If you are wondering how an old politician from Mississippi gets himself caught in this situation, sandwiched between an introduction by Tom Farer and a major speech by Hardy Dillard, I am even more puzzled than you are.

I deeply appreciate the warmth of the introduction and have been trying to think of appropriate replies to all the kind things Tom has said. As to Tom’s reference to my modesty, I recall that when Winston Churchill was told that Clement Attlee was a modest man, his retort was: “What does he have to be modest about?”

Mr. Chairman, President Rogers, Professor McDougal, Judge Hack-worth, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen: When Steve Schwehel called me up over long distance I was peacefully having supper at the Promenade Hotel in The Hague. He asked me if I would quickly pinch-hit for Manfred Lachs, who had accepted but was laid low by illness. I accepted in a mood of exuberant indiscretion. I did not know then that my good friend, Myres McDougal, would steal most of the time theoretically allocated for what is called the major address of the evening. However, I forgive him because of his gracious allusion to Mrs. Dillard. This is the kind of thing we Southerners indulge in with the grace and respect for the amenities for which we are renowned.