Defense: More for Less

U.S. defenses are stronger than ever, getting better all the time—and costing a little less. That was the gist of the President's special defense message to Congress. Accounting for nearly half of the U.S. budget, the defense expenditures for the fiscal year 1965 ending this June will add up to about $49 billion, a drop of some $2 billion from last year. For next year Johnson promised a further cut of $300 million.

Triple Power. Johnson duly ticked off the impressive statistics of U.S. weaponry: more than 850 land-based ICBMs, more than 300 nuclear-armed Po'aris missiles borne by submarines, more...