The 20th of September 1967 marked the second anniversary of the passing of the “Selden Resolution” (. Res. 560, 89th Congress, 1st Session). By a vote of 312-52, the House of Representatives (under suspension of rules) resolved that, in effect, the United States could intervene militarily anywhere in Latin America against the threat of “international communism” Submitted by Armistead Selden (D.-Ala.), Chairman of the Inter-American Affairs subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the resolution was interpreted as endorsement of President Johnson’s unilateral intervention to prevent “another Cuba” in the Dominican Republic, April 1965, and as support for similar operations in the future. Although the resolution was not legally binding, it alarmed parliamentarians and diplomats throughout the world, especially those in Latin America.
On the following four pages are the text of the resolution, a set of excerpts representing the main arguments during the lengthy debate (covering 16 pages in the Congressional Record) and a tabulation of the vote (Source: Conressional Record, 20 September 1965, pp. 23458-23474).
