The Last Time A President Was Forced Out Of An Election

[@IsabellaCLau125]

Another cracking episode guys! Rather bizarre to admit, but this humble podcast has actually succeeded in helping me handle my chronic anxiety. There's nothing like hearing two intelligent and very funny historians making light of all the hitherto random nonsense that's happened over the course of history to humanity to force you to laugh at the folly of it all and, most importantly, to stop taking one's own life so seriously. I really must thank you both for what you do!

[@Hartley_Hare]

I'm also regularly floored by anxiety and I agree that there's something very special about this. Maybe there's something comforting about listening to stories of absolute, seemingly world-ending chaos and realising that it was long ago and knowing that the sun has still been coming up ever since.

[@IsabellaCLau125]

​@@Hartley_Harecouldn't agree more!

[@scottnowell4975]

I'm from Texas, a student of LBJ, and these fellows are spot on

[@BohemianRaichu]

Caro's work on LBJ is perhaps the greatest study of power ever written.

[@contessa5434]

When I was studying politics at The University of MD, I wrote my term paper about LBJ's presidency. Caro's book was my reference for my paper. It was a good book.

[@BohemianRaichu]

@contessa5434 Good books.

[@danb8243]

Excellent formula for this one. Because it's Dom's expertise Tom can just sit back and quip for the whole thing so it's both very informative and very funny. Top job

[@restishistorypod]

Thank you !

[@excellentcomment]

I was in second grade when LBJ was elected and I learned this joke: Why don't they drink orange juice in the White House? It looks too much like Goldwater.

[@lucaso9618]

Tom does interrupt too much, let Dom tell the story..

[@colinmagnier1232]

That's quite good​@@excellentcomment

[@Donkeynoob7777]

Absolute brilliant content. I Got recommended by a friend to watch this episode and now you have a devoted fan and subscriber.

[@restishistorypod]

Thank you !

[@DrRobBallard]

LBJ was never forced out of the election. He never ever backed down from a fight. He knew his health was not good. He did not enjoy being the President with Vietnam and all. He never said he would run for re-election. His name was not on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary which he won in a write in campaign. It was a different era in Presidential politics. Today by 31 March, the nominees are usually decided but then some candidates had not even entered the race. LBJ was a strange character, but he was not forced out of the election.

[@JeremyMalies]

"He knew his health was not good." I agree with you totally. I haven't read Caro but I've read Dallek. I think you are right and I disagree with these guys. And they have a self-satisfied quality that I find irritating.

[@TheJonnyzeus]

As an admirer of LBJ (warts and all) I really appreciated this episode. A complex man who showed all the strengths and weaknesses and almost without guile or deception. I look forward to the next instalment. Bravo gentlemen.

[@kevinmcinerney1959]

I always found the story of the big tough guy brought down by VietNam, but still managing to create substantial Civil Rights legislation and the Great Society - I find it a moving story. He sat at a strange nexus between progressivism at home and hawkishness in South East Asia. I suppose he had opportunities to quit in VietNam, but things look different now to how to they looked then. I never bought the Oliver Stone tale that Johnson was the military-industrial complex's guy in the White House.

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

Same here. Saying this from a very left perspective, btw. Only a highly critical and nuanced approach like this does him justice.

[@johnryskamp2943]

You're crazy. The MIC is the source of most money flowing to poliricians.

[@wecanjump7512]

@@johnryskamp2943 Maybe once. But the explosion of the internet and Silicon Valley has minted a new class of ultra-wealth in America. And that’s just in America. 50 years of offshoring and “free” trade have created massive wealth overseas. With the passing of Citizens United by republicans, American politicians can now accept money from virtually anywhere. Shoot, I can probably think of ten major players just sitting here!

[@wecanjump7512]

@@johnryskamp2943The wealthy just have so much more money now than they did in Johnson’s time, as they should. They paid very large sums of money to politicians in order to re-write the tax code.

[@girthbloodstool339]

Great Stuff! - the giants of my childhood. I would point out that the draft had not been 'introduced ' by 1968, but instead had remained in place ever since the Second World War (1940). That's how we get unlikely happenstances like Jimi Hendrix doing a stint in the paratroopers in the early 1960s, or Elvis doing his bit in 1958.

[@tatu6974]

All Along The Watchtower is a Bob Dylan song and Jimi made a legendary cover

[@lemartin3827]

The Corrs covered Dreams by Fleetwood Mac in the late 90s

[@dearestsimone]

Thank you so much for this excellent distraction! So well-timed.

[@restishistorypod]

You’re welcome!

[@robin231176]

I first came across Dominic Sandbrook on The Rest is Politics' coverage of the U.S. election - have now subscribed here and will be an assiduous follower from now on.

[@GoBlueGirl78]

The tailor call mentioning his “bunghole” makes me LOL every time

[@caterpillar1936]

Between the nutsack and the bunghole

[@Kieselmeister]

The real story of the "Saigon Execution" photo that was left out by the international press, was that the man being executed (Nguyen Van Lem) had been caught red handed, at the scene of the crime, leading a death squad that had just murdered almost the entire family of a South Vietnamese officer (Nguyen Tuan), his wife, 6 of his 7 children, & his elderly mother (with the surviving child having been shot 3 times including a shot which grazed his skull). They were also the primary suspects in the abduction & murder of 34 other civilians, tying them up on their knees in front of a pit, shooting them in the head, & dumping them in. Additionally, Lem committed those war crimes as an "Un-Uniformed Illegal Combatant", meaning that according to the laws of war at the time he was not entitled to ANY protections as a POW, and that the legally correct punishment was in fact "summary execution". The photographer is on record stating that he regretted not getting a picture "of that Viet Cong blowing away the family" instead, and called the South Vietnamese officer that carried out the execution (General Loan) a "goddamn hero". The surviving child of the family Lem murdered, was later one of those evacuated to the USA during the fall of Saigon, & went on to become an Admiral in the US Navy.

[@seadkolasinac7220]

Sure but this knowledge doesn’t actually change the fact of the nature of the US occupation. Where it was predominantly South Vietnamese, American, and South Korean troops committing appalling massacres with regularity. My Lai was the tip of the iceberg

[@pendorran]

Spot on.

[@whatsinaname1890]

​​@@seadkolasinac7220 But although I enjoy these podcasts immeasurably, I can't understand why they got such a well-known story wrong.

[@Kieselmeister]

@@seadkolasinac7220 There is an extremely detailed study by the University of hawaii, available online, on "Democide" (aka civilian death by government) during the entire Indochina conflict from 1945-1987. The study gives estimate-ranges with low bound, middle, & upper bound estimates (in kilo-deaths) of numbers killed when and by which government. The total estimate for all Democide during the Vietnam war itself: 194,000 - 599,000, with a middle estimate of 311,000. Within those total estimates are subtotals divided by which governments committed which atrocities. The subtotal committed by all foreign sources was: 7,000 - 13,000, with a middle estimate of 9,000. The subtotal committed by the South Vietnamese: 57,000 - 284,000, mid estimate 89,000. The subtotal committed by North Vietnamese against their own civilian population was: 25,000 - 75,000, mid estimate 50,000. & The subtotal committed by the North Vietnamese & Vietcong in South Vietnam was: 106,000 - 227,000, mid estimate 164,000. Additionally, during the period after independence from France & before the Vietnam war, the North Vietnamese had already been killing hundreds of thousands of their own civilians in the process of instituting their version of totalitarian communism, with the estimate range being 242,000 - 922,000, with a middle estimate of 415,000. The there is the period after the Vietnam war, when the North Vietnamese totalitarian regime became the government of unified Vietnam, because they definitely did NOT stop committing atrocities just because the war ended. The Democide estimates for the period from 1975-1987 have a huge range depending on how much responsibility is attributed to the government for those who died attempting to escape Vietnam (which was treated as a multiplier to the estimate range for those who died fleeing. With the low responsibility multiplier low estimate being 33,000 & high responsibility multiplier high estimate being 934,000). The cumulative total estimate of Vietnamese killed during the aftermath of the war by the Vietnamese government being: 129,000 - 1,571,000, middle estimate 493,000. So NO... The "predominant" group committing appalling massacres, the committer of an outright majority of the appalling massacres, was in fact the North Vietnamese & Vietcong.

[@fearghalbarry7866]

Link to this? It seems to be very much disputed.

[@simondillon]

I never usually comment, but I just want to thank you both for these podcasts. I could listen to you both all day. History, humanities, social and politics were my favourite subjects at school... I wish I'd been in a position to carry on to university and study them, but that's life hey... Anyway, thank you for your delightful commentary on important historical subjects, and for your humour too, which makes it a pleasure to consume. Godspeed!

[@DarrenGreen-t1u]

Brilliant podcast as always Gents. 1968 was such a fascinating year, and having it recounted so richly was a treat. Even more so as I was born on the same day LBJ gave his resignation address to the nation. So looking forward to the rest of the series. 👏🏼👏🏼

[@restishistorypod]

Thank you !

[@roseschneier5788]

I was one of those college girls (Bryn Mawr College 1971) who was a "Clean Gene" during the 1968 Primaries). Thanks for bringing back memories (painful as they might be when I recall my naivete)

[@AlistairHann]

This is my dream RiH series. Fascinated with that period in American history and am now about 1m pages in to the Robert Caro biogs. Here's to what I feel certain will be a Dominic tour de force!!

[@bearhustler]

Me too, half way through part 3, Master of the Senate, I hope Caro lives long enough to write the final part (including VietNam), he's an old guy.

[@jonathanmoore7079]

My family comes from Inez, Kentucky, where Lyndon Johnson declared his famous War on Poverty. Perhaps he loved the concept of lifting people out of poverty, but I feel that it was always through the context of gaining and keeping power.

[@ThomasBoyd-r6c]

Awesome. Brilliant content. Spot on. Well said.

[@George-ni5ic]

The LBJ library and museum in Austin is brilliant. I ran into Lady Bird there at the elevator back when I was in college in Austin. It’s a worthwhile trip.

[@mrs.cracker4622]

His ranch is worth a visit also. His gravestone in the family cemetery is very modest which was surprising considering his personality.

[@cotybowman8825]

Supposedly, Kennedy said that he kept Johnson overseas all the time as VP because he couldn't stand to look at his basset hound face. Kind of hilarious.

[@adamokolicsanyi4774]

Thank you so much for this talk

[@garethbarry3825]

Ahhh as much as i know i will love this, im really hoping you carry on with the French Revolution series- ive been watching every episode and i have absolutely loved it!

[@eliseleonard3477]

Thanks for a great conversation! One of the best books on the 60’s I’ve read is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s ‘An Unfinished Love Story’. It’s a wonderful hybrid of a book, a personal memoir written by a wonderful biographer. She gives such a great feeling for the political currents during the Kennedy-Johnson transition, and of course the tumult that culminated in 1968. She was an aide to Johnson, and her husband had worked for Kennedy and then went on to help with plans for the Great Society. Loads of inside color AND well-researched events and conversations.

[@annysqu]

Agree with this I'm halfway thru but she is also an expert on US Presidents in general. She was interviewed on a US political podcast where I came across her.

[@LizzyAumonier]

Tom quoting Mean Girls killed me!

[@joshwwarren]

As an American I cannot say that I have ever heard The dog on the porch expression. I understand the thrust of the expression though.

[@hhunstad2011]

New listener here. Love the show. This relaxed, nuanced micro-look format is my favorite way to engage with learning about history! I ended up on the Custard v Crazy Horse Playlist but had to check out the new upload. Great choice for the next deep dive. I wanted to say thanks for the great open source content. Catching up on all you've posted will be a great Minnesota winter companion! Be well : )

[@DolanIre_blackhair]

Thanks guys. I love this history lesson

[@mrs.cracker4622]

I enjoyed this episode very much. Thank you. I had never heard Eugene McCarthy described in that way but it does make sense looking back. I do believe LBJ sincerely had a social conscience & wanted to do good. Sadly, some of the federal programs he helped set up had unforeseen negative social side effects that we still see today in our fractured families & shrinking rural communities. There's a very moving one hour 1973 interview with LBJ on KZbin. Walter Cronkite interviewed LBJ for the last time just 10 days before his death. It's really worth watching.

[@SueFerreira75]

Have you read widely about LBJ, his corruption, Bobby Baker, Mac Wallace, Billy Sol Estes and many more?

[@TheJohnpandy]

Thank you. John🌻

[@BenjaminNavillus]

Great subject, and some relevant parallels to the present. I've always felt that Nixon's ignominious 'first US President to resign' tag is of course technically correct, but slightly unfair in that LBJ effectively resigned after the disaster of the Tet Offensive.

[@gaelsarmiento4496]

Johnson didn't resign, he just didn't run for reelection.

[@BlergleslinkVettermoo]

Great episode, guys.

[@garethbater6900]

These are brilliant - so many terrific series

[@robertmcpherson1807]

A GENUINE TOUR DE FORCE! What I most love about this podcast is when I learn the things they do not teach in American schools - the size of Lyndon Johnson's johnson, for example.

[@ConorMacphee]

Congrats on 100k

[@restishistorypod]

Thank you !

[@eshaibraheem4218]

Oh, goody! A new subject to be glued to.

[@stephendavis6066]

Fascinating conversation

[@eshaibraheem4218]

"A guy called Tip O'Neill..."... Has Tom heard of him?

[@bobtaylor170]

Speaker of the House for several terms when Reagan was president.

[@alexs_toy_barn]

Yeah I had that reaction too lol. Famous for his time being a pain in Reagan's a$$ and for that cameo on Cheers

[@johndavey8683]

Yes, it's British humour.

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

As an admirer of LBJ: Thanks for this nuanced and very critical approach. This, and only this, does him justice. In a sense, the only figure in recent history I can think of that can be compared to him in terms of the ambivalence of character is actually Winston Churchill. Two very different characters, yet both towering over everyone and everything else in their respective time, and both very much oscillating between their own great egos and their own insecurity. Both have their undeniable moments of almost unparalleled greatness, and both have their - rather similar - dark sides.

[@bobtaylor170]

I've lived most of my life in Texas and been slightly acquainted with a couple of guys in Johnson's orbit, so you can understand why I take quite an interest in him. Johnson did some marvelous things, and his taking command when JFK died was historic, flawless statesmanship, but he was a strange, terrifying, corrupt man, and you do Churchill a disservice by making the comparison. If you have the patience for it, I recommend the four volumes Robert Caro has completed of his biography, The Years of Lyndon Johnson. If I had to choose just one of the four which I found most interesting, it would be volume 4, The Passage of Power. It follows Johnson from the late 1950s, when as Senate Majority Leader he thinks that if he runs for the 1960 Democratic nomination, he'll knock Kennedy aside pretty easily, through to January 1, 1964, when he has been president for five weeks. It's a remarkable book.

[@annysqu]

Yes Johnson had his black moods too

[@GarfieldHiggins]

Excellent presentation

[@kelleyfrench9663]

Excellent as usual, gentlemen. I'm RIVETED!

[@kensurrency2564]

An exceptionally large ego is a projection of massive insecurity. LBJ’s inability to deal with his shadow turned him into a monster.

[@JohnGillis-b1l]

I'm an American and possess a degree in history. I was 19 in 1968. I think these two gentlemen did a great job of capturing that brutal year in the U.S.

[@leslie4551]

wow! i was 8 years old in 1968 and remember lots of this, but, just wow, peeing in front of people and having international meetings on the toilet.

[@egaaronp]

Elvis: If I Can Dream, written for him & sung on the '68 tv Special.

[@JoeJackaboa]

🙏 more modern American history please this series is rivetting

[@BohemianRaichu]

Robert Kennedy immediately thought that LBJ was behind his brother's assassination.

[@kaybrown4010]

Not sure he was wrong.

[@LordChlCha]

And I still think that LBJ is behind Robert's assassination.

[@reecemccullough4829]

Exciting new series. Looking forward to it!

[@debbiecarter6430]

Superb stuff. Thanks

[@bearhustler]

If you're interested in LBJ and you have time absolutely read Robert Caros mammoth biography, it's fascinating.

[@SueFerreira75]

But Caro has not published the fifth volume which would deal with JFK’s assassination and LBJ’s fortuitous Presidency.

[@tmtb80]

Love it, now please do the aforementioned Tip O'Neill !!!!!❤🙏

[@stevesmith8155]

Brilliant edification and fun! Cheers from Minnesota! I'm going to change my middle name to Stavro!

[@CommonSwindler]

LBJ is so colossal and brilliant figure that he deserves his own series based on Robert Caro’s seminal books-which are Wagnerian in scope and drama. I’m an Athelstan member and I’ll never stop pushing for that, as well as some other luminaries who deserve much needed RestisHistory treatments.

[@michaelandrew964]

Yep ‘68; I remember every minute of it.

[@johncarroll772]

I was 5 years old in 1968, l remember it well.

[@vinceo1058]

I was born in Minnesota in early 1969 - never knew I was conceived amid such Minnesotan-on-Minnesotan chaos.

[@camslumlord]

“Spit” comment was from John Nance Garner ,FDR’s first two terms V.P. and from Texas.

[@thomasrainey9364]

Yes, and for Cactus Jack the un-bowdlerized quote was "a bucket of warm piss."

[@faithallen1169]

1967, riot in Detroit, I remember, while my family lived in Detroit. We moved shortly after to the suburbs. Thanks for going through this history, I was 12 and like to hear about President Johnson. There are tapes of Johnson speaking and his language is really coarse .The other thing is the "draft", young men did not want to fight in this war. Young guys were burning their draft cards. Creedence Clearwater Revival's (CCR) song "Fortunate Son" was one many songs the kids used as their anti war anthem.

[@GraceKugrena]

I love it when Tom goes into his "girl dad" mode and quotes means girls or makes references to the Marie Antoinette movie by Sofia Coppola LOL, i come for the history and stay for the lighthearted girly references.

[@philipbrooks402]

Very informative and highly listenable. The reaction of Eugene McCarthy to being snubbed by LBJ for the vice-presidency reminded me of a certain former British PM, famous for the longest sulk in history, one Edward Heath.

[@lewbarrett]

A perfect summary of the era, judged by someone who lived the entire era, me! I graduated university in 1968 and was as laser focused on events and their very real consequences on my life as I am today. This episode is indeed another tour de force. Bravo!

[@BrandonLetgo-qc3uh]

Wow, I didn't know any of this. I was 10 in 1968. I remember the hippies, the casualty reports on the news, and people constantly talking about Vietnam. I genuinely remember that some people just wanted to bomb the s*** out of Vietnam and other people just wanted the war to end. And I remember thinking the hippies were so cool!

[@touxiong1905]

Minnesotan here!!! Yay Minnesota!!!

[@nickbarber2080]

I think an hour on the political life of Richard Nixon would be absolutely fascinating. An i nteresting man whose successes have been entirely eclipsed by his disgrace,and a psychologist's field-day.

[@jasongray4517]

That was as compelling as the two-parter on Nixon and Watergate. Both hugely entertaining and erudite. Terrific stuff.

[@janoswimpffen7305]

I was 17 in 1968, very active in the anti-war momvement, very much a hippie. This certainly brings back memories! For the most part accurate apart from the note others made about the draft having been in place since WWII. A very important setup; the rationale behind JFK picking LBJ as VP. As a northern Catholic liberal JFK was in trouble in the South. At the time the south was controlled by the Dems but this was a very different Dem part of today and the southern Dems were polar opposites of the northern version. Southern Dems were almost uniformly white, Protestant, and racist. LBJ, despite indeed being somehat socially progressive, was an excellent power broker in the South and was needed to deliver those states, which he did. 1960 remains possibly the only election in US history where the VP pick was the deciding factor.

[@hydrodipkid1137]

Throughout the 1980s, the Minnesota Vikings played football in the Hubert Humphrey Dome:)

[@beback_]

Parallels with Nixon are fascinating, but I also see a surprising amount of parallels with Stalin.

[@wendyknight9574]

The total awfulness of young men drafted into fighting in a jungle civil war, with Vietnam Cong infiltrating villages in South Vietnam was a horror, even from UK.

[@arthurfarrow]

I have heard of a kitchen cabinet, but a bathroom one?

[@scullycasey]

After he retired from CBS, Walter Cronkite was asked how often a news anchor should offer editorial comment on current affairs. He replied, "Once in a career." Although Cronkite's remarks were a powerful force goading LBJ out of office, I think that Rev. King's remarks condemning the war in Viet Nam (and, by implication, himself) broke his spirit. For Johnson, who had used all his political power and manipulative wiles to carry the Voting Rights and Equal Housing Acts through an obstreperous Senate, it must have felt as if Frederick Douglass had just castigated Abraham Lincoln. Hippies were derided as irresponsible hedonists by most civil rights and antiwar activists, though the great Black Panther from Oakland, Huey Newton, said that personally he rather liked hippies. "They volunteered to be the new *n-words*" I was sixteen years old in 1968. I escaped the draft, initially because of the II-S deferment available to all full-time university students. After institution of the lottery, my birthday drew a lucky 260 (the highest number drafted was 215). When you do the Chicago Democratic Convention, don't forget to mention the infamous Buckley-Vidal debates on ABC!

[@davidevans3227]

i was born in summer 1968 and always aware of the madness in Paris at the time.. interesting to see what was happening in the US

[@DavidMotherland]

I was nearly shocked by how thoughtless, off base, and cartoonishly trite Tom's grasp of America is, when I remembered that James van Someren Peill, Esquire, had not long since been granted the Office of Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms, a concept we yahoos lack the sensibility to grasp, and was humbled

[@peacecorenathan556]

KZbin algorithm sent you guys to me, you’ve got a new and adoring Yankee fan now!

[@James-ll3jb]

You really had to be there like we were.

[@eskylent7962]

Immediately had to find that trouser order recording on KZbin!! 😂

[@forced-into-Google-Handle]

I really excellent show and very much appreciate Dominic's expertise on McCarthy. I did some other research where someone spoke about the large funding for his campaign. Would it be true to say that Wall Street was a very big source of money for Eugene M.??

[@Theguy5117]

I love the shout out for the Texas Hill Country

[@gbickell]

Jimmy Hendrix and killer sounds might have been a feature of those times but some of the best-selling albums were also from people like Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - try listening to that as you buzz low over Vietnam, it changes the mood.

[@kelleyfrench9663]

Very sad to see that you gentlemen will not be including Dallas, TX (not any of the Southern U.S.) in your upcoming U.S. tour. Perhaps you can be convinced to come on the next tour.

[@king_cobra5492]

Interesting. Thank you.

[@restishistorypod]

Thank you !

[@ted356]

Typical Americans attitude towards Vietnam might be compared to a typical British attitude towards the Troubles.😅. Actually, Dominic shines in this topic, as we would expect.😊

[@scottnowell4975]

Amazing that these Brits get LBJ so well.

[@3rdager]

In Spring 1968 I left my family home in the north of England (sunny Manchester) to work in 'The Smoke'; I had just turned 19. Discovering London kept me so entertained that politics passed me by in my youth, many thanks for enlightening me in my dotage!

[@tutorjames666]

There are three things that Tom loves to talk about: Christianity, Ancient Rome and Mean Girls.

[@JKribbit]

Don't forget Love Island

[@lukedorsch158]

I usually listen on Spotify, but I must say that I rather enjoy the video version.

[@AlexMc9395]

Gentlemen, I would love you to cover the events surrounding the black power salute at the '68 Mexico Olympics. It's been a personal mission for many years to see Peter Norman's story highlighted. He was the Australian who finished in 2nd place, and who stood respectfully as the two black American athletes demonstrated. His athletic achievement stands as one of the greatest in Australian athletics, I believe his time for the 200m on that day still stands as an Australian record. Despite this the Australian athletics authorities treated him with prejudice. The two Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos were pall bearers at his funeral. I feel Norman's story would fascinate people.

[@marylynnmazzocco5367]

Eugene McCarthy ìs completely forgotten in the US now.

[@pl5675]

The draft was not brought in with the Vietnam war; it was intensified then. The term you were drafted for was two years active duty and (theoretically at least) four years in the reserves. I was caught in the draft in 1964. I served most of my time in West Germany. I knew others who had done a tour of duty in Vietnam, which at that time was not particularly dangerous. Many (perhaps most?) of the draftees at the height of the Vietnam war served elsewhere than in Vietnam-Europe, Japan, South Korea, or stateside. Moreover soldiers were sent to Vietnam for a 12-month Tour of Duty. From his first day there a GI would be counting how “short” he now was. It was an arrangement notoriously bad for morale.

[@James-ll3jb]

I met McCarthy in 1976 at a hotel lobby one early morning, in Madison Wisconsin. He was announcing his candidacy for the presidency. I asked him why he was running as an independent. "Because the Republicans elected Richard Nixon twice and the Democrats failed to beat him."

[@markkringle9144]

It was revealed later, that JFK was opposed to expanding in Vietnam, and was considering recalling his "military advisers (Green Barrets and black ops types helping South Vietnam and France who had asked us to step in under SATO treaty, to help them keep their French Colony). JFK reportedly said, "they don't have anything we want". JFK was assassinated and Johnson sacked RK and doubled down in Vietnam.

[@Badlighter]

Was President Johnson going to be dumped from President Kennedy’s choice as VP for his second term campaign? Alas, 22/11/63.

[@kevinmcinerney1959]

I feel compelled to cliche here... That was awesome.

[@RecycledBikes-jj]

America is ALWAYS afraid of something, poor little dears....

[@eadeshogue6702]

Excellent!

[@janoswimpffen7305]

I watched LBJ's speech live, along with my parents. It's correct, we were shocked. However, I remember that both with my parents and with friends in the coming days we were conjecturing whether he really meant it and whether it was some sort of a ploy.

[@wendyknight9574]

The draft was alphabetical, as I recall. I knew a guy who came to UK to study, whose name was Archibald.

[@snuffalobill1250]

I love that these are on video now. One piece of feedback to the producer, I find the slow pan in on Tom and Dominic's screens a little distracting. Not aware of any other podcast that does this.

[@claywindscreenspeterjones7984]

Paris riots in France, Prague spring then Russian invasion, Jim Hines goes under 10 seconds for 100 metres. Tommy Smith and John Carlos give the Black Power salute at the same Mexico Olympics...Yes 1968 was quite a year!!!

[@stevep5408]

Was that before or after Kissinger contacted North Vietnam and told them Nixon would give them a better deal than Humphrey?

[@markkringle9144]

Before.

[@BohemianRaichu]

Should do a video about Cleveland's second election.

[@pbryan1967]

“Wounded”, Dominic. NOT “injured”. Please!