(Wednesday, Apr. 11, 1962, 3:30 p.m. EST) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy bluntly denounced the major steel companies today for “a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of the public interest” in raising their prices by $6 a ton.

A nationwide television audience saw the president, speaking in cold anger and disdain, accuse “a tiny handful of steel executives, whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility (with) utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.

Audio: JFK press conference, April 11, 1962 (part 1)

Audio: JFK press conference, April 11, 1962 (part 2)

Audio: JFK press conference, April 11, 1962 (part 3)