We have taken the first steps down the pathway to disarmament. Last year saw the test ban treaty, the direct communications link, and the U.N. resolution against nuclear weapons in space. This year both the Soviet Union and the United States have announced reductions in the production of fissionable material for nuclear weapons.
Each of these steps points in the direction of effective control of arms. Each moves us a small way down this long and difficult road.
We must not hesitate now that the journey has been begun. We must redouble our efforts until it is completed.
Note: The statement was part of a White House release announcing that the President had on the same day instructed William C. Foster, Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and head of the U.S. delegation to the Geneva disarmament conference, to make every effort at the conference to find safeguarded alternatives to the arms race. The United States had long believed, the release stated, that inspection or other procedures for verification are necessary if significant arms control and disarmament measures are to be taken. The President reemphasized, the release further stated, his determination to pursue safeguarded agreements which would permit such action.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Geneva Disarmament Conference Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239451