January 30, 1961: Congo Policy Examined, JFK Urged to Cut Funds for Schools That Discriminate

"President Kennedy has ordered the State Department to re-examine United States policies in the Congo and to recommend changes," the New York Times reports on this day in 1961

"A week-long pursuit of the rebel-held Portuguese liner Santa Maria will come to a conclusion later today when a United States admiral boards her near this port to negotiate the removal of the more than 560 passengers," the Times reports.

"Ruanda, northern half of the territory of Ruanda-Urundi, which Belgium operates as a United Nations Trusteeship, has declared itself an independent republic," the Times reports.

"The Southern Regional Council has urged President Kennedy to adopt a sweeping program of executive action in the civil-rights field," the Times reports.

"Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. demanded last night that his long-pending proposal to bar Federal funds to schools discriminating against Negroes be adopted now either through legislation or 'Executive order of the White House,'" the Times reports.