COLOUR BAR IN CLUB

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29718, 11 January 1962, Page 12

COLOUR BAR IN CLUB

Ambassador Resigns (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, January 9. President Kennedy’s membership application to a leading Washington club had been withdrawn because of a racial barrier in the dub, White House sources said today. It had also led to the resignation of the United States Ambassador to India, Mr Kenneth Galbraith. The decisions were taken when the Cosmos Club, an organisation of intellectuals, educators and artists, rejected the membership application of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Mr Carl Rowan, who is a negro. Mr Galbraith was reported to have resigned from the club when he learned that Mr Rowan’s application had been rejected last night. The Ambassador submitted President Kennedy’s name for membership in the Cosmos Club some time ago. White House sources said it was obvious that the application would lapse now that the Ambassador had resigned, presumably in protest against the club’s segregation policy. The Ambassador, who is undergoing treatment for a sinus condition at the naval hospital in nearby Bethesda, Maryland, discussed the matter with White House officials today. Informed sources said they had not yet spoken to the President about his own view of the blackballing of Mr Rowan. The incident reported today was the second involving the Kennedy family in segregation policies in Washington clubs. The Attorney-General and the President’s brother, Mr Robert Kennedy, resigned last year from another leading organisation, the Metropolitan Club, in protest against the non-admission of negroes.