KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION FREEZES CUBAN BANK DEPOSITS
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 8, 1963, the John F. Kennedy administration froze $33,000,000 in Cuban bank deposits in response to the continuing alliance between the governments of Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev.
This action follows the embargo set in February 1962 which provides trade restrictions with Cuba. In February 1963, travel restrictions, based on the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917*, were added.
There had been discussion in the latter stages of the Eisenhower administration to apply the 1917 act in regard to Cuba but in a memo from Secretary of State Christian Herter** to the President dated January 5, 1961, the advice was to leave that decision to the incoming administration.
*Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917 gave the POTUS the power to oversee or restrict any & all trade between the U.S. & its enemies in times of war.
**Christian Archibald Herter (1895-1966) was born in Paris, France & a graduate of Harvard College, 1915. CAH served as Governor of Massachusetts 1953-1957, U.S. Secretary of State 1959-1961 & U.S. Trade Representative 1962-1966.
SOURCE
"Memorandum From Secretary of State Herter to President Eisenhower, January 5, 1961," Foreign Relations of the United States 1961-1963, Volume X, Cuba, January 1961 - September 1962, www.history.state.gov/
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