[VIDEO] Apr. 7, 1965 | LBJ Speech at Johns Hopkins University

Apr. 7, 1965 - President Johnson said tonight that the United States was ready to begin, without prior conditions, diplomatic discussions to end the war in Vietnam.

In a speech at Johns Hopkins University that was carried on television and radio, Johnson also said he would ask Congress to approve a $1 billion American investment in a vast Southeast Asian regional development program that eventually could include North Vietnam.

The President made it clear that while he would begin “unconditional discussions” for peace, any settlement in Vietnam demanded “an independent South Vietnam — securely guaranteed and able to shape its own relationship to all others.”

He said, however, that South Vietnam could be a neutral state, “tied to no alliance, a military base for no country.”

The speech, which came two months after the start of intensive American air strikes against North Vietnam, was the first statement of willingness by the U.S. to enter negotiations on Vietnam without prior conditions. To this point, the Administration has said that negotiations could begin only after some “signal” from North Vietnam that it was willing to end aggression against its southern neighbor.

Government officials indicated that they had no indication that either Hanoi or Peking would accept an invitation to unconditional talks.

In related news, the Chinese Communists were reported tonight to have ceased putting obstacles in the way of Soviet arm shipments to North Vietnam.

Sources quoted high-ranking Soviet officials to the effect that negotiations with the Chinese on the transit of Soviet arms through China had been concluded satisfactorily and that weapons and missiles were flowing smoothly to the North Vietnamese.

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