Dealing with the INS is a headache. To be honest it is easier to stay in the country as an illegal alien and get amnesty later than go thru all the paperwork and fees involved in doing it properly.
I can seriously understand why she would have wanted to have him listed as born in the U.S. even if overseas.
To be honest if my wife and I were to adopt a newborn overseas, we would probably be at the hospital during birth and have our names put on the paper instead of dealing with BCIS (new name for INS), and it would have nothing to do with a future presidential run.
As for the birth announcement, could that not have been placed by his grandmother?
I appreciate the post, can see your point. I would ask you, though, that while yes indeedy, bureaucratic red-tape, the INS is a nightmare today, was it such back in 1961, more importantly, would she really have been thinking that at her age??