 The following is a pre-recorded paid political broadcast sponsored by the Democratic National Committee on behalf of President Johnson's candidacy for the office of President. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. My fellow Americans, I want to talk to you about the military strength of our country. I do this because the choice that you make in this election may well be the most important choice that's ever made by American voters. The issue is not American strength. The issue is whether we will use this strength carefully, responsibly, and in the interests of peace. In the past four years, the United States has spent more than $200 billion on national defense. The result has been the greatest peacetime build-up of national strength of any nation in either peace or war. Today we have more than 1,000 atomic missiles ready for instant reply. This is 150 percent more than we had four years ago. It is far more than the communists have produced, and the number that we have is increasing. We have more than 1,100 strategic bombers. Each bomber carries more destructive power than all the guns of all the armies of World War II. Our enemy knows attack would bring his own destruction. This is our greatest insurance of peace. But in a world of many dangers, strength may take many forms. We must be ready to move to any part of the world swiftly to meet any kind of attack on freedom, on land, on sea, or in the air. We have raised the number of combat-ready divisions by 45 percent, and aircraft to support them by over 30 percent. They can be moved swiftly to dangerous spots by an airlift capacity which has gone up 75 percent. In Europe alone, we have nuclear firepower equivalent to the destruction of the 50 largest cities in America. Our armed forces are made up of the finest and the most dedicated men in America, ready to make any sacrifice for freedom. I speak as President of the United States, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and report that your country is stronger than ever, stronger than any possible enemy, stronger than the combined might of all the nations in all the wars in all the history of this planet. And I pledge to you that our superior RIT will continue to grow. This strength has a single purpose, the steadfast purpose of the United States for over 20 years. That purpose is peace in the world. Every American president has pursued that purpose. We must continue to follow that course. This great power does not belong with those who would use it recklessly. This great power does not belong with those who would use it to bully and to bluff other nations. This great power does not belong with those who will not work toward the lasting agreements which are the only sure foundation of peace. Your country will remain the strongest on earth. Your choice is whether we will continue to use that strength with the wisdom and the skill and the restraint which alone can protect freedom while moving us toward a world that's free from the fear of war. Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard a message from the President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson.