Remarks at the Opening Session of the Guam Conference.

I SHALL make my opening remarks very short. We are old friends and comrades-in-arms. We do not need to elaborate on preliminaries before getting down to work.

Our two Governments have developed methods of regular consultation that have served us well in the critical days in which we've been associated. I am confident this will continue.

Today I am introducing to you our new Ambassador, Ellsworth Bunker, and his deputy, Eugene Locke. He has served our country--and the cause of freedom--on three continents. It is typical of him that he is ready to serve in this struggle as well. His distinguished talents give us full confidence for the future.

Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge has represented the United States in Saigon with great dedication and ability. One measure of our appreciation for his splendid service is the caliber of the man we have chosen as his successor.

We meet at an auspicious time. The task of drafting a Constitution for South Vietnam, I am informed, has been completed.

The drafters were elected by people in every section of the country--except where they were prevented from voting by pressures of the Vietcong. I know you regret, as I do, that the Vietcong succeeded in preventing anyone from voting. We believe that a system which stands in the way of democratic process in this fashion cannot survive very long among the people--even when it uses terror and assassination to achieve its ends.

Now your great task is to conduct a national election for a new government. The success of that election is as important as any of the military operations we shall conduct in the months ahead.

There are many signs that we are at a favorable turning point. Your fighting men, aided by your allies, now hold the initiative and are striking heavy blows against the strongholds and refuges of the Vietcong and their North Vietnamese masters. And in the villages the medicine of the revolutionary development program is already beginning to take effect. The Vietcong are turning sharply against that program's administration. I think that is very solid tribute to its effectiveness.

There are many other things I could cite that give us encouragement. But Vietnam is still a land of war and suffering, where the danger of inflation and epidemics and political conflict lie just beneath the surface. So let us turn today to see again what we can do to make our joint efforts even more effective.