27-05-2013, 02:55 PM
Adele Edisen Wrote:[quote=Tracy Riddle][quote=Adele Edisen]Jan,
Did you know that he wanted to tell the American people in 1967 that he would not run for re-election in 1968? That's in Busby's book. He did not do it because Bobby Kennedy had not yet made up his mind to run, and Eugene McCarthy was not considered by him a strong candidate, so he waited until March 31, 1968 (the title of the book by Busby), which was two weeks after Bobby Kennedy said he was running for presidemt. It's important to understand this about LBJ. He was a strong Democratic Party man. Many of his decisions were not self-seeking ones. He wanted the best candidate possible. Yes, he disagreed with Bobby, about the Vietnam War, but he also knew that Bobby could end it. He knew he was the best possible one and so he had waited months before he stepped down, when Bobby was going to run.
Adele
Adele, have you read Lady Bird Johnson's White House Diaries? They reveal that LBJ really had no plans of running for reelection, as far back as 1965 (assuming these diary entries weren't revised years later). On March 7 1965, Lady Bird wrote, "I am counting the months until March 1968, when, like Truman, it will be possible to say, I don't want this office, this responsibility, any longer, even if you want me.'...In talking about the Vietnam situation, Lyndon summed it up quite simply, I can't get out. I can't finish it with what I have got. So what the hell can I do?'" (White House Diary p248)
4/16/1965 Lady Bird wrote, "Lyndon keeps talking more and more about retiring." (p260)