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looking toward a settlement of the dispute.” Of course, I had always said I was in favor of the immediate stoppage of the strike and had always indicated that you can't negotiate comfortably and with good reason when there's a situation existing such as existed in General Motors at that time, or at any time when there is an open strike. That's the worst possible time for reasonable negotiations. So it was highly desirable that the episode should cease, that the negotiations should begin, and then a settlement could be arrived at by agreement. I said I was hopeful.

Well, Hillman went back and canvassed it with two or three people very, very quietly. He was as good as his word. He didn't spread the news that the proposal had been made from me, but he let it be understood that he thought that the government would be willing to take responsibility for this proposal. He was always mysterious in the way he dealt with his own people. One of his people told me that he said he believed that the government would hold itself responsible for making such a proposal if they were willing to accept it, but they certainly wouldn't do it if it wasn't tolerable to all concerned. He got them quite worked up. I had two or three telephone calls from different people to verify that Hillman had talked with me, saying that I necessarily