President John F. Kennedy's 27th News Conference - March 14, 1962

THE PRESIDENT: I have a letter which we are releasing which is to Secretary Rusk, and I will read the most significant paragraph in regard to the opening of the disarmament conference and American policy there.
It says:
"My earnest hope is that no effort will be spared to define areas of agreement on all of the three important levels to which Prime Minister Macmillan and I referred in our joint letter of February 7 to Premier Khrushchev.
"Building upon the principles already agreed, I hope that you will quickly be able to report agreement on an outline defining the over-all shape of a program for general and complete disarmament in a peaceful world. I have submitted such an outline on behalf of the United States to the United Nations General Assembly last September, but an outline is not enough. You should seek as well, as areas of agreement emerge, a definition in specific terms The President's News Conference of measures set forth in the outline. The objective should be to define in treaty terms the widest area of agreement that can be implemented at the earliest possible moment while still continuing your maximum efforts to achieve agreement on those other aspects which present more difficulty. As a third specific objective you should seek to isolate and identify initial measures of disarmament which could, if put into effect without delay, materially improve international security and the prospects for further disarmament progress. In this category you should seek as a matter of highest priority agreement on a safeguarded nuclear test ban. At this juncture in history, no single measure in the field of disarmament would be more productive of concrete benefit in the alleviation of tensions and the enhancement of prospects for greater progress.
"Please convey on my behalf and on behalf of the people of the United States to the representatives of the nations assembled our deep and abiding support of the deliberations on which you are about to embark. I pledge anew my personal and continuing interest in this work."