LBJ SHOCKS THE NATION WITH SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) In the evening of March 31, 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson shocked the nation in a televised speech in which he said...
"I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
The question is why did LBJ, who had defeated Barry Goldwater by a landslide in 1964, make this decision. One excellent source for the answer comes from James R. Jones, President Johnson's Chief of Staff in 1968.
Mr. Jones argues in an article for the New York Times (1988) that the "fear of losing...was not the reason..." He says the real reason was the unsuccessful and unpopular war in Vietnam.
James R. Jones wrote..."As our casualties grew, the abstract agony caused by the daily situation reports became a personal pain for the President when his own son-in-law, Charles Robb, a Marine captain, entered combat."
Health concerns were another major factor in LBJ's decision. He had a history of heart problems and his own father had died of a heart attack at age 64.
*James R. Jones was born in Muskogee, OK & graduated from the University of Oklahoma & Georgetown University Law Center. He served in the US Army Reserve. After serving LBJ as Chief of Staff, JRJ returned to his law practice. Today he is a parner in the Mynatt, Phelps & Phillips law firm.
JFK+50 NOTE
We watched the President's speech on the first color television my family ever owned. It was a 10 inch General Electric Porta-Color set. We had no cable in those days and could only pick up 3 stations over-the-air here in Knoxville. Two were VHF (Channels 6 & 10) and one UHF (Channel 26). As I recall, LBJ's speech was televised on all three channels, NBC-CBS-ABC.
SOURCES
"Behind LBJ's Decision Not to Run in 68," by James R. Jones. New York Times, April 16, 1988, www.nytimes.com/
"Johnson Says He Won't Run," by Tom Wicker, New York Times, April 1, 1968, www.nytimes.com/
LBJ at the Ranch
Photo by Frank Wolfe (1972)
www.lbjlibrary.org/
