 July was bringing America a wave of urban riots never before seen. The desperate cry of the poor of all races was demanding the nation's attention. No thoughtful person could deny that the immediate need for improved housing, health, education, employment opportunity, and hope for the future must receive a fluent America's highest priority. The ghetto explosions gave new emphasis to administration efforts to expand its programs to meet those needs. The harsh reality was thrust on the Congress and the majority of the people of the extreme necessity to better the life of America's poor. No one believed that centuries-old inequities could be cured instantly. However, new and massive social rebuilding was becoming imperative. Of the 70 major riots to strike America during this troubled summer, the worst of the year and the nation's history would hit Michigan's largest city. Extremists and opportunists were perverting a just cause and protest. Violence and lawlessness became ends in themselves. On July 24th, for the first time in a quarter of a century, a state governor requested federal troops to put down a disorder beyond his control. Within hours, the president responded by sending 4,700 soldiers into the riot area. At midnight, as soldiers restored peace to the streets of America's fifth largest city, President Johnson addressed the nation. Law enforcement is a local matter. It is the responsibility of local officials and the governors of the respective states. The federal government should not intervene except in the most extraordinary circumstances. The fact of the matter, however, is that law and order have broken down in Detroit, Michigan. Pillage, looting, murder and arson have nothing to do with civil rights. They are criminal conduct. And the federal government in the circumstances here presented had no alternative but to respond. I know that with few exceptions, the people of Detroit and the people of Newark and the people of Harlem and of all of our American cities, however troubled they may be, deplore and condemn these criminal acts. I know that the vast majority of Negroes and whites are shocked and are outraged by them.