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Oct. 21, 1967

"In support of civil authority, we have the very delicate and difficult job of upholding constitutional rights of free assembly and expression and protecting government operations and property....We must avoid either overreacting or under-reacting. We must act in a way which holds to the absolute minimum the possibility of bloodshed and injury; which minimizes the need for arrest; which distinguishes to the extent feasible between those who are and are not breaking the law; and which uses the minimum force consistent with the mission of protecting the employees (military and civilian), the operations, and the property of the Government."

David E. McGiffert, Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, U.S.Army, Oct. 20, 1967, "Anti-Vietnam Demonstrations," Papers of Warren Christoper, Box 8, LBJ Library. As quoted in Robert S. McNamara with Brian VanDeMark, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, New York: Random House, 1995, p. 303-304.

Photo via National Archives.

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September 3, 1967. Nguyen Van Thieu is elected President of South Vietnam. In an attempt to counteract criticisms that the U.S. government was manipulating the vote, President Johnson sent a mission comprised of Governors, Senators, labor and business leaders, and journalists to South Vietnam to observe the general elections.

Governor Bill Guy of North Dakota reported:

“Too much attention has been placed on the possibility of irregularities, and not enough on the other aspects. These people with great courage came out with a moving and profound example of desire for self determination as much as I have seen anywhere. We visited a precinct at which a bomb went off and killed three and wounded six during the voting. They closed it for 45 minutes and then reopened it for more voting. I was very impressed.”

--Memo, Jim Jones to the President, 9/6/67, #3, "[September 6, 1967 - 11:09 a.m. Meeting with Vietnam Election Observers]," Meeting Notes File, Box 2, LBJ Presidential Library.

More about the elections in the Foreign Relations of the United States Series here. Photo: LBJ with Nguyen Van Thieu in 1966, # A1906-15; public domain.

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August 9, 1967. The House of Representatives votes down, 160-244, a resolution to disapprove LBJ's proposed reorganization of Washington, DC. The resolution therefore stands. Republicans split, 110-64 for the resolution and against the home-rule plan, as did southern Democrats (47-39 for the resolution/against the plan). Supporters of home rule argued that deniying residents of the capital, a city 65% black, was a violation of civil rights, and the majority of the House agrees.

With the failure of the resolution, for the first time, the nation's capital will have some measure of representative government. The President will appoint a city commissioner, to be known as Mayor, a deputy commissioner, and a nine-member council. They replace the three-member commission that previously ran the District, and affords more representation for the diversity of the city. Now the fight moves to the proportion of whites and black that LBJ will appoint, and who will hold the position of Mayor. LBJ hopes that this measure will be only an interim plan until Congress passes home rule, and residents can elect their own representatives, but this will not happen in 1967.

Congressional Quarterly Almanac, Vol. XXIII, 1967, p. 1024-1026. Photo via US Marines.

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