The law cannot save those who deny it but neither can the law serve any who do not use it. The history of injustice and inequality is a history of disuse of the law. Law has not failed--and is not failing. We as a nation have failed ourselves by not trusting the law and by not using the law to gain sooner the ends of justice which law alone serves.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, Memorial Day remarks in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1963

We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, speech at Akron University, October 21, 1964

Democrats legislate; Republicans investigate.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, quoted in Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, statement upon signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Thirty years ago, the American people made a basic decision that the later years of life should not be years of despondency and drift. The result was enactment of our Social Security program.... Since World War II, there has been increasing awareness of the fact that the full value of Social Security would not be realized unless provision were made to deal with the problem of costs of illnesses among our older citizens.... Compassion and reason dictate that this logical extension of our proven Social Security system will supply the prudent, feasible, and dignified way to free the aged from the fear of financial hardship in the event of illness.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, speech, January 7, 1965

We do this [escalating U.S. military involvement in Vietnam] in order to slow down aggression. We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely born this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam--and all who seek to share their conquest--of a simple fact: We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, speech explaining his decision to send U.S. combat troops to Vietnam, April 7, 1965

Peace does not come just because we wish for it. Peace must be fought for. It must be built stone by stone.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, remarks on Memorial Day, 1966