 Good evening, my fellow Americans. I speak to you this evening about very important developments in our search for peace in Vietnam. On the final day in October 1968, President Johnson went on nationwide television to announce a breakthrough in the Paris peace talks that would signal a new phase in a quest for a peaceful settlement in Southeast Asia. Responding to a change in Hanoi's negotiating stance, the president, with the concurrence of his top-level advisers, ordered a complete halt to all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam. This decision, the result of hard days and long nights of careful deliberation, constitutes one of the most intense and intricate chapters in American diplomatic history and was the pivotal concern during the 31 days of this drama-filled month. October, the month that would close with a major accomplishment, began for President Johnson with a major setback. The Senate, in a president-setting filibuster, refused to consider the president's nomination of Associate Justice Abe Fortess to be Chief Justice of the United States. Back in June, when the president had announced that Chief Justice Warren was retiring, most observers expected swift approval for his nominations of Justice Fortess and Judge Homer Thornberry. But during the long summer, opposition to these appointments mounted on Capitol Hill. Senators who wanted to block the nominations charged cronyism and lame duck maneuvering. These, along with Republicans hopeful of naming their own Chief Justice after January, and conservatives uneasy over the many liberalizing decisions of the Warren court, formed a coalition powerful enough to beat a motion for cloture on the five-day debate. At the request of Justice Fortess on October 2nd, President Johnson withdrew the nomination. At 10 a.m. on October 7th, the court began a new session, the 179th. Its membership remained unchanged. Earl Warren at the center and Justice Fortess to the right of his colleagues. However, not all congressional action in October was negative. A flurry of activity in the closing days of the session sent more than two dozen bills to the White House. This month, the president penned into law important new legislation in four diverse areas, conservation, education, consumer protection, and firearms control. Among the various conservation measures, the most significant was the 58,000-acre Redwood National Park Act. I believe that this act establishing the Redwood National Park in California will stand for all time as a monument to the wisdom of our generation. It will surely be remembered, I think, as one of the great conservation achievements of the 90th Congress. It is a great victory for every American in every state because we have rescued a magnificent and a meaningful treasure from the chainsaw. Yes, the Redwoods will stand. So long as they do, they will give delight. They will give instruction. They will declare for all to hear when other great conservation battles are being fought. We stand because a nation found its greatest profit in preserving for its heritage its greatest resource and that is the beauty and the splendor of its land. The president returned to the East Room to sign with great pride two far-reaching education bills, the 59th and 60th of the Johnson administration. The higher education and vocational education amendments of 1968 were broad measures that extend existing education programs and create several new ones. I told myself when I became president in this office, I wanted to do one thing and that was to advance education among all of my people. So here we are 60 laws later. We can count the laws but no one can count the lives that these laws have and will change. How many bright youngsters have been discovered inspired who might otherwise have been ignored? How many families have fulfilled the dream of college for their children? The answers to those questions I think explain to you why I feel as I do about education. At a cabinet room ceremony the president signed the 20th consumer protection measure of his administration, the Hazardous Radiation Act. It establishes health and safety standards to protect the public from harmful radiation emissions of electronic products. The last significant measure the president signed into law in October was the Gun Control Act of 1968. A stronger bill than had been considered possible at the beginning of the year, it strengthened and extended to long guns and ammunition restrictions that had been placed on handguns by the previously passed Omnibus Crime Control Act. Coupled with the crime bill, the Gun Control Act made 1968 the most important year for firearms legislation since 1938. The second session of the 90th Congress, the last under the Johnson administration, adjourned in mid-October. It had been marked by some clear victories for the president and some compromises. Congress had enacted a landmark housing bill, a strong civil rights act, an important truth in lending law, several major conservation measures and a number of health and education programs. It also passed the president's 10% surtax in exchange for a six billion dollar cut in federal spending and a sweeping crime bill with which the president had a few reservations. Something not accomplished this session which gave the president cause for concern was the ratification of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Just before final adjournment, the president made one last appeal urging Senate acceptance of this very important agreement. To see what further areas might need attention and to better evaluate what had already been accomplished, the president continued the policy begun in September of having cabinet members present summaries of the current status of their departments. This series of intense searching meetings concentrated on problems of the future to define issues and help the president shape his remaining decisions in office. Facing the president and several of his advisors this month were Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall, Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, the Secretary of Transportation Alan Boyd, C.R. Smith, Secretary of Commerce Orville Freeman, Secretary of Agriculture, Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Robert Weaver. Is there anything there that you can give me one two three four? Yes. You think it's going to be the challenge as well? I will say that the first one is the one I just alluded to and that is the matter of an urban land policy. The second big problem is going to be how we organize our local governmental units. When you get issues like air pollution, planning, and mass transportation, you've got to have wide area-wide governance. How do we reconcile these two requirements? Because they're both pressing upon us. And of course there is also the problem which has been very very pressing and which we have not been able to make much progress in despite what we've tried to do. And that is the problem of a cadre of trained people at every level of government. We just don't have enough bodies, Mr. President, to do the job that we're now doing. And as we expand it, it's going to get to be much much more crucial and critical than it is today. There were two official state visits in October. Early in the month, President Johnson welcomed President Francois Tambalbaier from Chad as a leader of courage and rare vision who has worked hard and long for peace on his continent. That evening, a state dinner was held for President Tambalbaier in the White House. Ninth, President Johnson greeted a trusted friend and ally in the struggle against aggression in Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Keith Holyoke of New Zealand. This visit would give President Johnson a chance to reciprocate the warm welcome he received in New Zealand two years before while en route to the Manila Summit Conference. The President took this occasion to restate America's purpose in Vietnam and to reaffirm the longstanding commitments to freedom in that troubled part of the globe. But even as the President spoke, dramatic new developments were unfolding at the Paris Peace Talks. On the very day of the Prime Minister's visit, North Vietnamese negotiators changed the course of the discussions and of history. After five months of skirting issues, the Communist representatives began asking direct questions concerning what steps could be taken to bring about a bombing halt. In his talks with the Prime Minister later in the day, President Johnson stressed the preconditions that had to be agreed upon before a bombing halt could begin. First and foremost, productive discussions could not take place without participation by the government of South Vietnam itself. Second, there had to be no violations by either side of the demilitarized zone. Last, there could be no more attacks on South Vietnam's cities or major population areas. This, in essence, was the San Antonio formula the President had stated one year earlier. These requirements were cabled to the American negotiators in Paris for relay to the North Vietnamese. Exactly what the Communist questioning signified at this stage was uncertain. Nevertheless, it was something, a beginning perhaps. That evening, President and Mrs. Johnson received the Holy Oaks prior to a state dinner given in their honor. There was a third visitor in October who received some headlines. It was a non-official visit, but one that had been expected for quite a while. Paying a call on the White House this month was the stork. He brought Lucinda Desche, sleepy-eyed and with a yellow bow ribbon in her hair, to the home of her grandparents. But this home would be only a temporary one. The executive mansion was preparing itself for a new occupant. And in October, the seekers of this residence began heating up the presidential campaign as the contest neared the wire. Helping to keep a Democrat in the White House would be one reason President Johnson spoke out on several different occasions for the man he felt best qualified to serve America. From what I have observed of Vice President Humphrey over more than 20 years, I believe that he has in a unique measure the understanding, the imagination, the commitment to freedom that this responsibility requires. In his first major political speech of the campaign, the president vigorously endorsed the Humphrey Muskie ticket over nationwide radio with a broadcast sponsored by the International Ladies' Garmin Workers Union. A few days later, the president traveled to New York and the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, where he was the surprise guest at a benefit dinner for the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation. Also present were the two major party candidates. And the president, in a light mood, joked with Mr. Nixon and Vice President Humphrey for their endeavors to become a prisoner of the big white jailhouse. The president began a series of partisan speeches outside of Washington when he arrived at the Huntington West Virginia Airport on the way to a reservoir dedication. Here the president recalled some of the prominent achievements of his party and urged the audience to remember this progress on election day and vote Democratic. The president took a short hop to nearby Pikeville, Kentucky for the dedication of fish trap dam, a clear example of the prosperous and progressive spirit in this state today. Pointing to the regeneration of the entire Appalachian area, the president emphasized that it was a joint effort produced by Democrats working in concert. The bill together has been built on the enduring and honored principles of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is the party that acts on your problems instead of defers your problem. And I want every one of you to remember that when you go to the poad on November the 4th and vote the straight Democratic ticket from the White House to the court out. The president continued his stump tour with a short speech at the Morgantown West Virginia Airport, then reiterated the theme of progress from Democrats working together at a dinner honoring Congressman Harley Staggers. The following day the president returned to New York for a luncheon of the All Americans Council of the Democratic National Committee. This time the president brought along a budding apprentice on the political scene. His grandson Patrick Linden gained valuable training in such basic techniques as arm waving and hand shifting. On a serious note the president assailed the Republican Party for postponing solutions to America's problems. However the president was not the only member of the Johnson family who took to the campaign trail for Humphrey Muskie. In October the first lady traveled to Louisville to address a gathering of the Democratic Women's Clubs of Kentucky. In one of her most pointed political speeches of the year Mrs. Johnson praised Vice President Humphrey for being a strong and compassionate man of deep convictions. He is a builder, a unifier who does not try to set American against American. He does not panda to the fears and the souls of our people. He calls on the best that is in all of us. The effort he calls on the affirming spirit of hope. Accompanied by Mrs. Humphrey, Mrs. Johnson traveled to Philadelphia for an appearance on the Mike Douglas television show to boost the campaign of the first and second lady's favorite candidate. Mrs. Johnson gave a further endorsement to the vice president at a performance in Washington of Alexis We Love You, a musical fashion show put on by the Women's National Democratic Club. It featured clothing worn by White House occupants from the Johnson daughters back to the days of Dolly Madison. This show was repeated later in the month at a benefit for the Humphrey Muskie campaign in Austin where Mrs. Johnson introduced Mrs. Humphrey to the women of Texas. But the first lady's busy agenda was not limited to campaigning alone. There were a variety of White House social events in October, including a reception for officers of the future homemakers of America, a tea for wives and daughters of international bankers, and a gathering of national women legislators. The first lady was also hostess to a restoration luncheon attended by a number of people active in historical preservation projects around the country. After the luncheon, specialists spoke on the importance of restoration projects in terms of the nation's forthcoming 200th birthday. On October 11th, President Johnson boarded Air Force One to visit another president who had faced communist intransigence at the bargaining table, Harry Truman. But on this day, the current peace talks took another optimistic turn. In Paris, the North Vietnamese asked whether a bombing halt would in fact follow their agreement to permit South Vietnam into the discussions. The American negotiators repeated that the DMZ had to be honored and that there could be no attacks on South Vietnam cities. Would the communists agree to this? No one knew. Arriving at the Truman home in Independence, Missouri, the president signed two proclamations, one marking United Nations Day and the other praising the former president's pioneering support of the UN. To repeat, the ignition sequence will start at 8.9 seconds. We'll be looking to lift off at zero. In October, President Johnson, like millions of others, tuned in on the Apollo 7 space launch from Cape Kennedy. The drama of this attempt was heightened by the knowledge that it was America's first manned flight since the tragic death of three astronauts 21 months before. 12, 11, 10, 9. Ignition sequence starts. 5, 4, 5, 4. We have ignition. All engines are running. We have lift off. We have lift off. As the towering Saturn 1B rocket rose into the skies, America's hopes for placing men on the moon rose with it. To the president, who for many years had worked diligently to build and expand the nation's space potential, the successful launch of Apollo 7 was a moment of great pride and excitement. During the next 10 days, a portion of the world's consciousness centered on the orbiting module as it performed its assigned duties and a few additional ones. People the world over viewed the first live telecasts from outer space. They followed the progress of Coles, the three men developed, and sympathized with mounting complaints about space cuisine. Finally, after a textbook perfect mission that circled the globe 163 times in 264 hours, Apollo 7 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. True to its performance in space, the unit splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean less than half a mile from the point it had aimed for. The unqualified success of this flight brought into the realm of very real possibility what once seemed like a far-out dream, placing an American on the moon before the end of this decade. When astronaut Shirah Isley and Cunningham were safely aboard the carrier Essex, President Johnson congratulated them on behalf of their countrymen. He also extended an invitation to receive the three at the LBJ Ranch. By the time the astronauts returned to Earth, the president's attention had already become almost exclusively engaged in what some observers would call the most concentrated diplomatic activity in a White House since the Cuban Missile Crisis. This activity, which would culminate on the final day in October, really began back in March. In the interest of peace and national unity, the president had decided to remove himself from the political arena and dedicate all of his energies to solving the Vietnam problem. At the same time, he ordered a partial cessation of the bombing with the hope that this gesture would lead to peace negotiations. It did. The president chose Averell Harriman and Cyrus Vance to head the American delegation. Paris was finally agreed on as the site. Here for the first time since the beginning of the war, United States and North Vietnamese representatives met in face-to-face discussions. But it soon became apparent that the communists were unwilling to address themselves to substantive matters. For all intents and purposes, the talks were deadlocked. This is what the U.S. negotiators reported to the president when back in Washington. The stalemate continued for five and a half months. Then suddenly the American persistence appeared to pay off. The change in bargaining at the October 9th and October 11th meetings in Paris had come at last. On October 14th, the president met with top level advisors to contemplate the turn of events. Before them were cables from Ambassador Bunker and General Abrams in Saigon, which stated that in their opinion, Hanoi was ready for a tactical shift from the battlefield to the conference table. The president's advisors unanimously agreed that the questions asked in Paris should be interpreted as a change in North Vietnam's position and represented a serious move toward peace. The same day, the president polled members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on their attitude toward a bombing halt. Each man agreed that the risks of a bombing pause under the new conditions were low and from a military standpoint, sustainable. From South Vietnam came President Thieu's concurrence. The problem is not to stop the bombing, he said, but to stop the war. We must try this path to see if the enemy's intentions are serious. The president then directed that all countries supplying troops to Vietnam be consulted. Their responses fully supported the president's instructions to his Paris representatives. These countries favored a bombing halt if Hanoi would have sent to the three facts of life the president had established. Saigon at the bargaining table, no violations of the DMZ, and no attacks on the cities. The groundwork had been laid and now the tension would begin. For there followed 13 days of on again off again uncertainty from Paris. Hanoi was balking at several points. First they withheld their promise to meet promptly for talks after a bombing halt went into operation. Then they wanted the bombing halt labeled an unconditional stoppage. They also wanted the expanded discussions described as a four power conference, which in effect was a demand for recognition of the Viet Cong's political arm, the National Liberation Front. While these points were being argued, the president wanted more individual discussions with informed advisors. On October 23rd he called in General William Mo Meyer, Chief of the Air Force Tactical Air Command, and a former commander in Vietnam to investigate the problems involved in a bombing halt. At one point in the conference, the president asked bluntly, if you were president, what would you do? The general replied, in my judgment, a bombing halt now would not involve a substantial risk. If it will help bring peace, I am for it. Later that day, the president met again with his chief foreign policy advisers. They went over reports from Saigon indicating that a slowdown in hostilities seemed to be occurring. American casualties during the previous week were the lowest in a number of months. But the president cautioned against the allies being lulled into a false sense of security. The way for Hanoi to show its good faith was at the bargaining table in serious discussions that included the government of South Vietnam. At a news conference on October 24th, the president hinted that while no breakthrough had taken place, he was encouraged by the direction activity on the diplomatic front had taken in recent weeks. We do not want to make news until there is news and we realize that many times diplomacy can be more effective and private than to have all your discussions and recommendations and prophecies carried in the press. Our position remains set forth by the president and secretary of state and when there's anything to report, you'll be informed is the correct one today. The next afternoon, the president again conferred with close aides. This time the discussion centered around standing orders to be issued to general Abrams if North Vietnam violated the DMZ or attacked the major population areas after a bombing halt. General Maxwell Taylor stressed that when the president announces the bombing halt, he must make it clear that this is just another step on the arduous road toward peace and is not peace itself. Secretary Rusk urged that the three presidential candidates who had been briefed previously be given word of the decision shortly before the public announcement. Here it was then agreed that the presidential contenders and the congressional leadership would be given separate briefings. But still North Vietnam was holding out. Two weeks of exhaustive negotiating had produced no commitments. After all this, would Hanoi back down? That uncomfortable thought became more of a possibility as the days wore on. Then on the afternoon of October 27th in the predictably unexpected fashion of historic events, word came from Paris that Hanoi would accept the terms for a bombing halt. At last the breakthrough arrived. The long hours of patience and insistence had paid dividends. North Vietnam dropped its demand of a four-power designation for the conference. The halt was not labeled unconditional and expanded talks on a uricide-ourside basis would start as soon as the new delegations from Saigon and the NLF were assembled. Late into the night, the president reviewed cables from Saigon and Paris. He already had the accord of his personal advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all the allied countries. Yet before taking the final step, he wanted to look his commanding general in the eye and ask if this decision would jeopardize the men in the field. At 2.30 a.m. on the morning of October 29th, President Johnson summoned the top foreign policy advisors to the White House with his departure from Vietnam cloaked in secrecy to avoid premature speculation. General Abrams had arrived in Washington only moments before, dressed in civilian clothes. The president began quizzing his field commander immediately. General Abrams reported that critical changes in the military situation had recently taken place. Heavy defeats were imposed on the communists. The strengthened allies had forced many enemy units to withdraw above the DMZ or into Laos and Cambodia. And the monsoon weather had begun, limiting the flow of men and supplies into the South. On hearing this information, the president turned to General Abrams and asked, can we proceed with a bombing halt without taking additional casualties? Yes, sir, the general replied. In my opinion, we can. Then the president put the same question to General Abrams. He had asked General Momire six days earlier. If you were president, what would you do? While the others at the table listened intently, the general answered, Mr. President, I am really no judge of your responsibilities in that office. But I can say that I have absolutely no reservations about doing this. I think the war is at the stage where it is the right and proper thing to do. And so the president had the answer he had been seeking. But there still was a great deal left to be done. While he awaited confirmation of a joint announcement from Saigon, the president set in motion action to inform the nation and the world of the decision. General Abrams rested in a guest room of the executive mansion as the president and several aides began working on the first drafts of the speech. By now, however, rumblings of discontent from South Vietnam over the arrangements in Paris had come in. Returning to the cabinet room, which he had left only an hour before, the president continued dictating portions of the text. But the other affairs of state still had to be attended to. And the president signed a few minor bills and letters before reopening further discussions with his consultants. Outside, dawn was just breaking over the nation's capital. It had been a long night for President Johnson. He had gotten practically no sleep, but sleep was the least concern of those involved in this momentous decision. The president ordered breakfast for the second meeting, which would cover the difficult problems of timing in the announcement and informing America's allies. After the second cabinet room meeting ended, the president returned to the executive mansion, where he caught up on developments elsewhere in the world. A short time later, he rejoined General Abrams and other advisors in the West Hall sitting room, where the latest intelligence data from Vietnam was reviewed. This evidence reinforced the president's decision for a bombing halt. It was now time for General Abrams to return to his command. But before he did, the president took him aside and presented him the Distinguished Service Medal. By the following morning, Saigon's dissatisfaction had been established. Fearful that the outcome would be a coalition government, including the communists, President Tew was now unwilling to send a delegation to Paris. The president instructed American Ambassador Bunker to present the Saigon government with a concise picture of what the allies were receiving in return for the bombing halt Tew had previously supported, emphasizing that the United States was committed to going through with its agreements. In his office, the president continued work on the speech with private secretary Marie Famer, special assistant Harry McPherson, and press secretary George Christian. Each sentence, each phrase, each word had to be precise and to the point. The reasons for the decision unmistakably clear. Late in the day, the president again met with advisors to go over the final draft of the speech. The president continued polishing and repolishing this last version right up until the time it was recorded on film for a delayed broadcast. On October 31st, American ambassadors informed the troop contributing countries on the text of the president's announcement. It remained now for President Johnson to notify the major presidential contenders that the decision had been made. Using the White House speakerphone, the president talked simultaneously to Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace. The three candidates told the president that they would back his decision. General Wheeler then called the Pentagon to relay orders of the bombing halt to American command centers in the Pacific. Back in the cabinet room, President Johnson met with the National Security Council, the service secretaries, and other foreign policy advisors just before the speech was to be aired. Each man in the room voiced his support of the decision. Thinking pressures for the moment had somewhat eased, the president was a bit surprised to find a young Halloweener in his outer office demanding trick or treat. The rest of the first family joined the president as the nationwide broadcast was about to start. Meanwhile, special presidential assistant Walt Rostow briefed members of the press on the contents of the speech and the background of events that led up to the decision. At last, after three weeks of endless consultations and seesawing diplomatic intrigues, the moment for the announcement had come. Good evening, my fellow Americans. I speak to you this evening about very important developments in our search for peace in Vietnam. When our representatives, Ambassador Harriman and Ambassador Vance, were sent to Paris, they were instructed to insist throughout the discussions that the legitimate elected government of South Vietnam must take its place in any serious negotiations affecting the future of South Vietnam. Therefore, our ambassadors, Harriman and Vance, made it abundantly clear to the representatives of North Vietnam in the beginning that as I had indicated on the evening of March 31st, we would stop the bombing of North Vietnamese territory entirely when that would lead to prompt and productive talks. For a good many weeks, there was no movement in the talks at all. The talks appeared to really be deadlocked. Then a few weeks ago, they entered a new and a very much more hopeful phase. Last Sunday evening and throughout Monday, we began to get confirmation of the essential understanding that we had been seeking with the North Vietnamese on the critical issues between us for some time. Now, as a result of all of these developments, I have now ordered that all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam cease as of 8 a.m. Washington time Friday morning. I have reached this decision on the basis of the developments in the Paris talks and I've reached it in the belief that this action can lead to progress toward a peaceful settlement of the Vietnamese war. I have already and so the decision had been announced to the world. Soon the long days and hard months of even tougher negotiating would begin.