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“By this time Max was as red as a beet and I said to him, 'Now you may think you're an atheist. You may think you don't have any religion, but I tell you, Max, when you come to die, do you know what you're going to think of? You're going to be thinking about what your father and mother taught you. That's what you'll think of when you're dying.’”

He said, “Max blustered and puffed and said all kinds of things, laughed and was very embarrassed, but I had him. I was sure from the expression of his face and his actions that he knew what I meant and that he knew I was right. Then I went on to say to him, ‘In American nobody can understand this idea that people shouldn't have access to religion - any kind they want. That's all I ask, Max - to have Russia recognize freedom of religion.’”

At any rate, that became one of the principal points in the adjustment. I think I remember that the President told me that at some point along the line he had been in contact with one or two leading religious leaders in this country - probably the Chicago Cardinal, Samuel Stritch - he is such an intelligent man - and certainly the President was in touch with one or two of the Protestant leaders. All this was done very quietly, but he had been in touch with them more or less to see if there would be any approval