
White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger talking with reporters in his office on February 12, 1963.
Photo by Abbie Rowe.
In this clip from the November 2 ExComm meeting, Kennedy instructs the group not to talk to reporters. He designated two people the press could talk to: National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and Special Counsel Ted Sorensen.
In the section immediately preceding this, Kennedy complains about press speculation about Khrushchev’s second letter. “It would be a great disaster if we gave the impression the United States government was charging Khrushchev [unclear] unstable because I would think it would cause him intense annoyance,” Kennedy said.
Tape 47, Presidential Recordings Collection, President’s Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library. Excerpt from a transcript to published in David Coleman, ed., The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy, volume 4 (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013).
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