‘MUST BE STOPPED’

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30498, 21 July 1964, Page 5

‘MUST BE STOPPED’

Racial Hate Groups

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter— Copyright) JOHNSON CITY (Texas), July 20.

President Johnson declared that “clandestine hate organisations” were depriving Negroes of their rights.

The President told an openair news conference at his ranch that these organisations used violence, terror and savagery to enforce their beliefs.

“The Federal Government will always promptly assist local authorities to maintain order as long as the lives and security of our fellow citizens are in danger,” he said.

His comments apparently stemmed from the statement by Senator Barry Goldwater in his acceptance speech as Republican presidential candidate on Friday that “extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice.” “I condemn, as do most Americans, the use of violence and terror by clandestine hate organisations. “Savagery of this or any other kind is completely alien to the entire moral and nolitical tradition of the United States. The effort to force, bully and intimidate American citizens, to prevent them from claiming their rights under the constitution, must be stopped.” Asked about Senator Goldwater’s suggestion that the Federal Government should wage war on crime in the cities, Mr Johnson replied. "This would do more than anything else to concentrate power in Washington.” Senator Goldwater has repeatedly attacked the alleged centralisation of oower. Asked if he had in mind the anti-Negro Ku Klux Klan and the Right-wing John Birch Society. .Mr Johnson said he was referring to all hate organisations “by whatever name they prowl and spread their venom.” Asked to comment on the senator’s assertion that he was a “faker.” he said the Democrats would not conduct a mud-slinging campaign. He said he had offered to provide Senator Goldwater with secret intelligence briefings. The senator turned down a previous offer several months ago. Questioned about civil rights, the President said he

would urge Negroes to tread "the path of peaceful petition and legal recourse, of free speech and free election.” Mr Johnson made an indirect reference to assertions by some analysts that a Goldwater victory would increase the risk of war. "No single statement or act of mine will be in the direction of provoking war,” he said.