It is really a great privilege and honor for me to have the opportunity of joining in this obviously very successful conference.

This is not a moment for despair or for fatalism.

I remain committed to a Navy second to none in readiness, capability, and dedication to our Nation's highest ideals.

It is essential to our national security, and it is more essential today than it was in January.

I still think there is an opportunity to salvage the situation in Vietnam.

What is essential now is that we keep our nerve and our essential unity as a powerful but peace-loving Nation.

First, we are taking all the humanitarian measures we can to relieve the innocent civilian refugees.

I believe that the program of the previous four or five Presidents was aimed in the right direction.

I will reject any advice to pull down the Stars and Stripes and sail home from the seas of the world.

Any strategy to reap full production from our agricultural enterprises must include planning for the safety of those who live and work on our farms and ranches.

I urge all who live and work on the Nation's farms and ranches to plan for accident prevention and to implement their plans with intelligence and resolve.

There is hereby established the Collective Bargaining Committee in Construction.

The Committee shall promote more effective machinery for the resolution of disputes over the terms of collective bargaining agreements.

The Committee shall facilitate the collective bargaining process at local and area levels.

I have therefore decided to sign this bill so that its economic benefits can begin to work.

I believe my veto would eventually be sustained.

I call upon all nations and corporations that have ships in the vicinity of the South Vietnamese coast to help evacuate refugees to safety in the south.

I have directed that U.S. Government resources be made available to meet immediate humanitarian needs.