A GLIMPSE OF THE KENNEDY BROTHERS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 8

A GLIMPSE OF THE KENNEDY BROTHERS

Firm President; Gifted A ttorney- Genera I

r pHE day President Kennedy spoke to the American Society of Newspaper Editors was the day the Cuba invasion blew up in his face, so it would be unfair to base any personal judgment on that appearance. The news from Cuba also limited to a few minutes his appearance at the editors’ convention. Instead of having lunch with the editors, as he had intended, he was busy at the White House until just before he spoke. {Specially written for "The Press” by F. J. A. FOX)

In the circumstances it is wiser to rely on the opinion of the ordinary American in the street, many of whom, after voting for Mr Nixon last November, now think the better man won. Their opinion supports the rather uncritical enthusiasm of Washington journalists. Speaking to the editors, the President stuck precisely to his prepared script, stumbling slightly once or twice. Contrary to expectations, he spoke with no pronounced accent or pronunciation odditities. The charm that he must possess was not evident. But he did sound a cool and firm

man, as, for instance, in his flat declarstioh at the finish: "Let me then make it clear, as President of the United States, that I am determined upon our system’s survival and success, regardless of the cost and regardless of the perU.” Vienna Meeting Joseph Alsop has suggested that the importance of the Vienna meeting was the opportunity it gave President Kennedy to impress Mr Khrushchev with his determination and courage. He may well have done so. At least in his editors’ convention address he impressed the veteran emeritus editor of the Philadelphia “Evening Bulletin,” Mr Melville Ferguson. who has been listening to American Presidents since Grover Cleveland. As the President snapped his mouth shut at the end, Mr Ferguson said, almost under his breath: “A very war-like speech.” The President's brother. Mr Robert Kennedy, spoke in happier circumstances the next day. 'Where the President's announcement of grave news was received with respect. the Attorney-General scored a personal triumph with a not notably sympathetic audience. At 34. he seems younger, brash even, but he has a quick, keen brain, a pleasant personality, and a sense of humour. He needed the sense of humour because, when he was introduced by Mr Vermont Royster, editor of the "Wall Street Journal,” he was teased unmercifully. Mr Royster commented that Mr Kennedy was young to hold such high office, "but then he has to get some experience before he begins to practise law.” Some said that Mr Kennedy owed his position to family influence. Well —said Mr Royster, with a long pause, it was that true that Mr Kennedy’s father had once been prominent round Washington. And much more good-humoured banter in the same vein. Mr Kennedy did not writhe. He led the laughter at Mr Royster’s sallies and appeared to enjoy them at least as much as the audience, many of whom had their own reasons for regarding him coolly. More, when he got up to speak he threw some of the quips neatly back at Mr Royster. Enforcing Federal Law He gave a straightforward description of Federal law enforcement as he saw the need for it and answered questions frankly with a dry wit. At the end he was given a real ovation. This was all the more surprising since newspaper men had the previous day heard a whisper that the Attorney-General might be interested in anti--trust prosecutions where the only two newspapers in a

town came under the same ownership. “He may be the next President," commented Mr George Jenks, the political reporter of the Toledo "Blade.” That it should be even remotely possible in the United States for a President to be succeeded by his brother is startling. It shows the impression the younger Kennedy has made in Washington. He is certainly not going into oblivion when his brother’s term is over. Mr Abraham Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, who preceded Mr Robert Kennedy on the programme, afforded a complete contrast to the somewhat coltish Attorney-Gen-eral. Sixteen years older, he has silver in his hair and silver in his voice. Suave and assured, he is plainly a man of distinction. He was introduced by Mr John Q. Meharry, editor of the “Texarkana Gazette,” who said his teen-age daughter. Prudence, had assured him that Mr Ribicoff was the "dreamiest” man in the Cabinet. This high praise is probably merited. Backward Mississippi Mr Ribicoff did not get such a warm reception from the editors, however. His part in the programme ended in a wrangle with Mr Oliver Emmerich, editor of the “Mc-Comb-Enterprise Journal,” who stoutly defended the right of Mississippi to be backward in its educational system if it wished without any help or interference from the Federal Government. The urbane Mr Ribicoff became noticeably more vigorous in asserting that he was offering help and not interference. Mr Meharry had to break It up with the suggestion that they might like to continue the performance on television.

Mr Robert Kennedy, who had thoroughly enjoyed the gertormance from the wings, ad his own view of Mississippi. “Before the afternoon is over the gentleman from Mississippi might have a debate with a couple of us,” he remarked. But, as previously noted, Mr Kennedy was rewarded with applause and not recrimination, though he gave a plain warning that on integration the Administration would not stand for defiance of Federal Court orders. Within a few weeks at Montgomery, Alabama, he was able to show that he meant what he said.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr Douglas Dillon, roused neither argument nor any great enthusiasm, but one point should have been pondered by the editors. Compared with Western Europe, the United States has many obsolete factories, he pointed out. Unless they are replaced the American economy will become steadily less competitive. On the other hand their replacement could set a boom going. That may be the most critical domestic question for the United States industry to answer in the next few years. Mr Dillon is not such an exciting character as some of fhe other Administration spokesmen, but he is most competent