Nation: The Central Points

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doubt that Johnson leaned into Wallace with no mincing of words, telling him, in effect, that the U.S. Government would brook no further interference with the constitutional rights of any of its citizens. The Negro, said Lyndon flatly, was obviously going to win his right to participate in his own Government. Consider history's verdict, added the President. "You ought to be thinking of where you will stand in 1995, not 1965."

Afterwards, Wallace emerged from the White House looking considerably sobered and shorn of his accustomed cockiness. The President went straight to a previously scheduled press conference in the Flower Garden. Never in his 16 months in office was he more in command of the situation.

This week's first order of business, said the President, would be a proposal to Congress for legislation that would guarantee every citizen's franchise. The Administration's bill provides simple machinery for appointment of federal registrars to handle registration for local, state and federal elections in cases where literacy tests have been deliberately rigged to keep Negroes from voting. (Such tests are in notorious use in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.) All bars to voting would be abolished, except those dealing with age, residence, past conviction of a felony and evidence of mental instability. Similarly, literacy tests would be dropped; the applicant would merely be required to be able to read a simple voting application and to fill it in.

"It Is Wrong." Continued the President: "It is wrong to do violence to peaceful citizens in the streets of their town. It is wrong to deny Americans the right to vote. It is wrong to deny any person full equality because of the color of his skin. The promise of America is a simple promise: Every person shall share in the blessings of this land, and they shall share on the basis of their merits as a person. They shall not be judged by their color or by their beliefs, or by their religion, or by where they were born or the neighborhood in which they live.

"Those who do injustice are as surely the victims of their own acts as the people that they wrong. They scar their own lives and they scar the communities in which they live. If we put aside disorder and violence, if we put aside hatred and lawlessness, we can provide for all our people great opportunity almost beyond our imagination."

Then Johnson spoke of his conversation with Wallace. "I advised the Governor of my intention to press with all the vigor at my command to assure that every citizen of this country is given the right to participate in his Government at every level through the complete voting process. We are a nation that is governed by laws, and our procedure for enacting and amending and repealing these laws must prevail. I told the Governor that we believe in maintaining law and order in every county and in every precinct in this land. If state and local authorities are unable to function, the Federal Government will completely meet its responsibilities.

"I told the Governor that the brutality in Selma last Sunday just must not be repeated. I urged that the Governor publicly declare his support for universal suffrage in the state of Alabama and the United States of America."

Even as the President spoke, the hearing before Judge Johnson continued with further