State of the Union AddressesJohnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines)
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State of the Union Addresses
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
I will ask for more vigorous enforcement of all of our drug laws by
increasing the number of Federal drug and narcotics control officials by
more than 30 percent. The time has come to stop the sale of slavery to the
young. I also request you to give us funds to add immediately 100 assistant
United States attorneys throughout the land to help prosecute our criminal
laws. We have increased our judiciary by 40 percent and we have increased
our prosecutors by 16 percent. The dockets are full of cases because we
don't have assistant district attorneys to go before the Federal judge and
handle them. We start these young lawyers at $8,200 a year. And the docket
is clogged because we don't have authority to hire more of them.
I ask the Congress for authority to hire 100 more. These young men will
give special attention to this drug abuse, too.
Finally, I ask you to add 100 FBI agents to strengthen law enforcement in
the Nation and to protect the individual rights of every citizen.
A moment ago I spoke of despair and frustrated hopes in the cities where
the fires of disorder burned last summer. We can--and in time we
will--change that despair into confidence, and change those frustrations
into achievements. But violence will never bring progress.
We can make progress only by attacking the causes of violence and only
where there is civil order founded on justice.
Today we are helping local officials improve their capacity to deal
promptly with disorders.
Those who preach disorder and those who preach violence must know that
local authorities are able to resist them swiftly, to resist them sternly,
and to resist them decisively.
I shall recommend other actions:
--To raise the farmers' income by establishing a security commodity reserve
that will protect the market from price-depressing stocks and protect the
consumer from food scarcity.
--I shall recommend programs to help farmers bargain more effectively for
fair prices.
--I shall recommend programs for new air safety measures.
--Measures to stem the rising costs of medical care.
--Legislation to encourage our returning veterans to devote themselves to
careers in community service such as teaching, and being firemen, and
joining our police force, and our law enforcement officials.
--I shall recommend programs to strengthen and finance our anti-pollution
efforts.
--Fully funding all of the $2.18 billion poverty program that you in the
Congress had just authorized in order to bring opportunity to those who
have been left far behind.
--I shall recommend an Educational Opportunity Act to speed up our drive to
break down the financial barriers that are separating our young people from
college.
I shall also urge the Congress to act on several other vital pending
bills--especially the civil rights measures--fair jury trials, protection
of Federal rights, enforcement of equal employment opportunity, and fair
housing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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