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LBJ Indicates No Change in Vietnam Policy

Feb. 4, 1965 - President Johnson declared today that his Administration was determined to continue its policy of “helping the people of South Vietnam preserve their freedom.”

Discussing the Vietnamese problem at his news conference, the President conveyed no indication of any change in policy, such as an expansion of the anti-Communist war, and no feeling of crisis brought on by deterioration in the political and military situation.

He declined to speculate on the implications of the visit of the Soviet Premier, Aleksei Kosygin, to North Vietnam. He also insisted that the current Saigon visit of McGeorge Bundy, his special assistant for national security affairs, was a routine consultation.

Johnson refused to consider any suggestion that the U.S. might be forced to withdraw from South Vietnam.

Repeatedly, Johnson said that the U.S. was in South Vietnam in response to a commitment made 10 years ago under President Eisenhower “to try to help the people of Vietnam help themselves to preserve their freedom.”

On a separate issue, the President deplored the infringement of voting rights in Alabama and pledged vigorous legal action. 

“I intend to see that the right to vote is secured for all of our citizens,” he declared. 

Johnson’s remarks were directed mainly to the situation in Selma, Ala., where hundreds of Negroes have been arrested in recent voter registration demonstrations. 

In promising to enforce voting rights, the President said he would use “the tools” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That law strengthened the voting provisions of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960. It specifically outlawed various discriminatory devices, set down rules for conducting literacy tests, and authorized Federal suits for injunctions against “a pattern or practice” of voting discrimination.



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