Epilog: “I Shall Not Seek…”

Nixon at War

PRX

History

4.8 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2017

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lyndon Johnson's March '68 announcement, that he would not seek re-election, stunned the nation and the world, and marked the effective end of a political career that had once seemed bound for Rushmore-level greatness. This special, long-form edition of LBJ's War traces the arc, and looks at the causes, of that tragic fall from grace. For those who have listened to all six prior episodes, a few moments will be familiar, but most will not: 90%-plus previously unheard material.

Transcript

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0:00.0	An assassin's bullet has thrust upon me the awesome burden of the presidency.
0:08.0	After the murder of President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson showed his metal.
0:14.0	He restored confidence. He helped ease the national pain.
0:17.0	I'd have to have y'all's help. I never needed more than I do now. He was magnificent in that hour of tragedy, which showed the extraordinary quality of this
0:25.6	man.
0:26.6	And so I think the disappointment was all the more acute.
0:29.6	It was the greatest political tragedy of my lifetime.
0:33.6	Johnson might very well have gone down in history as the most effective president since Franklin Roosevelt.
0:39.6	It's a very slippery slope for I, Mr. President.
0:41.9	It simply underscores my own personal regret about what happened to him in Vietnam.
0:48.1	I'm David Brown, and this is LBJ's War from PRI, Public Radio International.
0:54.3	Stay with us.
0:59.0	My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak to you of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
1:06.3	The television address that Lyndon Johnson delivered on March 31, 1968, began with no hint of the
1:13.2	bombshell he would drop at the end. Not even his closest advisors saw it coming. I was in a Chinese
1:18.8	restaurant down on 13th Street, the Peking. George Reedy was LBJ's longtime press secretary.
1:26.4	The owner set up a television set,
1:28.3	halfway through his speech,
1:30.3	I said to Lillian, my God,
1:32.3	he's going to pull out.
1:38.3	Accordingly, I shall not seek,
1:41.3	and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.
	...

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