Once the full extent of this Russian military penetration of Cuba was clear, President Kennedy announced we would take whatever action was appropriate to prevent this, even if we had to go it alone. But the Latin American republics who have been rather inclined to drag their feet on taking action against Castro also reacted swiftly last week by finally throwing Cuba off the Inter-American Defense Board. For years the United States had been trying to get these countries to exclude Castro's representative from secret military talks. But it took the pictures of the Migs and the T-34 tanks to do the job. There is a new atmosphere of urgency in Washington this week. You can see it, for example, in the extensive efforts President Kennedy has made to enlist solid bipartisan support for his actions toward both Cuba and Laos; efforts, as I see it, which are being directed, by the way, toward support for future actions, not for those already past.

What the next move will be only time, of course, will tell. Personally, I think we ought to set up an immediate naval blockade of Cuba. We simply cann't tolerate further Russian weapons, including the possibility of long-range nuclear missiles, being located in Cuba. Obviously, we cann't stop them from coming in, however, just by talk. A naval blockade would be thoroughly in line with the Monroe Doctrine, would be a relatively simple operation to carry out, and would bring an abrupt end to Soviet penetration of our hemisphere ``.