1960s Timeline

Jan. 22, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy rejected today an informal invitation to visit the Soviet Union. The President’s brother said the plans for his coming world tour had been “completed for some time and I will not be able to alter them at this time.” The Attorney General and his wife will leave Feb. 2 on a trip that will take them to Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, West Germany, and the Netherlands. In his statement today, Mr. Kennedy said he would “

Jan. 20, 1962 - The Soviet leaders have asked Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to visit Moscow on his world tour next month. President Kennedy and the State Department are trying to decide whether to accept the invitation, which is viewed in Washington as a feeler for an attempt to moderate the cold war. Secretary of State Dean Rusk had a long conversation yesterday with the Attorney General about the trip. They held up acceptance of the Soviet invitation. They are getting

Dec. 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy played Santa Claus today for children in the Negro ward at St. Mary’s Hospital, where is father is recovering from a stroke. He ducked in a back door to deliver a load of toys. Nurses said he told them he did not want word of his gifts to get out. But it was a hard secret to keep in a hospital at Christmas time. The Attorney General let the youngsters open one of their presents while he watched. But he told them that each wou

Dec. 22, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy will make a round-the-world tour with his wife beginning in early February. The President’s brother will visit Tokyo and several other cities in Japan during a 6-day stay from Feb. 4 to 10. Thereafter, he will journey to Jakarta, capital of Indonesia; make a brief stop in Teheran, capital of Iran; and continue on to Rome, Berlin, and Bonn. The Attorney General, according to informed sources, has felt for some time that since

Dec. 8, 1961 - Selected members of the Kennedy Administration, including several Cabinet officers, have been attending weekly lectures on various subjects. The gatherings are held at the home in McLean, Va., of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The Attorney General and his wife developed their enthusiasm for seminars on a skiing vacation at Aspen, Colo. They were said to have seen the device in operation at the Institute for Humanistic Studies. The opening lecture on Nov. 2

Nov. 29, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today that the F.B.I. would make a complete investigation of today’s outbreak of violence at McComb, Miss. His statement follows: “The outbreak of violence in McComb obviously is a matter of deep concern. The F.B.I. has been asked to make a complete investigation of all aspects of the incident. The matter will be vigorously pursued. Officials of the Department of Justice have just talked with Mayor C.H. Douglas of McComb

Oct. 16, 1961 - Three major railroads serving the South — the Illinois Central, the Southern, and the Louisville & Nashville — have agreed to end racial segregation in their station facilities, Justice Department officials said today. The Justice Department had not intended to make public this development until the desegregation policies had gone into effect. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told reporters about it after leaving an hour-long meeting with President Ken

Sept. 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today that there "is no question" that his brother, President Kennedy, would order use of nuclear weapons if they were essential to save West Berlin's freedom. The Attorney General, on NBC's "Meet the Press," said: "If we retreat, we will never be able to stand up again. The President has said again and again that if we don't stand up in Berlin, when can we stand up?" He predicted that Premier Khrushchev would continue

Sept. 23, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today the Justice Department "will cooperate fully" in enforcing the new Interstate Commerce Commission order outlawing segregation in interstate bus travel. He said the order, issued today and effective Nov. 1, was the "most far-reaching administrative action ever taken by the Federal Government" in the field of racial discrimination. Alabama Attorney General MacDonald Gallion had a different view. He said the ruling "

Sept. 20, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has resigned from the Metropolitan Club because of its segregation policy. Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall, chief of the Justice Department's civil rights division, has also quit the club. Mr. Kennedy, in a letter to the club's board of governors, wrote: "I had hoped that no one would be denied the facilities of the club because of his race. It has now come to my attention that because several members brought a Neg

Aug. 9, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has informed Republican Senator Kenneth B. Keating of New York that he opposes branding the American Nazi party as a subversive group because it would give the Nazis free publicity. Mr. Kennedy said in a letter to Sen. Keating that the Justice Department and "all sensible Americans" despised the Nazi doctrines. The party is being watched closely, he said. But Mr. Kennedy said that steps to place the Nazis on the Justice Depart

Aug. 7, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today at a news conference in Ivory Coast, a country on the south coast of West Africa, that progress for Negroes in America was like freedom for Africans - a difficult process of changing well-established customs. Paulin Joachim, African editor of a magazine called Bingo, said Africans "are deeply concerned over the inhuman and intolerable conditions of the Negro in the South." The Attorney General replied that, while th

July 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today there had been a lot of talk but little action to improve the physical fitness of American youth. He said foreign boys and girls consistently outperformed them in physical tests. Mr. Kennedy said that the nation's seven astronauts, all of whom are in top physical condition, will assist the Administration's efforts in this area. They will make 30-second radio and television recordings to promote the fitness campaign

July 21, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy today urged the nation's clergymen, especially those in the South, to take a more active role in fighting racial discrimination. The President's brother was quoted by a delegation of clergymen as having said: "I do not see how anyone can wear a collar and not speak out against this evil." The delegation was composed of seven clergymen, white and Negro ministers of several denominations and one rabbi. The seven flew to Washing