Why LBJ Chose Not to Run for Reelection in 1968 – Then Attempted to Retract it

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End Notes:

[1] Among other things “under his power” to ensure his reelection, in June, 1967 he had attempted to have one of his own Navy ships, the USS Liberty – with its crew of 294 – attacked and sunk by Israel, but blamed on his long-term nemesis, Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser.  The idea was to create a wave of patriotic fury and support for his planned retribution attack on Egypt, joining “little Israel” in what became known as the Six Day War.  In his deluded mind, he saw that as a way to create such popularity for himself that his reelection one year later would be guaranteed. That effort failed when Israel failed to sink the Liberty and the ship’s crew mostly survived; thus, the presidential treason had to be covered up, instead of becoming the source of his planned celebration of victory, where his actions would be extolled as those of a brilliant statesman and leader of the free world.

[2] Sullivan, William C., The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover’s FBI,  pp. 58–59; Dallek, Robert, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973  pp. 162–165.

[3] Newsweek, September 4, 1967, pp. 42-45

[4] Kearns-Goodwin, Doris, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, p. 343

[5] Goodwin, Richard, Remembering America, p. 259

[6] Ref. my books: Who Really Killed Martin Luther King Jr.? and LBJ: From Mastermind to The Colossus, Chapter 6.

[7] Dallek, Robert, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973  pp. 571-572 (Cite Ref. “HHH [Humphrey] to Jim Jones, Aug. 5, 1968; Jones Memo, Aug. 21, 1968, WHCF [White House Central Files] EX/ND19\CO312; Bert to Jim Jones, Aug. 9, 1968, WHCF: CF: EX/PL1: Don Furtado to Harry McPherson, Jr. Aug. 15, 1968; Jim Jones to LBJ, Aug. 25, 1968; Califano to LBJ, Aug. 27, 1968; Jim Jones Memo, Aug. 24, 1968, 1:10 pm., WHCF: EX/PL1; Califano, Triumph and Tragedy, 318-20).

[8] Ibid.

[9] Various sources (e.g. New York Magazine – Jan 19, 1987 – Page 35)

[10] Op. Cit. (Dallek), p. 574

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid., p. 572

[13] Ibid., p. 573

[14] Achenbach, Joel, “A Party That Has Lost Its Mind: In 1968 Democrats held one of the country’s most disastrous conventions” Washington Post, August 24, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/08/24/a-party-that-had-lost-its-mind-in-1968-democrats-held-one-of-historys-most-disastrous-conventions/

[15] Martin, David, DCDave.com, “Did Lyndon Step Down So Bobby Could Be Killed?” September 23, 2014: http://www.dcdave.com/article5/140923.htm.

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