Evening star., 1963-01-25

Following Is a partial tert
OF President Kennedy's netOs
conference yesterday:
THE PRESIDENT: Good
afternoon. I have an opening
statement.
1t would be well to remind
all concerned Of the hard and
fast realities of this Nations
relationship with Europe - re-
alities Of danger power and
purpose, which are too deeply
rooted in history and neces-
sity to be either obscured or
altered in the long run by per-
sonal or even national differ
ences.
The reality of danger is that
all free men and nations live
under the constant threat of
the Communist advance. AL
though presently in some dis
array, the Communist appa-
ratus controls more than l
billion people, and it daily con-
fronts Europe and the United
States with hundreds Of mis-
siles, scores of divisions, and
the purposes of domination.
The reality of power is that
the resources essential to de-
fense against this danger are
concentrated overwhelmingly
in the nations of the Atlantic
Alliance. In unity this alliance
has ample strength to hold
back the expansion of commu-
nism until such time as it
loses its force and momentum
Acting alone neither the United
States nor Europe could be
certain of success and survival.
The reality of purpose, there
fore, is that that which serves
to unite us is right, and what
tends to divide us is wrong.
The people and Government of
the United States over the
three past administrations
have built their policy on these
realities. The same policy has
been followed by the people
and governments Of Europe. If
we are to be worthy of our his
toric trust. we must continue
on both sides of the Atlantic
to work together in trust.
Question: There seems to be
some conflict on the part of
history involving the Bay Of
Pigs invasion. -. The At
torney General says that no
United States air support was
contemplated, so, therefore,
there was none to be with
drawn. Out of this welter
of seemingly different sources.
I wonder if you can set us
straight on what the real sit
uation was?
Answer: Yes. There was no
United states air cover
planned. so that the first part
of the statement attributed to
the Attorney General, of
course, is correct. Obviously, If
you are going to have United
States cover, you might as well
have a complete United States
commitment, which would have
meant a full-fledged invasion
by the United States. That was
not the policy Of the United
States in April, 1861.
What was talked about was
the question of an air strike
on Monday morning. by 49,.
B-26 planes which we're flown
by pilots based not in the
United States, not American
planes.
That strike, as the Attorney
Generals report describes
it, was postponed until Mon
day afternoon. I think that
the members of the Cuban
invaSion) brigade were under
the impression that the planes
which were available, which
were the B-26 planes, would
give them protection on the
beach. That did not work out.
That was one of the failures.
:. The training jets, which
were used against them. we're
very effective and. therefore,
=. the brigade was not able
to maintain air supremacy on
the beach. So / think that the
confusion comes from the use
Of the word "air cover"
Question: Mr.. Gromyko has
said that France must sign
any nuclear test ban treaty If
it is to be meaningful. Are
you still encouraged by the e
prospects for such a treaty
and, also, could you tell us
what this Governments posi-
ton now is on whether Com
munist China should also be a
signatory to the treaty?
Answer: I think the first
problem is to attempt to ne
gotiate the details of the
treaty, with conversations now
going on with the Soviet
Union. the British and the
United States. II we
work out a treaty which
we believe can provide for an
end of testing and security for
the countries involved, and the
Senate Of the United States
accepts it under the constitu-
tional provisions, then / would
hope that other countries
would be willing TO sign 1t.
II other countries signed 1t.
then, Of course, great progress
would be made. II other coun-
tries did not sign 1t and began
to test, then we would have TO
make a judgment -, as TO
whether this destroyed the
A AIsR. n III