"But I Believe"

Excerpts from President Kennedy's report:

"Mr. Khrushchev and I had a very full and frank exchange of views on the major issues that now divide our two countries. I will tell you now that it was a very sober two days. There was no discourtesy, no loss of tempers, no threats or ultimatums by either side. No advantage or concession was either gained or given. No major decision was either planned or taken. No spectacular progress was either achieved or pretended.

"I wanted to make certain Mr. Khrushchev knew this country and its policies, that he understood our strength and our determination, and that he knew that we desired peace with all nations of every kind. I wanted to present our views to him directly, precisely, realistically, and with an opportunity for discussion and clarification.

"The facts of the matter are that the Soviets and ourselves give wholly different meanings to the same words: war, peace, democracy and popular will. We have wholly different views of right and wrong, of what is an internal affair and what is aggression. And above all, we have wholly different concepts of where the world is and where it is going.

"The one area which afforded some immediate prospect of accord was Laos. Both sides endorsed the concept of a neutral and independent Laos, much in the manner of Burma or Cambodia. Both sides recognized the importance of an effective ceasefire. It is urgent that this be translated into new attitudes at Geneva, enabling the International Control Commission to do its duty, to make certain that a cease-fire is enforced and maintained. I am hopeful that progress can be made on this matter in the coming days at Geneva.

"But our most somber talks were on the subject of Germany and Berlin. I made it clear to Mr. Khrushchev that the security of Western Europe and therefore our own security are deeply involved in our presence and our access rights to West Berlin, that those rights are based on law, not on sufferance; and that we are determined to maintain those rights at any risk and thus our obligation to the people of West Berlin and their right to choose their own future. We are not seeking to change the present situation. A binding German peace treaty is a matter for all who were at war with Germany, and we and our allies cannot abandon our obligation to the people of West Berlin.

"Generally, Mr. Khrushchev did not talk in terms of war. He believes the world will move his way without resort to force. Most of all, he predicted the triumph of Communism in the new and less-developed countries. He was certain that the tide there was moving his way, that the revolution of rising peoples would eventually be a Communist revolution, and that the so-called wars of liberation supported by the Kremlin would replace the old methods of direct aggression.

"This is the Communist theory. But I believe just as strongly that time will prove it wrong, that liberty and independence and self-determination, not Communism, is the future of man, and that free men have the will and the resources to win the struggle for freedom."

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