As casualties mounted and success seemed further away than ever , Johnson 's popularity plummeted . College students and others protested , burned draft cards , and chanted , " Hey , hey , LBJ , how many kids did you kill today ? " Johnson could scarcely travel anywhere without facing protests , and was not allowed by the Secret Service to attend the 1968 Democratic National Convention , where thousands of hippies , yippies , Black Panthers and other opponents of Johnson 's policies both in Vietnam and in the ghettos converged to protest . Thus by 1968 , the public was polarized , with the " hawks " rejecting Johnson 's refusal to continue the war indefinitely , and the " doves " rejecting his current war policies . Support for Johnson 's middle position continued to shrink until he finally rejected containment and sought a peace settlement . By late summer , he realized that Nixon was closer to his position than Humphrey . He continued to support Humphrey publicly in the election , and personally despised Nixon . One of Johnson 's well known quotes was " the Democratic party at its worst , is still better than the Republican party at its best "
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Lyndon B. Johnson