Statement by the President on the Civil Rights Bill.

MY FIRST REACTION to the vote in the Senate last night is to extend my sincere appreciation to Senator Knowland and to those Senators who stood with him in valiant and persistent efforts to bring to all our citizens protection in their right to vote--a protection of which many are now deprived.

Rarely in our entire legislative history have so many extraneous issues been introduced into the debate in order to confuse both legislators and the public.

The result cannot fail to be bitterly disappointing to those many millions of Americans who realized that without the minimum protection that was projected in Section 4 of the bill as it passed the House of Representatives, many fellow Americans will continue, in effect, to be disenfranchised.

Finally, no American can fail to feel the utmost concern that an attempt should be made to interpose a jury trial between a Federal judge and his legal orders. During our history as a nation great Americans have pointed out that such a procedure would weaken our whole Judicial system and particularly the prestige of the Federal Judiciary. In this case it will also make largely ineffective the basic purpose of the bill--that of protecting promptly and effectively every American in his right to vote.