Lyndon B. Johnson

===1968 presidential election===
{{main|1968 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon 1968.jpg|thumb|Johnson meeting with Republican presidential candidate [[Richard Nixon]] in the [[White House]] in July 1968]]
In early January 1968, Johnson asked former speechwriter [[Horace Busby]] to draft a statement announcing his withdrawal from the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]] to be included in his upcoming [[State of the Union]] address, but Johnson ultimately did not include it.

Since Johnson had served less than 24&nbsp;months of President Kennedy's term, he was [[22nd Amendment|constitutionally permitted]] to run for a second full term in 1968.<ref>{{cite news |title=Johnson Can Seek Two Full Terms |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 24, 1963 |page=A2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Moore |first=William |title=Law Permits 2 Full Terms for Johnson |newspaper=The Chicago Tribune |date=November 24, 1963 |page=7}}</ref> Initially, no prominent Democratic candidate was prepared to run against a sitting Democratic president. Only Senator [[Eugene McCarthy]] of [[Minnesota]] challenged Johnson as an anti-war candidate in the [[New Hampshire]] [[primary election|primary]], hoping to pressure the Democrats to oppose the [[Vietnam War]].

On March 12, McCarthy won 42&nbsp;percent of the primary vote to Johnson's 49&nbsp;percent, an amazingly strong showing for such a challenger. Four days later, Senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] entered the race. Internal polling by Johnson's campaign in [[Wisconsin]], which was scheduled to hold the next primary, showed Johnson, who had not left the [[White House]] to campaign, trailing badly.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In 1968, Johnson found himself losing control of his party, which was splitting into four generally antagonistic factions. The first consisted of Johnson (and Humphrey), labor unions, and local party bosses led by [[Richard J. Daley]], the mayor of Chicago. The second consisted of students and intellectuals who were vociferously against the war and rallied behind McCarthy. The third group was Catholics, Hispanics, and African Americans, who rallied behind Robert F. Kennedy. The fourth group was traditionally segregationist white Southerners, who rallied behind [[George C. Wallace]] and the [[American Independent Party]]. Varying positions of the Vietnam War was one of several issues that splintered the party, and Johnson saw no way to win the war<ref name="scholastic"/> or unite the party long enough to win re-election.<ref>{{harvnb|Gould|2010|pp=31, 47}}</ref>

Although it was not made public at the time, another reason Johnson decided not to seek re-election is that he was worried about his failing health and was concerned that he might not live through another term. The previous year, in 1967, he secretly commissioned an actuarial study that accurately predicted he would die at age 64.<ref name="LastDays">{{cite magazine|last=Janos|first=Leo|title=The Last Days of the President|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1973/07/the-last-days-of-the-president/376281/|date=July 1973|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]}}</ref>

Two months later, however, spurred by his health concerns and a growing realization that his political capital was evaporated, Johnson again considered withdrawing and discussed the possibility with [[Joseph A. Califano Jr.|Joseph A. Califano Jr]] and [[Harry McPherson]] on March 28.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Risen |first=Clay |title=The Unmaking of the President |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/ |access-date=January 24, 2021 |date=April 2008 |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119112605/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/ |archive-date=November 19, 2020| url-status=live}}</ref>

Three days after meeting with Califano and McPherson, Johnson announced that "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-31-1968-remarks-decision-not-seek-re-election|title=Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election (March 31, 1968)|publisher=The Miller Center, University of Virginia|access-date=October 2, 2017|date=October 20, 2016}}</ref> The next day, the president's approval ratings increased from 36&nbsp;percent to 49&nbsp;percent.<ref name=Updegrove12>{{cite book|last=Updegrove|first=Mark K.|title=Indomitable will : LBJ in the presidency|year=2012|publisher=Crown|location=New York|isbn=978-0-307-88771-9|edition=1st|page=272}}</ref>

After [[Robert Kennedy's assassination]], Johnson rallied the party bosses and unions to nominate Humphrey at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]]. Personal correspondences between the President and some Republicans suggested Johnson tacitly supported [[Nelson Rockefeller|Nelson Rockefeller's]] campaign. He reportedly said that if Rockefeller became the Republican nominee, he would not campaign against him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Perlstein |first=Rick |author-link=Rick Perlstein |title=Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America |title-link=Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7432-4302-5}}</ref>

In what was termed the [[October surprise]], Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of [[North Vietnam]]", effective November 1, should the [[Hanoi]] Government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the [[Paris Peace Accords|Paris peace talks]]. A week later, on November 5, Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]] won the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]].