 Do you have two minutes Mr. President? Yes sir, I've got all you want. Well I've got a press conference in half an hour and I have a short opening statement here that I'd like to read to you if I may. Alright. Ambassador Harriman and I have now reported to the President on our recent journeys abroad. Yesterday at Independence Missouri, President Johnson summarized where we are with respect to the possibilities of peace in Vietnam. You're familiar with the intensive effort which has been made since Christmas to probe the prospects for peace. We have been in contact with the governments of the world and with many of them through special emissaries. There has been an overwhelming favor. If you want to put the word again in there, we have been in contact again with the governments of the world. You've been in contact 300 times this year. Alright. Again. There has been an overwhelmingly favorable response to these efforts except from those who could in fact sit down and make peace. The diplomatic efforts of the past four weeks have not caught the other side by surprise. In April, President Johnson and Baltimore called for unconditional discussions. In May, there was a cessation of bombing which ended after a harsh rejection by the other side of any serious move toward peace. Over the months, the President and I have discussed the elements of a reasonable peace which was summarized at years end by the so-called 14 points. For months on end, both publicly and privately, it was indicated to the other side that the bombing could be stopped as a step toward peace. And every possible effort was made to ascertain what the response might be. Nothing was forthcoming from Hanoi on that subject. Nevertheless, a number of governments, including communist governments, insisted that diplomacy could play a more effective role. And the prospect for peace would be improved if in fact the bombing were suspended. The Christmas ceasefire was therefore extended, as far as the bombing was concerned, until now the suspension is in its 29th day. The question posed to the other side, are you interested in peace, is the same question which has been posed for months and indeed years by all available means. We've been waiting for some word from Hanoi that goes beyond bitter invective or charges that talk of peace as a trick or a deceit or a swindle. We've been listening for sounds other than the sounds of bombs and grenades and mortars in South Vietnam. I regret that I cannot report to you a positive and encouraging response to the hopes of the overwhelming majority of mankind. The steady purpose of the United States and Southeast Asia and elsewhere is to do our full part in building a decent world order at peace under law, in which small as well as large nations can live in safety and free from molestation. We must continue on this course with patience and persistence. As President Johnson put it yesterday, the door of peace must be kept wide open for all who wish to avoid the scourge of war, but the door of aggression must be closed and bolted if man himself is to survive. So we shall do what we can to bring peace to Southeast Asia and shall do what we must to prevent the success of accrual aggression. Well, I think that's a good statement, but I don't think that even touches what we've got to say. Our question is, if you don't want to say it today or you think the timing's bad, that's one thing. If you think we are saying it's there, I think that's another thing. The thought I had last night was that we've got to say that 29 days they've had it at sample time and their answer has been in the negative, and that's that. Because if you don't, you're going to have four George McGoverns and seven Utahns and three Libranians and the rest of them running around here. You and I both knew this thing wouldn't work to begin with. But Mike Bundy went out and talked to them and they said, well, if we just stopped it, give them a chance to do some good. After three days, you and I both thought, well, something might could conceivably come of it. And we just hoped against hope. Now we know now what we knew then, but the American people got to really be told that. And there ought to be a sentence that says after 29 days, each day they could have given some indication, but the indication then that they want to continue to pursue their aggression. And that's not our decision, but that's theirs. And that's that. I think we've got to show that we're cutting it off without saying we're bombing. And I don't think you do that anywhere. Maybe you don't want to. Maybe you don't think it's wise. If that's true, I'm willing to listen to it. But the statement now just repeats what you've said and what I've said, and the fact is 29 days. And it doesn't say that Noah and Pete King have had notice for 29 days now that we have not been bombing. And if they want to use those for peace, they could have, but they have not used them. And you think that we have had their signal and we understand it and we'll accept it. Well, I thought if we say that too flatly, the headlines will be that we've decided to resume the bombing. Well, you're going to have to say that sometime. I don't think we're doing that today, but I think you ought to really say that they've turned it down and rejected it. Then let us get into it when we can, because if you don't do it, they're going to say someday that you resume the bombing when you killed a bunch of children. After this, we've been listening for sounds other than the sounds of bombs and grenades and mortars in South Vietnam. I regret that I cannot report to you any positive and encouraging response to the hopes of the overwhelming majority of mankind. Indeed, Gama, despite the opportunities of these 29 days, there is every indication that the aggression will continue with increased intensity at the close of the tech period. Well, you prefer something flatter than that. I think maybe we put it off for another day or two. I think that we're going to resume some activity next week. I'd rather have the story based on your press conference during 10th than to have it on bombing a bunch of children next week. I think that we're going to have to say that we gave these people 29 days and they did nothing with it and they rejected it. And the people ought to know that, period. And now we have to pursue any other course we can. The course of just stopping the bombings, not enough, we know that. Well, let me see if I can add a sentence at the end of this paragraph on that point, right?