38 GERALD P. FOGARTY
That Pravda published any of the papal overture was in itself sig-
nificant. It meant that Khrushchev was watching and giving his
approval to the pope’s words.
In the United States, the New York Times briefly noted that
the Soviet press agency TASS had distributed a dispatch on the
papal address, but did not comment on the significance of that
event.23 At the same time, the American newspaper also reported
that the five American cardinals—Spellman of New York, James
Francis McIntyre of Los Angeles, Richard Cushing of Boston,
Joseph E. Ritter of St. Louis, and Albert G. Meyer of Chicago—
joined by Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle of Washington had issued a
statement calling on American Catholics to observe the following
Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King, “as a day of prayer to be-
seech God’s blessing on our President and Government.”24 Mean-
while, the three Cuban prelates at the Council, bishops Manuel
Rodríguez Rozas of Pinar del Rio, Carlos Riu Angles of Cama-
guey, and José Domínguez y Rodríguez of Matanzas, denied re-
ports in Paese Sera that they had made or intended to make any
statement about the crisis.25
Neither in the records of the White House discussions at this
juncture nor in later American accounts was there any mention
of the pope’s speech or of Pravda’s reaction. Kennedy’s assistants
were perhaps so focused on the military aspect of the crisis that
they were unaware of the papal initiative, despite its wide cov-
erage in the American press. This may account for their failure
to see in Khrushchev’s initial response the possible influence of
the pope’s plea. U Thant, acting secretary general of the United
Nations, had issued a plea calling for the United States not to in-
terfere with peaceful shipping and for the Soviet Union not to at-
- New York Times, October 26, 1962.
- Ibid.
- National Catholic Welfare Council News Service (Foreign), October 29, 1962,
Archives of the Catholic University of America.