Existing comment:
President Lyndon Johnson, 1908-1973
Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007
By March of 1968, Americans were seriously questioning the wisdom of further escalation in the Vietnam War. Seemingly, every week military casualties were reported to be in the hundreds, and protest marches had become common occurrences in cities and on college campuses. In a now historic address, on March 31, 1968, President Johnson shocked the nation with news that his administration would pursue a negotiated peace with the North Vietnamese and that he would not be a candidate for reelection.
This photograph shows the president and first lady sitting in the Oval Office while watching a taped replay of the speech.
Pierre de Bausset, 1968 |