Hello and welcome to WhistleStop, a podcast of the presidency. I'm John Dickerson of CBS this morning.

It is true that a house divided against itself by the spirit of faction, a party, of region, of religion, of race,

is a house that cannot stand.

There is division in the American house now.

There is divisiveness among us all tonight and holding the trust that is mine.

As president of all the people. I cannot disregard the peril to the progress of the American

people and the hope and the prospects of peace for all peoples.

So I would ask all Americans whatever their personal interests are concerned

to guard against divisiveness and all of its ugly consequences.

We're back in 1968 again. That voice you just heard was from the 36th President,

Lyndon Johnson, during a prime time address to the nation

on March 31st, 1968. The television networks postpone their regular coverage to show

the furrowed-faced president for more than 40 minutes as he talked

about the war that had put those grooves in his face, grooves deep enough to

store the change in your pocket at the end of the day.

The sentiment about division from the President's speech is familiar to Whistlestop

listeners, both those who recognize the talk of division from American politics today, and also those who know about

that awful year of 1968 when the country was divided in a way that we don't really experience

it today, young versus old, black versus white, rural versus

city, long-haired hippies versus the straight crew cut squares.

It was a dirty bad awful no good year with riots protests and uncertainty everywhere.

Johnson called it a year of continuous nightmare.

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