Also known as the Kerner Commission to investigate the causing of uprisings in many cities that summer. He details the legislative efforts to address poverty and discrimination. President johnson my fellow americans, we have endured a week such as no nation should live through. A time of violence and tragedy. For a few minutes tonight, i want to talk about that tragedy and talk about the deeper questions it raises for us all. I am tonight appointing a special Advisory Commission on civil disorders. The governor of illinois has agreed to serve as chairman. Mayor john lindsay of new york will serve as the vice chairman. Six other members will include fred harris, senator from oklahoma, United States editor from massachusetts, the United States representative from california 22nd district los angeles, the u. S. Representative from the state of ohio fourth district, the president of the united steelworkers, charles b. Thornton, the director and chairman of the board of litman industries incorporated, the executive director of the naacp, the commissioner of commerce for the state of kentucky, Herbert Jenkins the chief of police in a atlanta, georgia. The origins of the recent disorders in our cities. They will make recommendations to me, the congress, the state governors, and to the mayors for measures to prevent or contain such disasters in the future. The Commission Members will have access to the fact gathered by director edgar hoover and the federal bureau of investigation. The fbi will continue to use its full authority to investigate these riots in accordance with my standing instructions and continue to search for evidence of conspiracy. But even before the commission begins its work and even before all of the evidence is in, there are some things that we can tell about the outbreaks of this summer. First, let there be no mistake about it the looting and arson and plunder and pillage, is not part of a civil rights protest. There is no american right to raid stores or burn buildings or fire rifles from rooftops. That is crime, and crime must be dealt with forcefully and swiftly, and certainly under law. Innocent people, negro and white, have been killed. Byage to property owned negroes and whites is calamitous. Worst of all, fear and bitterness will take long months to erase. The criminals who committed these acts of violence against the people deserve to be punished, and they must be punished. Explanations may be offered, but nothing can excuse what they have done. There will be attempts to interpret the events of the past few days, but when violence strikes, then those in public responsibility have an immediate and very different job, not to analyze, but to end disorder. That they must seek to do with every means at our command. Through local, through police and state officials, and in extraordinary circumstances where local authorities have stated that they cannot maintain order with their own resources, then through federal authority that we have limited authority to use. I have tonight directed the secretary of defense to issue new training standards for riot control procedures immediately to National Guard units across the country. Through Continental Army command, this expanded training will again began immediately. The National Guard must have the ability to respond effectively, and quickly, and appropriately in conditions of disorder and violence, and those charged with the responsibility of Law Enforcement should and must be respected by all of our people. The violence must be stopped quickly, finally, and permanently. It would compound the tragedy, however, if we settle for order that is imposed by the muzzle of a gun. In america, we see more than the uneasy calm of martial law. We seek peace thats based on one mans respect for another man and in Mutual Respect for law. We seek public order built on steady progress and meeting the needs of all of our people. And not even the sternish Police Action or the most effective federal troops can ever create lasting peace in our cities. The only genuine longerrange solution for what has happened lies in an attack mounted at every level upon the conditions breedreed despair and violence. All of us, i think, know what those conditions are ignorance, discrimination, slums, poverty, disease, not enough jobs. And we should attack these conditions not because we are fighting back conflict, but because we are fired by conscience. We should attack them because there is no other way to achieve a decent and Orderly Society in america. In the past 3. 5 years, we have directed the greatest governmental effort in all of our American History at these ancient enemies. The role call of those laws revealed the depth of our american concern. The model citizen, the voters right act, medicare and medicaid, the 24 educational bills. Job corps, neighborhood youth corps, teachers, Manpower Development and training and many, many more items too numerous to mention on television tonight. We will continue to press the laws which would protect our citizens from violence, like the safe streets and crime act. And the gun control act. And our work has just begun. Yet there are those who feel even this beginning is too much. There are those who would have us turn back ven now at the beginning of this journey. Last week a small but important plan or action in the cities was voted down in the house of representatives. The members of that body rejected my request for 20 million to fight the pestilence of rats. Rats which prowl in dark alleys and tenements and attack thousands of city children. The passage of this legislation wouldve meant much to the children of the slums. A strong a government that has spent millions to protect babys, could surely afford to show as much concern for baby boys and girls. There are some who feel we cannot afford a Model Cities Program and they reduced my request for funds this year by twothirds. There are some who feel we cannot afford additional good teachers for the children of poverty in urban areas. Our new efforts to house those that are most in need of housing or education to those who need to read and write. Theirs is a strange system of bookkeeping. I believe that we should be counting the assets that these measures can bring to america. Cities rich and opportunity. Cities more full of commerce. Cities of order, and progress, and happiness. Instead, some are counting the seeds of bitterness. This is not a time for angry reaction. But i think it is a time for action, starting with legislative action to improve the life in our cities. The strength and the promise of the law are the surest remedies for tragedy in the streets. But laws are only one answer. Another answer lies in the way that our people respond to these disturbances. There is a danger that the worst toll of this tragedy will be counted in the hearts of americans in hatred and so, let us acknowledge the tragedy but let us not exaggerate it. Lets look about tonight. Lets look at ourselves, and i think we will see these things. Most americans, negro and white, are leading decent, responsible, and productive lives. Most americans, negro and white, seek safety in their neighborhoods and harmony with their neighbors. Nothing can destroy goodwill more than a period of needless strife and suspicion between the races. Let us condemn the violent few, but let us remember that it is lawabiding negro families who have really suffered the most at the hands of the liars. It is responsible negro citizens who hope most fervently and need most urgently to share in americas growth and in americas prosperity. And this is no time to turn away from that goal. To reach it will require more than laws, and much more than dollars. It will take renewed dedication and better understanding in the heart of every citizen. I know there are millions of men and women tonight who are eager to heal the wounds that we have suffered. Who want to get on with the job of teaching and working and building america. And in that spirit, at the conclusion of this address, i will sign a proclamation tonight calling for a day of prayer in our nation throughout all of our states. On this sunday, july 30 and i urge the citizens in every town and every city and every home in this land, to go into their churches, to pray for order and reconciliation among men. And i appeal to every governor and every mayor and every preacher and every teacher and parent to join and give leadership in this national observance. This spirit of dedication cannot be limited to our public leaders. It just must extend to every citizen in this land, and the man who seeks to break the peace must feel the powerful disapproval of all of his neighbors. So tonight, i call upon every american to search his own heart. And to those who are tempted by violence i would say this think again. Who is really the loser when violence comes . Whose neighborhood is made a shambles . Whose life is threatened most . And if you choose to tear down what other hands have built, you will not succeed. You will suffer most from your own crimes. You will learn that there are no victors in the aftermath of violence. The apostles of violence with their ugly drumbeat of hatred must know that they are now heading for ruin and disaster. And every man who really wants progress or justice or equality, must stand against them and against their miserable virus of hate. Other americans, especially those in positions of public trust, i have this message yours is a duty to bring about a peaceful change in america. If your response to these tragic events it is only business as usual, you invite not only disaster, but dishonor. So my fellow citizens, let us go about our work. Let us clear the streets of rubble and let us quench the fires of hate. Let us read and care for those who have suffered. Let there be no bones or no reward or no salutes for those who have inflicted that suffering. Let us resolve that this violence is going to stop and there will be no bonus from it. We can stop it. We must stop it. We will stop it. And let us build something much more lasting. Faith between man and man. Faith between race and race. Faith in each other, and faith in the promise of a beautiful america. Let us pray for the day when mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Let us pray and let us work for better jobs, and better housing, and better education, that so many millions of our own fellow americans need so much tonight. Let us then act in the congress and in the city halls and in every community, so that this great land of ours may truly be one nation, under god, with liberty and justice for all. Good night, and thank you. 50 years ago the 1967 detroit riots began. This week on cspans the sidebar podcast, a look back at with a principal domestic aid to president johnson. You can find the sidebar and every cspan podcast on the free cspan radio app for apple and android, as well as google play music, stitcher, and apple announcer 50 years ago, on july 23, 1967, 5 days of rioting in detroit, michigan. A historian there to learn about the causes and events of the uprising which led to 43 deaths, 7000 arrests, and the deployment of 5000 federal troops to restore order. My name is jamon jordan. I am a historian and a tour leader. I do history tours throughout the city of detroit. On july 23,ened 1967 . A plainclothes