Despite his efforts to assure the nation that Sputnik did not represent Soviet technical superiority, which was, in fact, the case, the public was unpersuaded.
" There are people who I think have been kind of unpersuaded and unsympathetic and unconvinced from the outset and have brought bias to the discussion, " she said.
Mr Tolley was unpersuaded by allegations from officials that he made threatening physical gestures, whether banging the table loudly or putting his hand out towards someone's face to stop them talking.
The person who is left with questions that the persuader fails to answer or objections that he fails to meet, is likely to be one who, for good reasons, remains unpersuaded.