September 9, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy's interview on The Huntley-Brinkley Report

mr president the nuclear treaty comes up in the senate today what do you think will happen well i think it will be a hard debate for uh into next week and then i think it will pass any guess on how close no no i think there's a some opposition and it could be close i think we'd be in bad shape if it's defeated and my guess is that two-thirds of the senate will decide that it's in the national interest to support it this has been a matter which has involved the united states now since 45 to get some control of nuclear weapons three administrations it is strongly supported by not only uh president eisenhower president truman president and myself joint chiefs of staff secretary of state and defense if we had decided at this point that we were not going to go ahead after we negotiated the treaty after we've had it lying on the table for a year and after nearly 90 nations have signed it it seemed to me it would be a most damaging blow to the united states and to our leadership of the free world it would put the whole responsibility for the future nuclear race on us who would bear the responsibility for spreading radiation throughout the hemisphere i think we could look forward to an intensification of the nuclear race by a good many countries not now in it and i think it would be a signal or a disaster really for the race the human race i think the senate must support it for that reason at least that's my hope mr president in respect to uh our difficulties in south vietnam does our government once in a while tend to get locked into a policy or an attitude and then finds it difficult to change or to improvise in the field as circumstances may warrant uh yeah yes i'm sure it does uh but on the other hand what we're attempting to do in south vietnam and a good many other countries is very difficult also i think we sometimes uh are not patient enough uh these events happen the world they recorded on the television screens in the front page of the papers we're dealing with a very long drawn out struggle in south vietnam going back uh this particular phase of it ten years the previous phrase against the french another nearly ten years and then when the japanese were there so it's almost 25 years of struggle in vietnam we feel that uh there have to be the adoption of some policy certain policies to be successful we don't want to have a repetition of china because that was our most the most damaging event certainly uh that's occurred to us and perhaps in this century when that passed into the control of the communists so i i think that what we're attempting to do is to provide support for the people of vietnam in the struggle encourage the government to move in the direction that will win and hold that support that takes some time that takes some time i don't think we should make a decision that south vietnam is uh lost this week i we're working hard to attempt to influence the situation there so that the struggle which i think is better than it was two years ago at least it was earlier this summer we were doing better than we were two years ago we had some hope that we were getting to the end of the tunnel i think as i've said the events of the last two months have not helped that struggle we're anxious to see the situation develop there so that the struggle will be aided may we reduce some of our aid to south vietnam we have to uh we would reduce it only if we felt that the such a reduction would aid the struggle there as of today we have not made that judgment we've not decided to reduce it as of yet has our government in any way been tardy in recognizing the the nature of the cm government do you think well where the zen government is there it's been there a decade uh and as i've said uh for the last two years in our opinion the military opinion out there general hawkins and others the struggle was going better so that uh it's pretty hard we don't want to carry on a direct assault upon the government we can't uh we have to deal with the government that is there what has concerned us is the events of the past two months do not give us as greater assurance for success in the struggle as uh was true up till uh may and june now we attempting to uh use our influence to uh bring the situation back to what it was mr president have you ever had any reason to doubt this so-called domino theory that if south vietnam falls the rest of southeast asia will go along behind it no i believe it i believe it i think that the struggle is close enough china is so large looms so high on the just beyond the frontiers if south vietnam went it would not only give them a improved geographic position for a guerrilla assault on malaya but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in southeast asia was china and the communists so i believe it in the last 48 hours there have been a great many conflicting reports from there about what the cia was up to could you give us any enlightenment on that no i don't think so okay does the cia tend to make its own policy that seems to be the debate here now that is a frequent charge but that doesn't uh isn't so mr mccone was head of the cia sits in the national security council we had a number of meetings in the last few days about events in south vietnam mr mccomb participated in every one and the cia coordinates its efforts with the defense department and state department the house ways and means committee due to act tomorrow perhaps and in view of general eisenhower's statement of last night uh former president truman's uh statement of this morning what are the chances of a tax cut mr president i think it's going to be a tax cut because i think that for us not to have a tax cut would be so unwise and would throw our economic progress in 1964 into sufficient jeopardy it has been my strong view that we not only uh should have a tax cut for the economic progress of this country but will have a tax cut with so much of our uh prestige money so on committed in south vietnam why can't we exercise a little more influence there mr president we have some influence we have some influence and uh it's a uh and we're attempting to uh carry it out i i think we don't we can't expect uh these countries to do everything the way we want to do them they've got their own interests their own personality their own uh tradition we can't make everyone in our image and there's many people who don't want to go in our image in addition we have ancient uh struggles between countries in the case of india and pakistan we'd like to have them settle kashmir that's our view of the best way to defend the subcontinent against communism that struggle between india and pakistan is more important to a good many people in that area than the struggle against the communists we would like to have cambodia thailand and south vietnam all in harmony but there are ancient differences there we can't make the world over but we can influence the world and the fact of the matter is that the united states with the assistance of the united states and ceto southeast asia and indeed all of asia has been maintained independent against a very powerful force the chinese communist what i'm concerned about is that americans will get impatient and say that because they don't like events in south east asia or they don't like the government in saigon that they will then say we should withdraw that only makes it easy for the communists and i don't think that i think we should stay we should use our influence in as effective a way as we can but we should not withdraw we'll leave the crisis of the moment for a moment are the nuclear treaty even when passed of course does not apply to red china what is your view of the danger of a nuclear-armed china in say sometime the 70s i think would be very great unless they change their present policy it would be a great danger for us but also great danger of the soviet union which borders uh on china i would hope that as time went on that china's policy would change otherwise of course we'll have to look forward to a future president and the american people living in a time of very great peril but countries do change their policies events force them to change the reality forces change and uh my uh feeling is and that's one of the reasons why i'm so strong for this test ban i think this is one of the steps which may bring about a change in china's policy or at least some movement in china's policy over a period of time mr president there have been some sounds lately from uh democrats in congress that democrats particularly those in congress are in trouble for 1964 particularly those in the north have you seen any signs of such trouble and it's possibly due to the civil rights uh issue i think there'll be some i think everyone's uh probably going to be in trouble in 1964 since they have to uh compete on the other hand i think the democrats will have a good record when they leave here and i think that that record will be put against the record of the republican party in the congress when that's done of course i look with some optimism in 1964. i think that we have a good chance if we get the tax cut to have uh a good two or three years and possibly longer of prosperity we have a good chance to make a dent in this unemployment which has been with us for the last five years we have a good chance if we carry out the other programs education mental health conservation resource development and all the rest to go to the people in 1964 with a good record that's why i think the congress should stay in session that's why i don't think we should hurry home this fall we've got a good deal of unfinished business left before us and i think that uh congress will stay here until it's voted these matters up or down that's my strong conviction someone called the civil rights issue in 1964 i think the fear of the political unknown would you agree yes i think that what they're wondering is what effect this will have whether the north which is supported civil rights in the past will continue to support it i think they will i think the bill we put in is a reasonable bill and i think that my judgment is that we will not divide this country politically into negroes and whites that'd be a fatal mistake for society is which should be as united as ours is the issue in congress is it going i think ought to be divided in other words republicans and democrats but not by race but in the congress is do you see the issue coming down to a full-scale test of strength or do you see it ending in a compromise i uh we don't start off with the compromise i hope it's going to pass as close to the form as we send it up as possible do you plan to see president tito this fall mr president well i don't know it would depend in pot and there are other presidents who'll be coming if they come to the united nations i would expect to see uh most of them if we apply uh retaliatory tariffs about which there's been considerable comment and discussion lately for what they did to in effect are chickens is there a danger of touching off a full-scale and even destructive trade and economic war or are we dealing from such strength that we're confident the common market nations will come around no i don't think we're confident i think it's always possible on the other hand we do have rights under the gat agreements what they have done on the matter of chickens uh is gives us the right under treaties previously signed to uh take retaliation that is not what we wish to do but if we don't protect our interest in this case then the next time we negotiate and we are deprived of our rights than the known all of any confidence that the united states will uh protect its interest vigorously it is a 50 million dollar matter uh does affect our balance of payments other matters will be coming up i think we have to bargain as hard as they are they'll be bargaining very hard with us on chickens i hope the compromise is reached but if it isn't i think that we should uh protect our right i'm thrilled mr president it has been said by some that this office president of the united states is almost unmanageable uh do you feel how do you feel about it after about three and a half years uh well i think that the problems that we face are seem somewhat unmanageable but that's because the uh spectrum is so wide if you realize that 25 years ago the major problems and they were of course tremendously serious really the major problems were involved the domestic economy and western europe yes now we involved in saigon laos the congo all through latin america in the most detailed way the uh problems become almost overwhelming in addition we still have a very difficult society here at home to keep moving along when you think of the number of people that are coming into the labor market every year we have to find about 35 000 new jobs every week just to almost hold our own that's why i keep coming back to the tax cut i think that uh and we have a history in the 50s of particularly at the end of uh sluggishness we had a recession in 58 a recession in 60 we've had a higher rate of unemployment than any country in the west in the last five years i think we have to uh move ahead in the same way for example that the british it's rather interesting that the british government which has a conservative party put its tax cut in effect in one month a larger tax cut that we've been talking about for a year they put into effect in one month in fact is the british economy is now booming and its unemployment has been cut i think we can do the same i use that as only one example of some of the difficulties of managing the affairs of government this is a big government big country with wide influences but i think we are making a good deal of progress if we look back over our record over the last 18 years i think we can take some satisfaction in it western europe is still secure asia is still secure your country's never been more prosperous than it now is it's gross national product is four times what it was uh 20 years ago so i think we can look forward in the 60s with a good deal of hope but of course this country and its affairs are not managed in the real sense in the white house there's 180 million decisions being made which finally manage the country there is uh there are occasional signs of continuing conflict between the civilian and military aspects in the pentagon is this something that uh we should be concerned about or is it more or less endemic to our to our system and the questions and issues that confront us i think it's probably inevitable and because the military have a definite responsibility which is to prepare for war and they have to assume that that war may begin tomorrow no society can live generally uh with that degree of tension that degree of concentration so in a sense there's a built-in conflict but that their judgment has to be recognized taken into account but i think even they would agree that that is only one of the factors that we must consider we can't live preparing for a war that may begin tomorrow with a certainty that may begin tomorrow we have to prepare to protect ourselves we have to prepare for an aggression that may occur but uh we can't uh do everything that the military want even before we set our budget up to the congress we had cut the military budget nearly 14 billion and still it was the highest military budget when it finally went up in the history of the country and it's already been cut by the house of representatives another 2 billion i think that's too much but i think there is a conflict it was decided by the constitutional drafters however that that conflict should be finally settled by the civilians that they should bear the responsibility thank you mr president there's one of two places we're a little bragged i thought we might do almost think about doing them over saigon i'm sorry three and a half years yeah two and a half years well that doesn't matter one is uh we're a little sort of general about south vietnam i don't know i hadn't heard of president truman said either what was he said he's opposed to a tax cut until you uh get the budget down do you want to uh you won't do that one over well i think maybe south vietnam was a little more provoked than it needed to be do you regret your question which uh honestly i said first one was uh do we tend to get locked into a policy and find it difficult maybe that was the part that i didn't quite get into uh another part i asked was are we late in recognizing the true nature of the regime yeah those are both questions that i don't think there are difficulties will we reduce our may we reduce our aid i asked and then no that's all right i think what i said yeah that was all right i think it was those other two i don't know why [Music] um you asked three somewhat difficult questions about south vietnam and the result was that i'm afraid my answer is roughly yeah i know you want to do them again let's take them again okay let's try it do it again and we'll see what it comes out this time i'm surprised it's true oh my god they get them in those morning walks i went into it a little at the end even though it wasn't responding because i don't think i'd put enough in as to why we wanted the tax cut so uh uh i want to thank god brilliant no there was really in response to another question of yours i don't know whether we can tag it on to you want to decide in cutting it something hubert was talking today in the senate he said what the people in this country believe is perhaps more important believe is true is perhaps more important than what is true is it becoming apparent that the idea of deficits can i we're not recording them cannot be sold as an american i think it's damn difficult i think you just have to you think it's impossible to tell a point about god we've been trying and until truman wants to be healthy and is helpful in every chance he gets but i just think of that british experience of course it's fantastic what they're able to do without i mean there were objections to them for not doing enough why everybody thinks that uh recession and unemployment which is next year i don't say you can keep by next april this will be the longest peacetime recovery since the longest recovery economic period of economic expansion is the civil war so you mean you're bound to have the dip down the british well since uh immediately sorry nancy i don't think uh you know we maybe have to go through one more and maybe we should say what truman said because a lot of people will not have heard all right anytime you're right yeah i'll take these on south vietnam and if you want to pick up mr president in respect to our difficulties in south vietnam could it be that our government tends occasionally to get locked into a policy or an attitude and then finds it difficult to alter or shift that policy yes that's true i think in the case of south vietnam we've been dealing with a government which is in control has been in control for 10 years in addition we have felt for the last two years that the struggle against the communists was going better since june however the difficulties with the buddhists we've been concerned about a deterioration particularly in the saigon area which hasn't been felt greatly in the outlying areas but may spread so we are faced with a problem wanting to protect the area against the communists on the other hand we have to deal with the governments there that produces a kind of ambivalence in our efforts which uh expose us to some criticism we are using our influence to uh persuade the government there to take those steps which will win back support that takes some time and we must be patient we must persist are we likely to reduce our aid to south vietnam i don't think we're we think that that would be helpful at this time if you reduce your aid it's possible you could bring have some effect upon the government structure there on the other hand you might have a situation which could bring about a collapse strongly in our mind is what happened in the case of china at the end of world war ii where china was lost weak government became increasingly unable to control events we don't want that on the other hand we don't want a dick dictatorship that uh alienates people by its very repressions so i think it's going to take some time before we bring an improvement in the saigon area or before the government improves its policies and its relations with the countries around the world but i'm not sure it can't be done in fact i think it can be done mr president has our government been late or tardy in recognizing the true nature of the gm government there's been a uh some difference of view on the one hand as i say dm has been in control for 10 years number two there has been a better military result in the last two years that's been on the encouraging side internally however there's been some particularly the last two months degree of concern so that it's not a black and white situation it's a matter which we have to work with this is also true in south korea it's true in other governments around the world and latin america we have to work through the people that are there through the governmental structure that it's there we can't bring about overnight changes they won't accept them and probably be unwise united states can't write the bill for every country but i think we can use our influence but i think we have to recognize that it takes some time we don't want to get into the business of knocking over and building other governments we want to uh particularly we want to uh influence events which will bring success now that's been done in some cases and as i say we have reason to be encouraged ultimately about south vietnam what has concerned us however is the cost that events have taken in the last weeks we're trying to change that course to the degree that we can from this from ten thousand miles away mr president harry truman was out for his walk this morning and he said he did not think we should have a tax cut until we get the budget balanced and the other day senator humphrey was saying in the senate that what the american people think is true is very often more important than what actually is true uh what in view of all that what do you think about cutting taxes while a budget is still in deficit the reason the government's in deficit is because you've got more than four million people unemployed and because the last five years you've had rather a sluggish growth much slower than any other western country i'm in favor of a tax cut because i'm concerned that uh if we don't get the tax cut that we're going to have an increase in unemployment and that we may move into a period of economic downturn we had a recession in 58 recession in 1960. we've done pretty well since then but we still have over 4 million unemployed and i think this tax cut can give the stimulus to our economy over the next two or three years i think it will provide for greater national wealth i think it will reduce unemployment i think it will strengthen our gold position so i think that the proposal we've made is responsible and in the best interest of the country otherwise if we don't get the tax cut i would think that our prospects are certain i'm much less certain i think the federal reserve board has indicated that 1964 would is going to be an uncertain time if we don't get the tax cut i think to delay it to 1964 would be very unwise i think our whole experience in the late 50s shows us how necessary and desirable it is my guess is that if we can get the tax cut with the stimulus it will give to the economy but we'll get our budget in balance quicker than we will if we don't have it the affirmative economic response to britain's tax cut seemed to be almost immediate would it be as immediate in this country do you think i think it would be uh interestingly enough the british came forward with their tax cut in april passed it within a month they're experiencing the economic benefits for it unemployment's been substantially reduced they have a larger deficit than we do yet the only criticism was that it wasn't enough every nearly every economist has supported that i think that it's in the best economic interest of the country unless this country just wants to drag along have five or six million people unemployed have profits reduced have economic prospects have a budget unbalanced by a much larger proportion the largest unbalanced budget in the history of this country was in 1958 because of the recession twelve and a half billion dollars the fact of the matter is of course government expenditures do go up in every administration but the country uh wealth goes up uh president eisenhower spent 185 billion dollars more than president truman but the country was much wealthy it's much wealthier now than it was in the last year president eisenhower's administration i think our economic situation can be very good i think what we proposed is a responsible answer to a problem which has been part of our economic life for five or six years and that is slack failure to grow sufficiently relatively high unemployment and if you put that together with the fact that we have to find 35 000 new jobs a week i think the situation in this country calls for tax reduction this year thank you mr president i don't know they're gonna have to cut that a little around because we covered about is that going to be tough a half hour a day no i don't think so what about your other really that much more you need the 15 minutes it's so damn the half hour isn't that much more how about your other i've had to drop that i can't do we don't need the president for that question all right i can ask mr president it has been said by some that this office president of the united states is almost unmanageable how do you feel about it after two and a half years what uh no it just wanted my question why don't we try i tell you what because i covered some of that tax thing and i think the british thing in my answer to that question i'll just do another answer here good i think probably then and we won't i can just start in that's uh taylor and cutter will be playing but i think that the problems which affect this country is sometimes seem almost unimaginable and i suppose they finally end up here in the white house whether it's the efforts we should make to maintain our rate of economic growth deal with our gold influence events in saigon the congo or in latin america i think that it means that the life of almost every american as a citizen is almost unmanageable but this is a assignment and a responsibility which we've taken on domestically and abroad and this has been particularly intensified since the end of world war ii on the whole i think this country has done an outstanding job good many countries today are free that would not be free communism gained since 1945 in spite of chaos and poverty have been limited and i think that the balance of power still rests with the west and i think it can increase our strength if we make the right decisions this year economically here at home and in the field of foreign policy and two matters that we've been talking about are examples of that one is the tax cut which affects our economic growth which affects the whole movement of this country internally the test ban treaty which affects our security abroad and our leadership that's why i think it's very important that the senate pass it you know the old story that who prepares for battle at the trumpet blows and on certain sound well i think that if the united states senate rejected that treaty after the government has committed itself to it the sound from the united states around the world would be very uncertain that's good is it good [Music] can you make it foreign well the news hasn't reached that start you

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Keywords: JFK, Rare Film, Historical Footage, POTUS, Chief Executive, Democratic Party, Famous, Politics, Politician, Sixties, Cold War

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Length: 30min 27sec (1827 seconds)

Published: Mon May 31 2021