Is President Kennedy’s legislative program stuck in the bogs of Congress? Some critics say so. The White House and Democratic leaders say it isn’t. Congress has passed July 31 - the suggested legal date for adjournment - with only a few bills of substance to show for it. This session will go on at least to Thanksgiving and perhaps to Christmas, the longest spell since the Congress of 1950. “It seems to me that on the basis of the record to date” said Sen. Jacob K Javits, R-N.Y., in a recent Senate speech “we are assigning ourselves a unique niche in history as the biggest and longest running, slow-motion show to hit Washington in years. And I believe we are in grave danger of seeing ourselves dubbed the 'standstill' Congress, or worse. ” Speaker John W. McCormack of Massachusetts disagrees...

For the first time, the United States is at the door of the International Monetary Fund as a borrower. Few people prophesied this when the Fund was founded at the United Nations Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. But obviously times have changed. The United States which had huge supplies of gold in the early postwar period, has found its supplies dwindling. That is why President Kennedy told Congress Thursday that the United States has been authorized to draw up to $500 million worth of currencies from the Fund this year. This transaction is a classic example of how a nation uses the Fund when it has a balance of payments problem. That's what the Fund is for, and other countries have been using it for years. The United States has a balance of payments problem because it sends more dollars overseas than it takes in...

President Kennedy asked members of Congress on Wednesday to look into their hearts and help end "rancor, violence, disunity and national shame" by passing the most sweeping civil rights bill since Reconstruction days. And he told them to stay in session this year until they do so. His proposals drew a favorable reaction in Congress. But Southerners served notice of a filibuster and threatened to tie up his entire legislative program. Liberal forces in both parties praised the proposals. But key Republicans who may hold the balance of power took a cautious approach. The President's plea came in a special message that accompanied a bill brimming with weapons against racial discrimination in stores, hotels and other public places, in schools, in jobs, in polling booths. He asked for a law banning discrimination by any privately owned enterprise that serves the public. He asked power for the Attorney General to start school desegregation court suits on his own. He asked for a massive program to train unskilled Negroes and others for higher paying jobs. He asked for the right to withhold Federal aid from a project when local officials discriminate against Negroes. He asked for much other legislation. And, in a real sense, he may have asked for one of the great legislative battles in American history...

President Kennedy outlined a broad legislative program on civil rights Tuesday night and asked the American people for help in ending racial discrimination and in stemming “the rising tide of discontent that perils the public safety". The President spoke to the nation after Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama had bowed to federal pressure and stepped aside so two Negro students could register at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In his radio-television talk, the President cited the Alabama crisis in making his appeal and outlining his legislative program. He said he will ask Congress next week for legislation that would: 1. Prohibit stores, hotels restaurants and theaters from discriminating against Negroes 2. Allow the federal government to take a more active part to court suits aimed at desegregating public schools 3. Allow Negroes to take advantage of their right to vote. But the President said that legislation alone would not do the job of insuring that the U.S. Constitution is color-blind...

The dark lean man joins President Kennedy. They chat on the yacht, Honey Fitz, at Palm Beach. They laugh during the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. They applaud a performance of "Irma la Douce" at Washington's National theater. They dine at a private party in the White House. Their friendship and companionship is rare and near unprecedented in Washington. The lean man, a year younger than the President has a high forehead, long swept-back hair, and a sharp very British nose. He is Sir David Ormsby Gore, a friend of John F. Kennedy from younger, more carefree days. He is a politician. He is the heir of a nobleman. And he is the British ambassador to the United States. Traditionally a British ambassador should be a career diplomat, advanced in years, prim and proper in his dealings with the chief of state. Ormsby Gore is a politician in his first post as ambassador, the only political appointment in the entire British foreign service, 44 years old, and the constant companion of his old friend Jack, who happens to be chief of state...

A News Analysis - Is the present furor over Cuba based on fluff or substance? The real answer may lie in the secret correspondence of Soviet Premier Khrushchev and President Kennedy. In the last few weeks of controversy and confusion, an odd drama has been played In Washington. Critics first railed at the administration, crying that Soviet missiles and missile sites still remain in Cuba. The storm drove the administration into an unprecedented picture-show defense of its intelligence operations. But, in the defense, the administration revealed a concern and an uneasiness not about missile and missile sites but about the removal of Soviet troops. None of the published correspondence between Khrushchev and Kennedy contains any promise to remove Russian troops from Cuba. But the secret correspondence reportedly does. In short, the critics, still may have helped draw attention to a raw nerve of the administration on Cuba policy...

The 88th Congress opened for business Wednesday and dealt sudden death to conservative members' hopes of recapturing control of the key House Rules Committee. This victory for President Kennedy had been expected, but the size of his margin was a surprise. On the decisive vote in the House, his supporters won 235-196. The vote kept the size of the Rules Committee at 15 members. If Kennedy's forces had failed, it would have reverted to 12 members, leaving the committee in the grip of a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats opposed to major elements of Kennedy's legislative program. The committee, which controls the flow of most legislation to the floor of the House, had been under the domination of this coalition until two years ago...

President Kennedy has learned to his dismay that cannons on the White House lawn can drown out everything but Caroline and her friends. He learned this as he stood tight-lipped and at attention yesterday while cannons on the south lawn boomed a welcome for Premier Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria. After Mr. Ben Bella had conferred with the President and left, a reporter asked President Kennedy what he thought of the childish noises that came from the second floor during the ceremonies. “We will talk about that this afternoon,” he said. The President then smiled — but only slightly — whirled, and rushed into the White House. The President’s corrective measures went no further than a talking-to. "Was Caroline punished?” a newsman asked White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger last night. “Not that I know of,” he replied...