At a meeting of October 26, Harriman met with Xuan who suggested a bombing halt for October 30 and the four-party conference to begin on November 6 or 7. Harriman wanted the four-party talks to begin already two or three days after the bombing would have stopped, but Xuan wanted a longer interval to prove to the North Vietnamese people that it had indeed ended. Xuan said if the American stopped bombing tomorrow (October 27), the four-party talks could began on November 2, five days after the bombing ceased. Harriman objected, saying "No, it's six days, isn't it?". Xuan asked him "Did you count the second of November?", leading Harriman to say "Five days. Each day twenty-four hours. Thank you, this is very important". Harriman sent Johnson a telegram suggesting the Americans accept the North Vietnamese terms. In Washington, Johnson decided to accept Harriman's advice, but Thiệu refused to take part in the negotiations, ostensibly because he objected to the Viet Cong taking part, but in reality because he was hoping that Nixon would win the election.
