Changes

Johnson won the 1964 presidential election in a landslide over Goldwater but, ironically, greatly expanded American involvement in [[Vietnam]] (see [[Vietnam War]]). In November 1965, during a meeting with his Joint Chiefs, after stating how they could mine the North Vietnamese ports as well as do massive aerial strikes on Hanoi to prevent Soviet or other Communist aid from going into the region, although Johnson seemingly acted receptive, he then turned around and started screaming various obscenities, including using the f-word more freely as an adjective than a Marine at boot camp, and told them he was disgusted with their naivety and made clear that he wasn't going to let "military idiots" drag him into World War III before bluntly dismissing them by telling them to "get the hell out of [Johnson's] office!"<ref>Cheers and Tears: A Marine's Story of Combat in Peace and War (2002).</ref> His popularity plunged as the death toll from the conflict in Vietnam steadily increased. In early 1968, faced with plummeting poll numbers and mounting public opposition to his foreign policy, Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept his party's nomination for the presidency in 1968. This decision may have been brought about by his surprisingly narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary over Eugene McCarthy, a liberal anti-war Democrat. It is widely thought that had he run, he would have been trounced in the primaries or in the subsequent general election—eventually won by Republican [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Another reason he decided to not pursue reelection may have also had to do with the then-recent reporting of the 1968 [[Tet Offensive]] by [[Walter Cronkite]] that [[Liberal bias#Vietnam War|falsely implied]] that America was losing the Vietnam War (with Johnson allegedly stating to his aides during the broadcast that "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America"), coupled by a failed attempt to explain otherwise to the American public.<ref>http://www.iancfriedman.com/?p=383</ref>

Johnson won the 1964 presidential election in a landslide over Goldwater but, ironically, greatly expanded American involvement in [[Vietnam]] (see [[Vietnam War]]). In November 1965, during a meeting with his Joint Chiefs, after stating how they could mine the North Vietnamese ports as well as do massive aerial strikes on Hanoi to prevent Soviet or other Communist aid from going into the region, although Johnson seemingly acted receptive, he then turned around and started screaming various obscenities, including using the f-word more freely as an adjective than a Marine at boot camp, and told them he was disgusted with their naivety and made clear that he wasn't going to let "military idiots" drag him into World War III before bluntly dismissing them by telling them to "get the hell out of [Johnson's] office!"<ref>Cheers and Tears: A Marine's Story of Combat in Peace and War (2002).</ref> His popularity plunged as the death toll from the conflict in Vietnam steadily increased. In early 1968, faced with plummeting poll numbers and mounting public opposition to his foreign policy, Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept his party's nomination for the presidency in 1968. This decision may have been brought about by his surprisingly narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary over Eugene McCarthy, a liberal anti-war Democrat. It is widely thought that had he run, he would have been trounced in the primaries or in the subsequent general election—eventually won by Republican [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Another reason he decided to not pursue reelection may have also had to do with the then-recent reporting of the 1968 [[Tet Offensive]] by [[Walter Cronkite]] that [[Liberal bias#Vietnam War|falsely implied]] that America was losing the Vietnam War (with Johnson allegedly stating to his aides during the broadcast that "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America"), coupled by a failed attempt to explain otherwise to the American public.<ref>http://www.iancfriedman.com/?p=383</ref>

==See Also==

==See Also==