This Copy For
NEWS CONFERENCE #764
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
WITH PIERRE SALINGER
OCTOBER 1, 1962
12:13 P.M. EDT
MONDAY

MR. SALINGER: First, for those of you who were not here early today, at approximately 9:30 this morning the President signed an Executive Order taking the first step under the provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act in the East Coast longshore strike. He set up an Emergency Board to report to him not later than Thursday. He named the Board. Those releases are available to those of you who do not have it, including the Executive Order. Second, I have one small item, and that is that the President has appointed Anthony J. Celebrezze, Secretary of HEW, to succeed Abraham Ribicoff on the following committees and commissions which were formerly represented by Secretary Ribicoff:
The Advisory Commission on Inter-Governmental Relations
The President's Commission on the Status of Women
The President's Committee on Youth Employment
That is all I have.
Q. Pierre, is there any reaction by the President that you can pass along to us to any of these events in Oxford, Mississippi, since the speech last night?

MR. SALINGER: No, I am not prepared to say anything on the matters at Oxford at this briefing. The President was in his office until 5:30 this morning. He then returned to the Mansion and got up again at quarter of nine. He is being kept in touch with the situation -in Mississippi. He is in touch with the Attorney General, but anything, at least for the next few hours, anything of a substantive nature will come from the Justice Department, either here in Washington or in Oxford. I do not plan to say anything on the subject.

Q. Can you tell us who was with the President last night?

MR. SALINGER: Yes. The Attorney General.

Q. Until 5:30?

MR. SALINGER: Yes, sir; Mr. O'Donnell, Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Sorenson, and Mr. Hatcher.

Q. Until 5:30.

MR. SALINGER: And Bert Marshall, who is the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division.

Q. When did they go into the President's office?

MR. SALINGER: I believe they were down here pretty much steadily. They came at 7:30 and stayed on steadily.

Q. They were in the Cabinet Room?

MR. SALINGER: They moved around during the evening, but they were here in this wing until 5:30 in the morning.

Q. They did not stay in the Cabinet Room?

MR. SALINGER: No, they did not stay steadily in one room.

Q. Do you know what time the President got word that rioting had broken out on the campus? Was it before his speech?

MR. SALINGER: I will try to find out for you. Mr. Hatcher is not precisely sure when he was notified.

Q. There has been a lot of speculation as to why the rioting was permitted to occur when Federal troops were so handy. We have heard since, on fairly good authority, but off the record, that the Administration had assurances from Governor Barnett that he would maintain law and order with his own enforcement people and this broke down several times during the night and at one time during the night the President talked to Governor Barnett to remind him of this so-called pledge. Can you comment on that?

MR. SALINGER: I would rather withhold any comments on those aspects. I may be able to say something about them this afternoon. The Justice Department would be prepared to answer some of the questions you posed in those questions. Not all of them, but some of them.

Q. What about the President speaking to Governor Barnett since his last recorded phone call that we know of, approximately 7:00 p.m. Saturday?

MR. SALINGER: I would rather not comment on that question at this time.

Q. Are any charges going to be pressed against any of the leaders of the riots?

MR. SALINGER: This is a matter that the Justice Department will be speaking on during the day. It is possible that I will be able to go further at this afternoon's briefing, but for the time being I am deferring comment and putting it in the hands of the Justice Department.

Q. What about the troop situation down there? Will Justice let us know how many troops are there now and how many more might be moved in, and that kind of thing?

MR. SALINGER: I think Justice is in a position to tell you how many are there now. I think as far as any future movements there, it does depend on the situation there. As the Attorney General and the President have indicated, we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to maintain law and order.

Q. Would you repeat that?

MR. SALINGER: I said both the President and the Attorney General have stated the Administration is prepared to do anything to maintain order.

Q. Do you rule out the possibility of the arrest of Genet Walker?

MR. SALINGER: Again, that is a question on which I would not be able to comment at the present time.

Q. Could you give us any sort of timetable, anything that will come from you in the next two hours?

MR. SALINGER: I do not anticipate anything, any action that would come from here for the next few hours. We understand Meredith is now enrolled at the university; he is attending classes, and we will watch the developments.

Q. He is attending classes?

MR. SALINGER: Yes.

Q. The last word was he was looking for a classroom.

MR. SALINGER: I think your own wire service has gone further than that.

Q. Does General Walker have a connection with the Army at this time, or is he completely retired and separated?

MR. SALINGER: I can't answer that question.

Q. Can we clear up these calls about Saturday?

MR. SALINGER: I will have to ask Mr. Hatcher. He was here.

MR. HATCHER: Two in the early afternoon and one about 7:00 o'clock, I corrected the sequence yesterday at the briefing. The 10:00 o'clock call was between Governor Barnett and

Q. The 10:00 o'clock call?

MR. HATCHER: Yes.

Q. Saturday night?

MR. HATCHER: Yes.

Q. Was the Attorney General here at the White House?

MR. HATCHER: No, he was not.

Q. There was a reference in the President's telegram to two telephone calls.

MR. HATCHER: Both appeared in mid-afternoon.

Q. That was before the third call was made?

MR. HATCHER: That is right.

Q. Has the President been getting his reports through the Attorney General?

MR. SALINGER: He has been getting his reports through the Attorney General, through the Pentagon, and he has been getting reports from the wire service information which we have here.

Q. Are there any special communications from the setup here in the White House?

MR. SALINGER: No, sir.

Q. Has the White House had much telegraph reaction to the speech?

MR. SALINGER: I will check it for you.

Q. Can you find out about General Walker's service?

Q. He is out. He resigned. He quit the service. He is a civilian.

Q. Pierre, there are two questions that hang over this thing today. One is, what assurance do we have that James Meredith will continue as a student there without harassment; and the other question is why did the rioting occur which I mentioned a while ago. All we are getting now, so far, is the Mississippi answer to Meredith. One is, "As soon as the Marshals go, we will, take care of him," and the other is the reason there was rioting was the Federals came in and created this thing. I think we ought to have something at a fairly high level, if there was a breach of faith, at least to indicate that the delay in quelling the riot was not due to the Administration or it was due to the Administration's failure to move in, or whatever you want to say.

MR. SALINGER: I would just say this, Jerry. The reports from the scene would indicate some of the problems that were involved last night, the reports of the activities of various forces that were in Oxford to attempt to prevent any rioting. I will be glad to take all of these questions up and try to give you some substantive answers on them this afternoon. The troops are very close by and I think they went in at 2:00 a.m. our time. Q. Is Katzenbach the man in charge at the present time?

MR. SALINGER: He is.

Q. Is it possible you might advance the briefing?

Q. Or give us some of this information?

MR. SALINGER: I will check the transcript of this briefing and check the transcript and see if we can move up the briefing.

Q. Where is Katzenbach, that he is in charge?

MR. SALINGER: Katzenbach is in Oxford.

Q. What time would you give if you did move it up?

MR. SALINGER: Let's see how fast we can do it. I am perfectly willing to do it as soon as I can.

Q. Do you mean we should stick around and not go to lunch?

MR. SALINGER: I think you can go to lunch. We would not do it before 2:00.

Q. Can we get on the record a Restin denial?

MR. SALINGER: I believe the State Department is prepared to answer that question.

END