed from Cuba and