FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY, AUGUST 4, 1965

Vote Rights Bill

Near Approval

The voting rights bill, a landmark measure designed to build new safeguards around Negro voters in the South, today was only a single step from final congressional approval.

Senate action on the bill was expected Thursday, and the measure could be ready for President Johnson's signature by Friday.

Americus

Civil rights leaders made it clear today that they are ready to trade taunts and, if necessary, trouble with segregationist opposition.

"You better think twice or maybe three times," Judson Ford, an official of Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, shouted at white onlookers.

War Funds

President Johnson asked Congress today to vote an immediate additional $1.7 billion to fight the Viet Nam war, with still further funds anticipated early next year.

This story was originally published August 3, 2015 at 3:20 PM with the headline "FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY, AUGUST 4, 1965 ."