JFK COMMENTS ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy held his second televised news conference in the State Department Auditorium here in the Nation's Capital.
Mrs. May Craig* asked the President...
"In your State of the Union Message, you spoke of juvenile delinquency**. There is growing concern...about the effect on young people of crime and violence in the movies and on the air.
Is there anything you can do about it, or may you ask for legislation?"
President Kennedy responded...
"We...are considering what legislation could be enacted...(but) when you get into movies, it's very limited--the amount of influence which the Federal Government can exert is quite limited...quite properly. But at least we are concerned with the general problem."
The President continued...
"We can do something about the living conditions and the atmosphere in which these children grow up, and we are going to do something about it."
*Elisabeth May Adams Craig (1889-1975) was born in Coosaw Mines, SC & became the Washington correspondent for Gannett newspapers. Her "Inside Washington" column ran for 50 years. She always wore a hat & gloves "so that people would remember who she is."
**Juvenile Delinquency is the habitual commission of criminal acts by a young person below the age at which ordinary criminal prosecution is possible.
JFK+50 NOTE
At a later news conference, Mrs. Craig asked JFK why he was "managing the news," the President turned the question back to her & asked what she objected to in his administration's treatment of the news. She answered, "I don't believe in managed news at all. I think we ought to get everything we want." JFK laughed and said, "I think you should too, Mrs. Craig, I'm for that."
SOURCE
"The President's News Conference of February 1, 1961," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, John F. Kennedy," January 20 to December 31, 1961, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1962.
