39. Editorial Note
On March 23, President Kennedy appeared on nationwide television to read a statement on Laos at the beginning of a news conference. Behind the President were three maps indicating the extent of Pathet Lao domination as of August 1960, December 1960, and March 1961. The President stated that the United States “strongly and unreservedly” supported “the goal of a neutral and independent Laos, tied to no outside power or group of powers, threatening no one, and free from any domination.” Such a goal was, Kennedy continued, frustrated by “armed attacks by externally supported Communists,” which if they did not cease, would force the United States and SEATO allies “to consider their response.” The President stated the United States favored “constructive negotiation” and supported the British call for a cease-fire and convocation of an international conference on Laos. For Kennedy’s statement and the full text of the news conference, which contained questions and answers relating to Laos, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961, pages 212–220. The text of the British aide-mémoire to the Soviet Union, March 23, 1961, proposing an immediate cease-fire, verification by the International Control Commission, and an international conference upon that verification, is in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1961, pages 994–995.