Oct. 13, 1962 - President Kennedy attacked Indiana’s Republican Senator, Homer E. Capehart, today for demanding that Cuba be invaded. Mr. Kennedy also deplored what he called the Senator’s “19th-century voting record.” Speaking in Indianapolis at an airport rally on behalf of Senator Capehart’s Democratic opponent, Birch Bayh, the President declared: “Those self-appointed generals and admirals who want to send someone else’s son to war, and who consistently voted against the instruments of peace, ought to be kept at home by the voters and replaced by someone who has some understanding of what the 20th century is all about.” Senator Capehart has been campaigning for a blockade or an invasion of Cuba, and he has been attacking the Kennedy Administration’s policies on other foreign and domestic issues. The President asserted that Mr. Bayh was a man who had “served as a private in this nation’s army — and I know he would gladly serve again in any capacity if this nation’s security were threatened. He would not have voted against us on the trade bill and the Peace Corps and the U.N. He would not be using the Senate floor for speeches which embarrass this nation abroad and embarrass most members of the Senate from both parties.”
