--A President, a Vice President, a House and Senate, and village officials have been chosen by popular, contested ballot.
--The enemy has been defeated in battle after battle.
--The number of South Vietnamese living in areas under Government protection tonight has grown by more than a million since January of last year.
These are all marks of progress. Yet:
--The enemy continues to pour men and material across frontiers and into battle, despite his continuous heavy losses.
--He continues to hope that America's will to persevere can be broken. Well--he is wrong. America will persevere. Our patience and our perseverance will match our power. Aggression will never prevail.
But our goal is peace--and peace at the earliest possible moment.
Right now we are exploring the meaning of Hanoi's recent statement. There is no mystery about the questions which must be answered before the bombing is stopped.
We believe that any talks should follow the San Antonio formula that I stated last September, which said:
--The bombing would stop immediately if talks would take place promptly and with reasonable hopes that they would be productive.