Jon—There is an interesting article in the Winter 2024 edition of The American Scholar titled Notes From the Front. Its premise is that in his diary, Kissinger shows he knew the Vietnam War was lost a decade before it ended. What I learned by reading the article is appalling. I know this is not on point with the topic of your article. I only mention it because it reinforces what a needless debacle the war was.
I had an English professor who didn't share until recent years his fascinating history of having been sent to Vietnam by the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services. In 1945, George Wickes met with Ho Chi Minh, who spoke English because he had worked in US restaurants! He respected our Declaration of Independence.
"'Ho expressed his admiration of this country,' Wickes says, 'with which he wanted close ties and support for the independence movement.'" Ho had formed Viet Minh in 1941 to resist foreign occupiers.
("The Spy Who Taught Me," Laurie Notaro, Around the O, Oregon Quarterly, 10-1-17.)
Who’d have thought after such a resounding victory in 1964 that things would turn like it did!!! Oh boy, the 60’s and 70’s were interesting to say the least! Somehow we lived through them, I think!
It is no surprise that LBJ was tortured by the daily daggers of events in the Vietnam War. It was written on his face and in his slow Texas drawl. Years later, Michael Gambon played LBJ in the television film Path to War. About his performance The Washington Post said: "Gambon is entirely up to the task of making a larger-than-life icon seem painfully – and in the end, helplessly – human. It is a performance of fire and brimstone". If ever there was a room where historians, armchair or professional, would yearn to sit, it is the Oval Office in early 1968.
We who were of draft age and lived through that era, indeed, have a special interest in mid-60s administration policy. I was called to serve, but I took strong steps to make myself unattractive to the military. I was therefore placed in a lower classification than the most desirable recruits. Thus, many who came of age in the years of the Johnson administration played a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the federal government. In the end, it was epic cinema-verité, and everyone from Washington to Wapakoneta had a meaningful role to play.
Stunning interview—too wide-ranging to grasp at one sitting (it is still incredibly brave to talk about one’s depression—so admirable), at least for me. It made me remember how desperate those years felt—I thought Dean Rusk would commit suicide after being grilled on Vietnam—and how Johnson’s resignation, even with that ego of his, seemed both shocking and inevitable. Thank you, Jonathan. And a hopeful yes, please please…to your final remark.
One of the issues you discussed concerned Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
I think it's a safe bet that LBJ's fear of RFK, and of Kennedy's polish, glamour and elan, pulverized Johnson's pride and forced him from the race.
We often think of Johnson as an aggreslive, domineering character, and he certianly was no shrinking violet. However at least one of his biorgraphers have said that lbj at times was seized with fear of being humiliated -- as his Father had been humiliarted at the end of world war one when farm prices collapsed and Johnson's Father went from the top of the social strata to the bottom. I thinki it was Robert Caro who said that LBJ's campaign for the presidency, in 1960, failed becasue he was afraid to get in there and fight JFK, and by the time LBJ entered the race it was too late. I think that LBJ was intimidated by both Jack and Bobby as their eastern, affluent, aristocratic backgrounds overwhemoed LBJ whose origins were rather humble. Indeed, Bobby Kennedy, who could be rather acerbic, used to refer to LBJ as COLONEL CORNPONE. (Incidentally, Jack and Bobby used to refer to JAMES BALDWIN AS MARTIN LUTHER QUEEn: I think that was good natured humor, not homophobia, as the Kennedys were very gay-friendly, e.g., one of JFK;s best friends was a gay man, Len Billings.)
Bobby entered the race On Satruday, March 16, just four days after Gene scored his historic upset in New Hampshire (The most exiciting elections were all in my youth; today's guys put me to sleep)
Upon entering the race, Kennedy momentum cascaded across the county lke the California Ocean Waves catapulting him into first place right before he was shot in the Ambassador Hotel. (Indeed, polls in Mid 67 showed RFK beating LBJ by 20 points in Caifornia.)
I don't beleve that LBJ exited the race becasue he did not know what to do about Vietnam. White House Tapes reveal that he said to Richard Russel (D Georgia) before Nov 64 that he though Vietnam was going to be a catastrophe that was insurmountable.
Fascinating piece.
Jon—There is an interesting article in the Winter 2024 edition of The American Scholar titled Notes From the Front. Its premise is that in his diary, Kissinger shows he knew the Vietnam War was lost a decade before it ended. What I learned by reading the article is appalling. I know this is not on point with the topic of your article. I only mention it because it reinforces what a needless debacle the war was.
A SPY WHO KEPT OLD SECRETS, UNNECESSARILY
I had an English professor who didn't share until recent years his fascinating history of having been sent to Vietnam by the CIA's predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services. In 1945, George Wickes met with Ho Chi Minh, who spoke English because he had worked in US restaurants! He respected our Declaration of Independence.
"'Ho expressed his admiration of this country,' Wickes says, 'with which he wanted close ties and support for the independence movement.'" Ho had formed Viet Minh in 1941 to resist foreign occupiers.
("The Spy Who Taught Me," Laurie Notaro, Around the O, Oregon Quarterly, 10-1-17.)
Who’d have thought after such a resounding victory in 1964 that things would turn like it did!!! Oh boy, the 60’s and 70’s were interesting to say the least! Somehow we lived through them, I think!
It is no surprise that LBJ was tortured by the daily daggers of events in the Vietnam War. It was written on his face and in his slow Texas drawl. Years later, Michael Gambon played LBJ in the television film Path to War. About his performance The Washington Post said: "Gambon is entirely up to the task of making a larger-than-life icon seem painfully – and in the end, helplessly – human. It is a performance of fire and brimstone". If ever there was a room where historians, armchair or professional, would yearn to sit, it is the Oval Office in early 1968.
We who were of draft age and lived through that era, indeed, have a special interest in mid-60s administration policy. I was called to serve, but I took strong steps to make myself unattractive to the military. I was therefore placed in a lower classification than the most desirable recruits. Thus, many who came of age in the years of the Johnson administration played a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the federal government. In the end, it was epic cinema-verité, and everyone from Washington to Wapakoneta had a meaningful role to play.
This is fascinating to read! Thank you.
Stunning interview—too wide-ranging to grasp at one sitting (it is still incredibly brave to talk about one’s depression—so admirable), at least for me. It made me remember how desperate those years felt—I thought Dean Rusk would commit suicide after being grilled on Vietnam—and how Johnson’s resignation, even with that ego of his, seemed both shocking and inevitable. Thank you, Jonathan. And a hopeful yes, please please…to your final remark.
One of the issues you discussed concerned Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
I think it's a safe bet that LBJ's fear of RFK, and of Kennedy's polish, glamour and elan, pulverized Johnson's pride and forced him from the race.
We often think of Johnson as an aggreslive, domineering character, and he certianly was no shrinking violet. However at least one of his biorgraphers have said that lbj at times was seized with fear of being humiliated -- as his Father had been humiliarted at the end of world war one when farm prices collapsed and Johnson's Father went from the top of the social strata to the bottom. I thinki it was Robert Caro who said that LBJ's campaign for the presidency, in 1960, failed becasue he was afraid to get in there and fight JFK, and by the time LBJ entered the race it was too late. I think that LBJ was intimidated by both Jack and Bobby as their eastern, affluent, aristocratic backgrounds overwhemoed LBJ whose origins were rather humble. Indeed, Bobby Kennedy, who could be rather acerbic, used to refer to LBJ as COLONEL CORNPONE. (Incidentally, Jack and Bobby used to refer to JAMES BALDWIN AS MARTIN LUTHER QUEEn: I think that was good natured humor, not homophobia, as the Kennedys were very gay-friendly, e.g., one of JFK;s best friends was a gay man, Len Billings.)
Bobby entered the race On Satruday, March 16, just four days after Gene scored his historic upset in New Hampshire (The most exiciting elections were all in my youth; today's guys put me to sleep)
Upon entering the race, Kennedy momentum cascaded across the county lke the California Ocean Waves catapulting him into first place right before he was shot in the Ambassador Hotel. (Indeed, polls in Mid 67 showed RFK beating LBJ by 20 points in Caifornia.)
I don't beleve that LBJ exited the race becasue he did not know what to do about Vietnam. White House Tapes reveal that he said to Richard Russel (D Georgia) before Nov 64 that he though Vietnam was going to be a catastrophe that was insurmountable.
Jonathan , this is an interview filled with insightful information on an era of history that is still open for discussion and knowledge. Thank you
Reading this post should make everyone understand that our system with one President is not working. The Constitution needs to be changed.