History Diaries

Photograph: Rose Garden, White House, Washington, D.C., 8 November 1963. President John F. Kennedy (left, at lectern) delivers remarks to international delegates to the Universal Postal Union’s 1963 Session of the Management Council of the Consultative Committee on Postal Studies. Deputy Postmaster General, Sidney W. Bishop, stands left of President Kennedy; White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI), Helen Thomas, stands at far right.

The U.S. Senate voted tonight to restore President Kennedy’s power to continue most-favored-nation treatment in trade relations with Communist Poland and Yugoslavia. The 55-to-15 vote defeated an attempt by Sen. Frank J. Lausche (D-Ohio) to strike from the 3.7-billion-dollar foreign aid authorization bill a provision restoring this authority to the chief executive. It was viewed as a victory for the administration and came after a series of setbacks in the 10 days of debate. It followed appeals from Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk for Senate restraint in voting cuts and tying strings to the programs.

Earlier, the Senate’s bipartisan leadership defeated, 44 to 30, an effort to boost the interest on all loans under the aid program to at least 4 percent — far above the prevailing low rates. The Senate also voted, unanimously, to take away discretion granted to the President to waive under some circumstances a ban on military and economic aid to communist nations such as Yugoslavia, Poland, and Cuba. However, sales of surplus food products would not be prohibited. Today’s action extended to Poland and other Communist governments such as Cuba the same prohibition the Senate had voted against Yugoslavia.

U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said the western allies will not tolerate any Soviet interference with their “utterly fundamental” freedom of access to West Berlin.

The Soviet Union introduces crippling amendments to a United Nations disarmament resolution which is to be voted upon next week in the organization’s main political committee. Western sources say the United States and Britain will vote against the resolution if it is chopped down to Russian specifications.

Vietnamese freed from concentration camps set up by Ngô Đình Diệm’s regime tell of torture on their naked bodies, blinding, and mutilation. A high school student was beaten to death. Fingers were chopped off others.

Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, a recluse in the Bel Air hills in Southern California, today denied through a spokesman that she has any property or funds banked abroad and insisted she is without money. The widow of the secret police chief of South Vietnam and former hostess for that country’s late president, Ngô Đình Diệm, was accused of having cash stashed away in Switzerland, Paris, and Argentina. The accusation was made by Ngô To Dat, former first secretary at the Vietnamese embassy in Washington. Others have said that she owns a villa on the French Riviera.

“I owned nothing but a villa at Dalat in South Vietnam to which I had hoped to retire,” Madame Nhu was quoted as saying. Those close to her say that she has only a few thousand dollars with her and was not paid for any appearances during her three-week speaking tour of the United States. One source said Senator Barry Goldwater, (R-Arizona), an unannounced candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, had attempted to reach her by telephone at the Beverly Hills hotel where she had been staying. Wednesday, she moved into the home of millionaire Allen Chase. Former Vice President Nixon called her yesterday to relay his sympathy. Madame Nhu could not be reached for comment on stories of torture being told by political prisoners of the Diệm regime that fell last weekend in a military coup.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, won the by-election for Kinross and Western Perthshire, to fill the House of Commons vacancy left by the August 15 death of Gilmour Leburn. Placed as a candidate in one of the most conservative constituencies in the nation, Home drew more than 57% of the vote, with more than twice as much as Liberal Party candidate Alistair Duncan Millar or Labour candidate Andrew Forrester. Having renounced his title and his place in the House of Lords, the former Lord Home became an MP in the House of Commons for the first time.

Finnair flight 217, a DC-3 airliner, crashed as it was coming in for a landing at Mariehamn airport at the capital of Åland, killing 22 of the 25 people on board. The accident was attributed to a defect in the plane’s altimeter, which led the pilot to believe that he was at a higher altitude as he made an instrument landing.

A new agreement has been reached between the United States and the Soviet Union on the legal principles affecting the use and exploration of outer space.

The Ottawa house of commons approves a tax bill that discriminates against American firms in Canada. It would raise the tax on dividends to 20 percent unless the firms offer at least 25 percent of their stock for sale to Canadians and make their boards of directors at least 25 percent Canadian.

A key document which may “augur a new era in Christian- Jewish relations” is presented to the Vatican ecumenical council for consideration. The document, the fourth chapter of a draft decree on Christian unity, seeks to free Jews from the age-old accusation of collective guilt for crucifying Christ. The document emphasizes that Christ, His mother, and all the apostles were Jews.

President Kennedy tonight made a last-ditch effort to head off impending deep cuts in his foreign-aid program at the hands of an economy-bent Congress. “The rich must help the poor,” the President asserted. “The industrialized nations must help the developing nations. And the United States, along with its major allies, must do better — not worse — by its foreign-aid program. “This is not a partisan matter. For 17 years, through three administrations, this program has been supported by the Presidents and leaders of both parties. It is being supported today in the Congress by those on both sides of the aisle who recognize the urgency of this program in the achievement of peace and freedom.”

Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-Virginia) served notice that President Kennedy’s lieutenants will have to stage a parliamentary coup or abandon hope of maneuvering the administration’s tax-cut bill to the Senate floor before February.

Administration and Congress leaders have almost given up hope that the House will be able to act on the administration’s compromise civil rights bill this year.

A wiretap was installed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the home telephone line of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., after approval by U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on recommendations by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. During the rest of Dr. King’s stay in the home, the FBI monitored his phone conversations, discontinuing the surveillance on April 30, 1965.

Five jewel thieves in Manhattan overpowered six unarmed employees and the driver of a station wagon transporting precious gems and gold valued at $3 million (equivalent to $26.6 million in 2021), after forcing the vehicle to the curb at 12th Avenue and 41st Street, in a carefully planned operation that would have been the perfect crime, except for one flaw in the scheme. Four of the bandits got back in their own truck, and the remaining one prepared to drive the car and its cargo to a place where the vehicle could be looted. The getaway driver, however, did not know how to operate the clutch and gear shift in a car with standard transmission, and abandoned the stalled vehicle — and its multimillion-dollar contents — a block away.

The producers and chief backers of Krebiozen were ordered by the federal government yesterday to show cause why they should not be prosecuted for misrepresenting the controversial drug as an effective agent against cancer. The action is the first attempt by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prosecute the drug’s supporters after the FDA on September 7 branded Krebiozen as Creatine, a chemical commonly found in the body and considered worthless in the treatment of cancer. A spokesman for the FDA said an informal hearing will be held here November 18. FDA officials will confront the drug’s supporters with their evidence that Krebiozen is worthless. The government’s next step could be a request to the Department of Justice to prosecute.

The Kennedy administration issues an export license for the sale of $7,600,000 worth of American surplus wheat to Hungary, a satellite of Russia. The commerce department acts after clearing the snag in negotiations by authorizing grain dealers to include shipping costs in the delivered price quoted to the Reds. Half of the 100,000 tons involved in the deal is to be shipped in American cargo ships.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk complains that Congress tries to legislate foreign policy when it spells out what countries shall or shall not receive American aid. He says, “Flexibility protects the interests of the United States.”

A Senate subcommittee discloses three State Department officials have retracted sworn testimony given behind closed doors against Otto F. Otepka, ousted security evaluations chief. The three, who denied having had Otepka’s telephone tapped, admit that a tap was installed but explain it did not work well and was abandoned.

The Wisconsin Bar association discloses results of a statewide poll among lawyers in which 2,040 consider David Rabinovitz unqualified to sit on the federal court bench. The vote in favor of seating the Sheboygan labor attorney is 793.

Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York opens his 1964 Presidential campaign headquarters vowing to “fight all the way” and promising to support the Republican party nominee. He again challenges Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) to a series of public debates.

The Defense Department discloses plans to abandon two B-47 bases in England. When more Polaris submarines and land-based missiles become operational, 80 remaining B-47s will be withdrawn from Spain and Britain. The abandonment in England, expected by next July 1, will involve 2,650 American airmen.

Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy will resume her official White House hostess duties November 20 — a month earlier than expected. The occasion will be a state dinner honoring Ludwig Erhard, the new West German chancellor. Mrs. Kennedy had turned over her hostess role at such functions during her convalescence following the premature birth and death of a son last August. It had been reported earlier that she would not attend or preside at any social functions the rest of this year. Her press secretary, Pamela Turnure, said that no formal entertainment is expected at the dinner party for Erhard, except for music and mingling by the guests.

She will, of course, also join her husband on his trip to Texas that week…

The New York stock market rose sharply Friday, continuing its recovery from declines earlier this week.

AFL Football:

Tom Flores passed for two touchdowns and Mike Mercer kicked two field goals tonight to lead the Oakland Raiders to a 22—7 upset triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs in an American Football League game. It was the fourth victory in a row for the Raiders, who beat the Chiefs, 10—7, Sunday at Oakland. Kansas City now has lost five straight games. Oakland scored all its points in the first half. Mercer kicked field goals of 14 and 41 yards. and Flores tossed touchdown passes of 24 and 34 yards to Art Powell. Oakland scored a safety late in the second period when the chief’s kicker, Jerry Wilson, punted from behind his end zone into goal post. Wilson retrieved the ball and tried to run it out. but Archie Matsos tackled him behind the goal. Flores completed 12 of 23 passes for 148 yards. Clem Daniels, Oakland’s leading rusher, gained 122 yards on 31 carries.

Oakland Raiders 22, Kansas City Chiefs 7

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 750.81 (+5.15).

Born:

Dwight Smith, MLB outfielder and pinch hitter (World Series Champions-Braves, 1995; Chicago Cubs, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves), in Tallahassee, Florida (d. 2022).

Paul Butcher, NFL linebacker (Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders), in Detroit, Michigan.

Johnny Holloway, NFL defensive back (Dallas Cowboys, St. Louis Cardinals), in Galveston, Texas.

Tom O’Connor, NFL punter (New York Jets), in Patchogue, New York.

Russell Malone, American jazz guitarist (Harry Connick, Jr.; Dianna Krall), in Albany, Georgia.