Title: The turning point: 1968 | Miller Center
Headings: The turning point: 1968
The turning point: 1968
TET
THE USS PUEBLO
"I SHALL NOT SEEK . . . "
"Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
MLK AND RFK: VIOLENCE AT HOME
King assassination phone calls
CHICAGO AND CHENNAULT
Chennault Affair phone calls
1. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Russell, 30 October 1968:
2. Lyndon Johnson and Everett Dirksen, 31 October 1968:
3. Lyndon Johnson and James Rowe, 1 November 1968:
4. Lyndon Johnson and Everett Dirksen, 2 November 1968
"And they oughtn’t to be doing this. This is treason."
5. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, 3 November 1968
6. Lyndon Johnson, Clark Clifford, Jim Jones, Walt Rostow, and Dean Rusk, 4 November 1968
JOHNSON DEPARTS

Content: With more than half a million men already committed, and the Communists still a potent force, how many more US soldiers would it really take to win the war? Secretary McNamara had already suggested freezing troop levels and instituting a bombing halt, recommendations that put him in conflict with military leaders and the president, and led to his planned departure at the end of February. A task force charged with reviewing Vietnam policy recommended the president approve a little more than one-tenth of Westmoreland's request: 22,000 men. In the end, Johnson approved just 13,500. Johnson faced economic difficulties as well. He wanted to finance the war without putting spending for his Great Society programs on the chopping block. Nor did he want to increase taxes. But federal borrowing in a growing economy fueled inflation and added to an overall balance-of-payments deficit in the US economy, weakening the dollar. The pressures became a certifiable crisis when the need for gold to back the currency (the US is no longer on the gold standard) ran up against huge worldwide demand for the metal, leading to massive financial losses for the US government.