LBJ Meets with MLK

Feb. 9, 1965 - President Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King discussed today broad new guarantees sought by Dr. King to secure the right to vote for Negroes.

Dr. King’s proposal included a provision for enforcement of the legislation by Federal registrars appointed by and responsible to the President.

The President told him, Dr. King said, that the Justice Department was working on voting-rights legislation and that he would send a message to Congress about it “very soon.”

The White House disclosed last Saturday that the President would make “a strong recommendation” on the subject to this session of Congress. 

Dr. King flew to Washington from Alabama, where he is leading a Negro voter registration drive, to discuss the situation with Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, and Attorney General-designate Nicholas Katzenbach.

Dr. King said he would return to Selma, where about 3,400 Negroes have been arrested during a registration drive, to plan future strategy. He said he would continue the Alabama drive and might now concentrate on Lowndes County, where he said no Negroes were registered.

After meeting with Johnson, Dr. King said: “The President made it very clear to me that he was determined during his Administration to see all remaining obstacles removed to the right of Negroes to vote.”

He described the meetings with the President and other officials as “very successful” and praised Johnson’s “deep commitment to obtaining the right to vote for all Americans.”

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