January 4, 1965 State of the Union Address: History Repeating Itself?

LBJ Library; The American Presidency Project; This Day in History ^ | Lyndon Baines Johnson

[bd476]

Lyndon Baines Johnson
Campaign Strategy

During Johnson's 1964 campaign for President, his campaign aired a particular sixty second commercial one time only, scheduled during the showing of NBC's Monday Night Movie "David and Bathsheba."

After generating much criticism, LBJ's campaign pulled the commercial but then the commercial took on a new life and was aired in its entirety repeatedly on nightly news and talk shows.

The commercial was based upon Senator Barry Goldwater's comments:

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Senator Goldwater's comment found in the following excerpted article:

Washington Post:

Barry Goldwater, GOP Hero, Dies

"...In May 1963, he caused an international uproar when he suggested on an ABC-TV 'Issues and Answers' program that

'defoliation of the forests by low-yield atomic weapons could well be done'

to expose the supply routes for the flow of arms from North Vietnam to the Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam...">

May 1998 Barry Goldwater, GOP Hero, Dies

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Lyndon Baines Johnson
1964 Presidential Campaign Television Spot

LBJ voiced:

"These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die."

1960s Television News Sportscaster Chris Schenkel then said:

"Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."

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The video can be viewed at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum online site :

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3 motion picture frames from 1964 Presidential Campaign spot "Peace, Little Girl", aka the "Daisy Spot".

Daisy Video online video at LBJ Library

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Brief Summary of
Results in Viet Nam
from the
Presidency of
Lyndon Baines Johnson

At Kennedy's death, there were 16,000 American military advisors in Vietnam.

As President, Lyndon Johnson immediately reversed his predecessor's order to withdraw 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963 with his own NSAM #273 on November 26, 1963.

Johnson expanded the numbers and roles of the American military following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (less than three weeks after the Republican Convention of 1964, which had nominated Barry Goldwater for President).

It was Johnson who began America's direct involvement in the ground war in Vietnam. ...By 1968, over 550,000 American soldiers were inside Vietnam; in 1967 and 1968 they were being killed at the rate of over 1,000 a month.

Politically, Johnson closely watched the public opinion polls.

His goal was not to adjust his policies to follow opinion,

but rather to adjust opinion to support his policies.

Lyndon Baines Johnson

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On History Lessons Learned and Ignored:

GEORGE SANTAYANA wrote:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284"

And on an even more pessimistic note:

GEORGE WILHELM HEGEL wrote:

"What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it"

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Now more than ever, Conservatives need a good online meeting place to reflect upon wisdom learned through history, share Conservative thoughts and ideas and promote grassroots Conservative activism.

That place is right here on Free Republic. Please do your part and donate today whatever you can to the 2010 Q1 FReepathon.

Click to donate

[edpc]

Not really. It took decades for Johnson’s policies to push us to the brink. It won’t take nearly that long for Obama’s to break us.

[bd476]

Now more than ever, Conservatives need a good online meeting place to reflect upon wisdom learned through history, share Conservative thoughts and ideas and promote grassroots Conservative activism.

That place is right here on Free Republic. Please do your part and donate today whatever you can to the 2010 Q1 FReepathon.

Click to donate

[bd476]

Sorry you didn't have time to read it.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Bump!!!

[ClearCase_guy]

Obama is like James Buchanan -- his policies will lead the country to Civil War.
Obama is like Harding -- he's in over his head and everyone knows it. Even he knows it.
Obama is like LBJ -- his policies will escalate a war which he will not fight to win.
Obama is like Carter -- he cannot manage the economy and his policies will show the world that we are weak.
Obama is like Clinton -- his moral failings and corruption will hamstring him and cause distractions that he cannot afford.

Worst president ever.

[bd476]

Thanks for the bump, Rushmore Rocks!

[bd476]

Excellent summary and your conclusion hits the nail on the head!

[Alamo-Girl]

Buuuump!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks bd476. For a corrupt drunken philanderer and election cheat, this is a great finish:

[snip]

A President does not shape a new and personal vision of America.

He collects it from the scattered hopes of the American past.

It existed when the first settlers saw the coast of a new world, and when the first pioneers moved westward.

It has guided us every step of the way.

It sustains every President. But it is also your inheritance and it belongs equally to all the people that we all serve.

It must be interpreted anew by each generation for its own needs; as I have tried, in part, to do tonight.

It shall lead us as we enter the third century of the search for “a more perfect union?

This, then, is the state of the Union: Free and restless, growing and full of hope.

So it was in the beginning.

So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.

[end]

Democratic Debacle (1964 convention, repercussions today)
America Heritage | July 2004 (cover date) | Joshua Zeitz
Posted on 07/27/2004 9:59:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1179981/posts

[massmike]

save

[April Lexington]

We are entering the third century of the pursuit of American union.

Some things are just a well executed illusion. It is unlikely that Americans and socialists can continue to occupy the same space mush longer....

[April Lexington]

I don't think Chris Schenkel had heard of Pol Pot... Liberals are immature children who believe in the fantasy of love, world peace and other such crap. Conservatives worry about the effect of evil on their lives. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of an intellect to be a conservative. Liberals, however, are a dime a dozen. Idiots all...

[April Lexington]

It is becoming clear that we don't need and can't afford a “President” and a national Congress. One size does NOT fit all and we have states to protect us as citizens. Abolish the Federal government and return power to the people through strong state government. If not, expect this thing to disintegrate ala 1860. Enough is enough. Pelosi will NOT ruin our lives and prosperity.

[matthew fuller]

I eventually came to believe that LBJ truly loved his country, and was an outstanding patriot. My military service was coincident with his presidency,from 64 to 68, and I was unhappy with him at that time, having preferred Goldwater. But it really upgraded my opinion of him, when I finally came to the conclusion that LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover were the driving force behind JFK’s assassination.

[SoCal Pubbie]

“...I finally came to the conclusion that LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover were the driving force behind JFK’s assassination.”

You came to the wrong conclusion.

[mkjessup]

They warned us in 1964 that if we voted for Barry Goldwater that thousands of American boys would die in Vietnam, there would be riots and our cities would be burning, and economic turmoil at home, and millions of Americans voted for Goldwater and SURE ENOUGH, it all happened!!!!

[matthew fuller]

"You came to the wrong conclusion."

And you're of the opinion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin?

[bd476]

Yes, they sure did warn Americans. I recall hearing something completely different than what Goldwater is quoted above saying.

That's the advantage the leftists still use when taking one comment and making it into something entirely different.

The leftists' strategy have tragic consequences.

[mkjessup]

The historical fact is, LBJ and his sh!t-for-brains defense secretary Robert McNamara screwed the pooch in Vietnam and turned a conflict which could have been over in 90 days into a protracted war and the reason that happened is that the LBJ ‘Rat Administration let itself be conned into fighting that conflict on the ENEMY’s terms, and not on ours.

Johnson could have wrung a surrender out of the Communists by relentless bombing day and bloody night, 24 hours around the clock, mining and shutting down Haiphong Harbor (which Nixon finally did in 1970), and LBJ *might* have been able to enter the ‘68 election cycle on the slogan of ‘He Won the War’.