Letter to the President of the Senate Proposing Legislation To Eliminate Barriers to the Right To Vote.

Dear Mr. President:

When I addressed the joint session of Congress on Monday night, I said: "Many of the issues of civil rights are complex and difficult. But about this there can be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty to ensure that right."

I now submit to you the legislation I discussed on Monday night. This legislation will help rid the nation of racial discrimination in every aspect of the electoral process and thereby ensure the right of all to vote.

This bill is the product of many minds and much work in the Executive Branch and of both parties in the Congress. It has been carefully drafted to meet its objective-the end of discrimination in voting in America. I urge the Congress to turn its attention immediately to this legislation and to enact it promptly.

Sincerely,

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

[Honorable Hubert H. Humphrey, President of the Senate, Washington, D.C.]