Mar. 30, 1963 - In Raleigh, N.C. tonight, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson urged Southern Democrats not to be “softheaded” enough to let Republicans split them apart in the 1964 election. Mr. Johnson did not mention the civil rights issue in a speech at a party dinner. Nor did he take any notice of the effort of Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett to lead a party revolt aimed at denying Southern electoral votes to President Kennedy next year. Instead, the Vice President said he expects the GOP to try to pit Democrats against each other. “At least some GOP leaders hope we Democrats will be sufficiently soft-headed to succumb to a strategy as old as the Roman Empire — divide and conquer,” he said. Some Republicans have been counseling a major drive in the South in 1964, contending that Mr. Kennedy can be defeated for re-election if they can link strength there with that in the Midwest and Far West.
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