Dear
Winston: It is good to know that you have Anthony back with you. I hope both of you are feeling fit.1
As for the suggested talk, you have picked a week that is completely impossible for me. I leave Washington on the night of the fourteenth and have five public engagements between that time and the early morning of the twentieth, when I plan to be back here. So it is not only impossible for me to go to the Azores, but likewise I cannot be in Washington during the period you mention.2
While Foster had planned to be with me in Texas on the nineteenth when I meet the President of Mexico, it would be possible for him to break that engagement and, consequently, could be here for the week end of the seventeenth-eighteenth if you and Anthony could fit this into your program.3 If you could stay through the twentieth, I could personally participate in the discussions on that day, but not earlier.
So far as the French are concerned, it seems to me quite clear that, if we meet any place, an invitation to them would be inescapable. We believe that Laniel is doing a good job, and I think it would be best for both you and us to make the gesture of an invitation. If they accept, there would still be plenty of opportunity at such a meeting for bi-partisan talks between us, while if the French would find it impossible to attend, they would still be complimented by our thought of them.
All of these suggestions, of course, have no point in the event that my personal situation destroys whatever value you might see in the visit. Possibly you would want to send Anthony here by himself from the fifteenth to eighteenth because of this circumstance. Foster and his associates would welcome him.
I would appreciate hearing from you on this as soon as possible since if you can come, I would like to give the French as much advance notice as possible.4 With warm personal regard
