As I have often mused while waxing nostalgic, the more things change the more they stay the same. As a child, I remember asking certain of my elders what they thought of what we were seeing on the evening news only to be dismissed by categorical proclamations that the World and the nation were “Going to Hell in a hand-basket!” I now find myself in the waning years of middle age watching the evening news often in stunned amazement as top level national leadership mismanages the nation’s affairs both foreign and domestic with a seemingly consistent level of unresponsiveness to the needs of the governed and national security. Although much has changed in America since the waxing years of my childhood, the crisis of leadership seems to remain a common theme. The way it was dealt with in my youth was “country first.” It was fifty years ago this very weekend that then President Lyndon B. Johnson, despite signing landmark legislation during his tenure such as Medicare, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, publicly announced during a televised Presidential Address that he would not seek reelection.
The escalating conflict in Vietnam and an overall lack of a coherent end game strategy undermined his administration to the point that loss of confidence by enough of his base placed his reelection in doubt. I have heard criticisms and analyses that run the gamut from LBJ’s fear of a humiliating loss in the November General Election to the full benefit of the doubt that he took the high road in putting the welfare of the nation before ego. Probably the best review of this slice of 20th Century American history was penned a decade ago by former Oklahoma Congressman James R. Jones, himself a former Johnson White House staff member.
Why LBJ Bowed Out by James R. Jones
Video: March 31st, 1968 televised Presidential Address
Text of March 31st, 1968 Presidential Address
Video: President Johnson’s remarks on decision to not seek reelection
The nation’s leadership of fifty years ago stands in stark contrast to that of the present. As dangerous as the World of 1968 may have been and as tenuous as internal conflicts made domestic peace and tranquility, the federal government regardless of the ideology of those in charge was not administered via chaos by design. At the end of the day the mechanisms of all government institutions worked and nothing was certain. I shudder to think where we may be headed when our Head of State is so enamored with dictatorships. Indeed, there are nations whose leaders have a vested interest in American disunity where no democratic mechanisms of government work and everything is certain. As a constitutional crisis looms on the horizon let us not forget what the American nation has survived intact. It takes a competent leader to realize and accept that they have done all they can do for their country.
<<“With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office–the Presidency of your country.
Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.
But let men everywhere know, however, that a strong, a confident, and a vigilant America stands ready tonight to seek an honorable peace–and stands ready tonight to defend an honored cause–whatever the price, whatever the burden, whatever the sacrifice that duty may require.
Thank you for listening. Good night and God bless all of you.”>>