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on today's report from Washington, Senator Smathers discusses domestic and foreign problems of interest to the people of Florida and the nation. Now here is the first question Senators matters. You've been advocating more pressure on Cuba. Now the OS is pretty much going along with what you've been saying all along.

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How do you feel about their actions? I think the action is to be commended. I think it was long overdue. I hope and believe that most of the nation's you have endorsed this program will live up to it. I think that if they do break off total commercial relations with Castro and Cuba that we might predict the fall of Fidel Castro sometime in 1965.

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Looking to the Senate, one of your amendments, which you had for the poverty bill, was accepted one of a few amendments. Now what would that do? Well, first, I had to amendments which were adopted to the poverty bill. The first one provided that there would be no C C.

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C. Camps set up in any state without first giving the governor of that state 30 days in which to exercise a veto power. If it was his judgment that he didn't want that camp in his state that was adopted by a rather sizable margin. The Second Amendment, which I offered in which also was adopted after considerable debate, was giving to the governor of each state the right to review every plan which the director of the poverty program will make with private corporations a non governmental corporations such as local community chest, local chapters of the Elks Lodge and things of that character.

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In order to preserve the right of the state and the local community, we pass this amendment, which would give the government the right to veto it within 30 days. Do you think that this bill will get through a house in a conference and be signed? I think that it will pass.

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I think that generally speaking, that it's a desirable bill. I know that there are a lot of people who have come out against it, so it's wasteful that I don't believe that's the case. As a matter of fact, if there's some $900 million which it calls for $750 million of it has already been programmed and is being spent by various other departments of the government and approved.

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Now the only edition would be some $200 million and I cannot help but believe that in this nation, where we see that many boys don't join the service, who should join the service because of lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of physical well being, we should do something about it.

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And certainly we can afford it. And I think it's a good bill that I was happy to support it with my amendments. A lot of the members of the Senate seemed to be feeling quite good about the fact that Sargent Shriver will head this up. They seem to have a lot of respect for his ability.

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I have a great deal of respect for the ability of Sargent. Shriver is you know, he's President Kennedy's brother in law. He was the former head of the Chicago trademark. He's a businessman by training, but he's since he's been in government service. He has demonstrated a great capacity at accomplishing impossible jobs and in addition that he's got a video of reasonable common sense senator, in regard to the state of Florida, we've discussed this the importation of beef into this country.

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Finally, there's been some action. I'm happy to report that the Senate has, by the time this program is seen and heard by the Senate, will have adopted the limitation of the amount of beef which can be imported into the United States. In other words, this will be a great boon to our cattle producers and the people who have ranches and particularly farmers who are not getting very much from the cattle market.

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Today, I noticed that you recommended the appointment of a Floridian to I believe it was the Arab country as an ambassador. Who was that? And why do you make that recommendation? The top quality man from the University of Florida native of I think Gainesville, Florida, named Lucius Battle, who has been in the State Department.

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He was the assistant secretary under Stettinius many years ago. He's had a unique experience and that he served as head of the State Department's cultural affairs section. Uh, he's had other ambassadorial experiences. He's going into very hot spot in the Arab world. He's totally confident. I think that Florida can be proud that this man not only has been recommended, but that he's going to get the job as our representative to the Arab Republics.

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Thank you very much, Senator George Smathers. The question of South Vietnam is obviously going to become political in the very near future, but at the present moment, it seems that we're sort of stepping up our operations there. Does this indicate we're going into North Vietnam? I don't think that alone.

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Does that mean you said it was going to be political? I I don't know that it should be. We must remember that the Vietnam problem started in 1950 for under the Republican administration and when John Foster Dulles put us into South Vietnam after the French had been defeated and the French had pulled out.

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So while we still have the problem with us, I don't think it's necessarily ought to be a political problem. I don't notice the president. When asked the question as to whether or not they were going to strike at Hanoi, he said that he didn't think there were any such plans.

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Now we've sent General Maxwell Taylor, the former chief of staff of the of the United States forces here. He's now our ambassador over there. He's quite enable he's a tremendously able man. He understands the situation there. I would not want, however, leave the decision in these kind of matters solely and totally to military minds.

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I think that there also political considerations which have to be taken into consideration when a decision of that nature is made. I think that we're going to continue to apply pressure. I think we're trying to get some agreement on the part of the communist world to live up to the agreement they entered into with us and a couple of other than some 14 other nations.

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I think it was two years ago with respect to leave in South Vietnam is a neutral area, but I don't think we can afford to back out and I hope we don't have to go much north of where we are. Senator Smathers, how long are we going to continue to allow or at least not do anything about Mr Dingell's attitude towards NATO and the United States?

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It seems that he's going further and further as he goes along, well, I would have to answer that question by asking anybody. A question is what is it can we do about DeGaulle? DeGaulle was elected by the French people. He's there. He's a man of strong opinions.

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He's a man who apparently does not believe that the United States should continue to exercise such influence in Europe as it has done since World War two. He is a man who wants to re establish the prestige and position of France. Consequently, he takes a shot at us whenever given the opportunity.

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But there's nothing we can do about de Gaulle. As a matter of fact, I have a great personal respect for him as an individual. I do not always agree with his conclusions, but I must say that as far as France is concerned, he's strong for France.

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I'd like to ask you about this foreign aid bill, which is still facing a Would you support an amendment to cut off all aid to countries who are communist in nature and who are telling us, putting signs up, such as Yankee go home and so forth?

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Well, it's an easy thing to say yes, that it's ridiculous to two vote for any against any program where it's got some communist control, or where there is a sign of a Yankee go home. On the other hand, I don't want to see some of these countries where there is some communist influence.

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For example, Italy and were there signs would say, Go home. I would not like to see us turn loose of Italy and just deliberately Italy and ended behind the Iron Curtain. There are other kind of Austria which is a fine country where there's some communist influence to exercise their and we've seen signs which indicate that they are that they some areas they don't like us particularly.

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I think would be a little silly, however, to walk out just on the basis of a small number of people in that country who don't like us. I think overall their general policies are that they really are staying Italy and Austria for two countries, we're staying more with us than they have the communist and adding to this free world's stability.

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And so I don't think we can take a question like that and resolve it into the fact that, well, I'm going to be against him because somebody has said Yankee go home. The problem is bigger than that. It can't be simplified to those terms. You made a prediction on one of our previous reports indicating that this situation regarding violence and racial problems was going to expand and continue to throughout the summer.

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What do you take from this Rochester episode in Harlem and probably others to come? Do you think that it can be toned down? I think it must be toned down, and I think we cannot have open rebellion here. And I think the time is going to shortly occur when the leaders of the Negro people are going to have to explain to their own members that they're doing themselves a great disservice.

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And they're finally going to bring themselves into such disrepute that it might be possible even to repeal the civil rights bill. Thank you very much, Senator Smathers, I return you to our next report to your station announcer.