text: From late 1963 to early 1965 , Logevall claims , the Johnson administration faced a deliberate choice about whether it should raise or lower the stakes in Make it an all-out test of will , which it became , or look for an excuse to leave--perhaps with the claim that the regime in the South had become too ill-behaved to be worth further U.S. support or lives .
  
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  The administration did not know whether it could be changed .