The President's News Conference

THE PRESIDENT. I have no special announcements to make this morning. I will do my best to answer questions.

[1.] Q. Sir, have you seen Senator Neely this morning?

THE PRESIDENT. Senator Neely stopped by on his way to the Senate this morning.

Q. May I ask a question, as to what his business was?

THE PRESIDENT. He just was talking to me about the general legislative situation.

Q. Not particularly about Russell Young?

THE PRESIDENT. No, no. He wasn't even mentioned.

[2.] Q. Mr. President, if Sam Rayburn worked out a compromise with the States on tidelands legislation, would you accept it?

THE PRESIDENT. I will answer that question when the bill comes before me.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, have you passed up that big meeting of ours out in Des Moines, Iowa?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I will have to pass it up, I am sorry to say.

Q. That's the Democratic Farm Leaders--

THE PRESIDENT. Yes.

Q.--that's the meeting--

[4.] Q. Mr. President, have you any comment on the action of the British court in releasing Gerhart Eisler?

THE PRESIDENT. No comment.

Q. Mr. President, we can't hear any of those questions--

THE PRESIDENT. He wanted to know if I had any comment on the release of Eisler. I said I had no comment.

[5.] Q. Mr. President, there was recently established a United States-Argentina Joint Commission on commercial studies, aimed at some possible trade improvement with Argentina. I wanted to ask if that had come to your personal attention, and whether you had any observations regarding it?

THE PRESIDENT. I was consulted about the appointment of the Commission. That is as far as it went.

Q. Is there some hope--

THE PRESIDENT. Well now, we can tell more about that when the Commission does its work. That's what the Commission was appointed for.

[6.] Q. Mr. President, there is a report in Manila that the President of the Philippines is coming here to discuss American policy in China. Have you heard anything about it?

THE PRESIDENT. No, I haven't.

[7.] Q. Mr. President, what happened to the thousand postmasters that you were going to send up to the Hill?

THE PRESIDENT. They have been going up regularly.

Q. A thousand one day.

THE PRESIDENT. I sent a thousand one day, and they have been going up in batches whenever they were ready.

Q. Two thousand the other day.

[8.] Q. Mr. President, is the job of Secretary of the Army still open to Curtis Calder?

THE PRESIDENT. I suppose so.

Q. Have you heard from him?

THE PRESIDENT. There has been no change in the situation.

[9.] Q. Mr. President, do you expect to have the appointment of an Ambassador to Belgium soon?

THE PRESIDENT. I will announce it when we are ready to make the appointment.

[10.] Q. Mr. President, would you favor an Export-Import Bank loan to Spain for purchase of American cotton?

THE PRESIDENT. I will not. I do not favor it.

[11.] Q. Mr. President, are you considering naming any woman as Ambassador to Denmark, or any other European country?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I have had several women under consideration for Ambassadors to several countries, but I am not ready to make an announcement yet.

[12.] Q. Mr. President, can you give us any more information about the agenda for the first session of Congress?

THE PRESIDENT. I didn't understand the question?

Q. I mean, is there anything being added to the "must" list of Congress for this session?

THE PRESIDENT. No. The "must" list was included in three very large messages which I sent to the Congress, one on the State of the Union, one on the budget, and one on economics; and that is the "must" list.

Q. That is the "must" list for the first session?

THE PRESIDENT. That is the "must" list for the Congress, so far as I am concerned.

Q. Mr. President, there seems to be no intention up there of complying. What will you do, if they quit without it?

THE PRESIDENT. Well now, you can't very well come to that conclusion, Miss May,¹ at all. [Laughter] You can't come to that conclusion, because you never can comment on the work of a session of Congress until it's over.

¹Mrs. May Craig of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald.

[13.] Q. Mr. President, do you intend to stay in Washington as long as Congress does?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes--and perhaps longer. [Laughter]

Q. I wasn't referring to another 4 years.

Q. No vacation, then, this summer?

THE PRESIDENT. I mean that literally, for this year. [Laughter]

Q. That's what I was referring to.

Q. Aren't you taking any vacation, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, I took a 3-day vacation the other day, and I may take some 3-day vacations like that; but I am going to stay here until my work is as nearly completed as it can possibly be.

Q. In other words, you have no vacation plans?

THE PRESIDENT. I have no vacation plans. But, if I do have any, I will give you all plenty of notice so that you can get your trunks packed.

Q. Mr. President, what happened to that train trip that you mentioned several months ago?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, that train trip was not in contemplation for immediate use. It is still on the shelf and can be revived if it is necessary.

Q. Might be used in August or September?

THE PRESIDENT. No, definitely not.

Q. Mr. President, is it possible that it might not be necessary?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes it is--very possible. It might not be necessary.

Q. How about next year? Might it be necessary then, Mr. President? [Laughter]

THE PRESIDENT. Well, now you are going quite a way into the future. I think you had better let next year take care of itself.

Reporter: Well, thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT. You're welcome,