President Kennedy Urges Self-Censorship for Newspapers

April 28, 1961: President Kennedy calls on the nation's newspapers to censor themselves in publishing information that could be useful to global communism in the cold war.  "Communism, he said, is a 'monolithic and ruthless conspiracy' that is attacking us all around the world with cold war tactics conducted with wartime discipline. "He recalled that enemy leaders have boasted that American newspapers had supplied them with valuable facts they could not have obtained elsewhere except by espionage."

Kennedy Names First Black U.S. Attorney

April 16, 1961: President Kennedy nominates Cecil F. Poole (d. 1997) as U.S. attorney for the Northern District California. He was the first African American U.S. attorney in the Continental U.S., the first black federal judge in Northern California and served on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Books on the local bestseller list include “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” “Hawaii,” “Fate Is the Hunter” and “Winnie Ille Pooh,” which is A.A. Milne’s children’s classic translated into Latin. Candidates for the Zombie Reading List: Gene Fowler's "Skyline" and Gavin Maxwell's "Ring of Bright Water." The Times also publishes more on the Adolf Eichmann trial, a feature on the defense and another on courtroom decorum.

Kennedy Kills Project to Build Atomic Airplane

April 1, 1961: You may not recall the idea of nuclear-powered aircraft, but there was once such an idea.  General Electric, one of the companies involved in the experiment, "challenged President Kennedy's statements that achievement of militarily useful nuclear flight is remote and that it would cost at least $1 billion more to achieve experimental flight." And Eric Johnston, head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, says there is no industry-wide blacklist against communists, although individual studios might refuse to hire anyone suspect of being a Red. ALSO Nuclear-powered aircraft on the Daily Mirror

Paul Coates, Feb. 1, 1961

 

Feb. 1, 1961: Paul Coates’ complaints about not being invited to President Kennedy’s inauguration finally gets some attention! Also: Computerized translation still needs a bit of tinkering.

Paul Coates, Jan. 20, 1961

Jan. 20, 1961: Paul Coates has one of those columns that only he can write. It’s about Dr. Tom Dooley. I won’t say too much except to encourage you to read it. You won’t be disappointed.

John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration in Pictures

Los Angeles Times file photo

Jan. 20, 1961: Here is the story of President Kennedy’s inaugural as told through photos from The Times archives. Above, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after the inauguration.  Keep reading for more pictures and even a mystery photo!

Snowstorm Threatens JFK Inaugural

 

Jan. 20, 1961: Everyone (except Kayo Mullins) is eager to see the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. I remember watching the inaugural on a black and white TV someone brought into my grade school class and the folks who witnessed it in Washington remember how cold it was that day.

Paul Coates, Jan. 5, 1961

 

Jan. 5, 1961: Paul Coates notes that London’s Sunday Express published a series on "The Fabulous Kennedys" with this caption: "This picture was taken by the new president with a box camera on a visit to Ireland 13 years ago -- outside the original Kennedy cottage at Dunganstown, New Ross, Co. Wexford, which is now an outhouse."

Paul Coates, Dec. 2, 1960

Dec. 2, 1960: Paul Coates and his wife visit the tomb of Lenin (and, at that point, Stalin) … and John Grover takes a humorous look at President-elect Kennedy’s plan to televise news conferences.

Paul Coates Is on Vacation, Nov. 10, 1960

Nov. 10, 1960: Paul Coates is on vacation. Instead, we have a letters column in which readers say that women have too many rights, the minimum age for a driver’s license should be raised to 18 and wonder, if cars cause air pollution, why didn’t Los Angeles build more public transportation? Remember, in 1960, Los Angeles still had a streetcar system. ps. The jury system doesn’t work, one letter writer says.

Kennedy Demolishes Axiom on Catholics and the White House

Nov. 10, 1960: A Times editorial has some tips for incoming President John F. Kennedy -- he of the “terrifying campaign promises” -- on how to run the nation. "Now we hope -- we must hope -- that the frowning mountain of responsibility will compel him to postpone the fulfillment of those promises until he has attended to the security of the United States and, as a corollary of our own security, that of the non-Communist world." The editorial is unsigned but I would guess it’s by Richard Nixon flag-waver Kyle Palmer, who often contributed to the editorial page in addition to covering politics. And on the jump,  a UPI story examines the role of Kennedy’s Catholicism in the election.

Paul Coates, Nov. 9, 1960

Nov. 9, 1960: ROBERT MORSE of "Take Me Along" is a favorite for the Feuer and Martin musical, "How to Succeed in Business," Earl Wilson says. Paul Coates is on vacation.