
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 16, 1991                   TAG: 9102160462
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FORMER CIA CHIEF JOHN MCCONE DIES

John McCone, a West Coast businessman who became chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and later the director of central intelligence, died Thursday at his home in Pebble Beach, Calif. He was 89.

He died of cardiac arrest, said his secretary, Chris Balog.

McCone headed the Atomic Energy Commission from 1958 to 1960 and the Central Intelligence Agency from 1961 to 1965, holding two of the most sensitive high posts in Washington.

He was widely credited with being the first government official to foresee that the Soviet Union would place offensive weapons on Cuba, a move that set off the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

As chairman of the atomic energy panel a few years earlier, he sought to reach agreement with the U.S.S.R. to stop nuclear testing.

William Webster, the current director of central intelligence, said Friday that McCone had made "an enormous contribution" to United States security.

"He guided the intelligence community during a particularly trying time," Webster said. "McCone was sharp, tough and demanding - qualities that made him a highly effective and widely respected leader.

by CNB