Kennedy Signs Blockade Order; Soviet Ships Heading for Cuba

Political organizations at the University generally approved President Kennedy's action in ordering an arms blockade of Cuba after learning of large Soviet missile installations there.

Both the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans sent telegrams to the President, supporting his action. James I.K. Knapp '64, treasurer of the Young Americans for Feedom, said he "welcomed" the blockade but thought it was "a step long over-due."

Hendrik Hertzberg '65, president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Liberal Union, agreed that "action is now necessary." However, he said that the blockade would have been more useful if the U.S. had announced its intentions ahead of time so that the Russians and Cubans "could find a way out which they now do not have."

Only Tocsin, the University's disarmmament group, indicated substantial opposition to the President's policy. The organization has called for a meeting in Lowell Lecture Hall at 9:45 tonight to "consider alternatives to war over Cuba."

H. Stuart Hughes, professor of History and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be the principal speaker at the meeting. The only other speaker who had been announced last night was David Cavers, Fessenden Professor of Law.

Tocsin said the meeting will discuss "posible courses of action by which students can protest Kennedy's decision and will suggest constructive alternatives."