NEWS CONFERENCE 961

A. I think what I said — I was asked whether I thought that Senator
McCarthy was right in indicating that he didn't feel Czechoslovakia
was a very serious matter and I said I did feel it was. I think cer-
tainly that in spite of the fact that Czechoslovakia is a member of
the Warsaw Pact and not a member of NATO, and in spue of the
fact that we have no treaty obligations to Czechoslovakia, there are
still people in that country who would like to have the right of self-
determination, and when those rights are taken away it concerns all
of us and gravely concerns all of us. On the other hand to say that
we should take some unilateral step without the consultation of
NATO and without very serious consideration of the overall nuclear
implications of taking any aggressive action at this moment, par-
ticularly in view of the fact that we are now discussing a reduction
of nuclear tension with the Soviet Union — I think that would be a
mistake. We've got to continue to watch the situation. I only hope
that Mr. Svoboda's trip to Russia will prove fruitful and that we can
have this matter cured without the necessity for any further action
being taken outside of the Soviet sphere.

(Staff Employees on Leave for Campaign)

Q. Governor, the State employees who are being taken off the pay-
roll for the campaign. Do they continue to work in their State
offices?

A. No, they will not. They were taken off the State payroll im-
mediately but they have, at my direction, certainly made themselves
available while they are here so that there can be an orderly transi-
tion of their duties. There may have been some overlap in the calls
they receive because sometimes it's very difficult to separate the po-
litical from the State calls. They will not do any State work whatso-
ever nor will they use those offices. And as a matter of fact, so that
we can separate the political from the nonpolitical, as far as my
personal secretary is concerned, which is a nearly impossible task to
do totally, we have installed political telephones and that sort of
thing here. But there will be a political headquarters open and we
are taking every step that we can think of to be sure that there is no
use of State facilities for political reasons.

(Staff Fill-ins)

Q. Governor, are you going to appoint temporary fill-ins for the
staff people who will be leaving their duties, especially Mr. Sohmer
who doesn't have a back-up?