LBJ Will Not Run for Reelection (1968)

 

LBJ Will Not Run for Reelection
President Johnson addresses the Nation
Type of Activity	Presidential Announcement
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	March 31, 1968
Coordinates	38°53'51.2"N 77°02'20.9"W

On the evening of March 31, 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the nation in a televised speech that would become one of the most consequential moments in modern American political history. What began as a policy address on the intensifying war in Vietnam ended with a stunning and unexpected declaration—he would not seek another term as President of the United States.

It was a stunning decision the media said but the LBJ papers tell a different story. He had been thinking of not running again since the start of his first full term in 1965. He almost announced it at the end of the 1968 State of the Union, but thought that was not the best setting for it.

He was so concerned about his health and the fact that "Johnson men" died young that he had an actuary report done in 1967. That said Johnson probably would have been renominated in 1968.

• He was the incumbent and had the power of the incumbency.
• Primaries were not as important in 1968 than they would become in later years.
• Johnson and the organization Dems controlled the party machinery and state conventions where most delegates were selected.
• People forget that when RFK was assassinated in June, 1968 that VP Hubert Humphrey, despite not competing in the primaries, was leading in delegates due to party caucuses and conventions. It has always been presumed that if RFK had lived he would have been the nominee and victor over Nixon. I don’t believe that either scenarios were realistic. Johnson was not only hostile to RFK, his expedient conversion from a long-time cold warrior to the peace Candidate made Johnson far better aligned with Nixon’s foreign policy aims.
• Health was an issue with LBJ not long before this speech LBJ had recovered from a major heart attack. 
• More likely it was the obvious futility of the Viet Nam intervention that would cause him serious damage to his overall health. This concern was to much to ignore.
• At the time, the country was deeply divided. The Vietnam War had escalated dramatically under Johnson’s leadership, and the recent Tet Offensive had shaken public confidence in the war effort. Anti-war protests were growing across the nation, and political opposition was mounting not only from Republicans but within Johnson’s own Democratic Party.

LBJ Stuns Nation with his announcement

In his address, Johnson outlined a partial halt to the bombing of North Vietnam and called for renewed peace negotiations. His tone was resolute yet reflective, signaling both determination and the heavy burden of leadership during wartime. Then, in the final moments of the speech, he delivered the line that would define his presidency:

“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”

The announcement stunned viewers. There had been little public indication that Johnson would step aside, despite declining approval ratings and increasing political pressure. His decision instantly reshaped the 1968 presidential race, opening the door for new Democratic contenders and altering the trajectory of American politics.

Johnson’s withdrawal can be understood through several lenses. Personally, he was reportedly exhausted by the demands of the presidency and the unrelenting strain of the Vietnam conflict. Politically, he faced significant challenges from anti-war candidates such as Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy, whose campaigns exposed deep fractures within the Democratic Party.

The broader context of 1968 only amplified the significance of Johnson’s decision. It was a year marked by upheaval: civil rights struggles, widespread protests, and national trauma. Just days after Johnson’s announcement, the nation would be rocked by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., further deepening the sense of crisis.

Though Johnson would serve out the remainder of his term, his decision not to run again marked a turning point. It reflected both the limits of presidential power during a deeply unpopular war and the profound impact of public opinion on national leadership.

The Nation learns that LBJ will not seek reelection

Legacy of the Announcement

Johnson’s decision remains one of the rare instances in U.S. history where a sitting president voluntarily stepped away from reelection despite being eligible to run. It underscored the immense pressures of leadership during wartime and reflected a personal calculation that the nation’s needs outweighed political ambition.

In the months that followed, peace talks with North Vietnam began, though the war would continue for years. Meanwhile, 1968 unfolded as one of the most turbulent years in modern American history, marked by political upheaval, protest, and tragedy.

Yet Johnson’s closing words endure—simple, direct, and historic. In a single sentence, he relinquished power and altered the course of an election, a war, and a nation.

In retrospect, the March 31 address stands as a defining moment of political humility and realism. By stepping aside, Johnson acknowledged the divisions within the country and his own diminished capacity to unify it. His words continue to resonate as a rare instance of a sitting president voluntarily relinquishing the pursuit of power at a critical moment in American history.

It is a bit strange that LBJ had been so ambitious in getting to the top and once he was there, he no longer seemed to want the job. I still salute him for what he was able to get done during his term as President.

President Johnson's withdrawal therefore placed Vice President Humphrey in a political position unlike that of any ordinary presidential candidate. He was not simply seeking the presidency; he was attempting to inherit an administration that was deeply controversial while simultaneously convincing Democrats that he could lead the country beyond the divisions of the Johnson years.

The relationship between President Johnson and Vice President Humphrey remained important throughout the 1968 campaign. President Johnson ultimately became an active supporter of Humphrey's candidacy. In October, President Johnson publicly urged Democrats to elect Vice President Humphrey and Edmund Muskie.

But by then the political damage was substantial. The Democratic Party remained divided between supporters of the administration, antiwar Democrats, and other factions. Humphrey won the Democratic nomination at the Chicago convention in August 1968, but the convention itself became a symbol of the nation's political divisions.

The tragedy of 1968 extended beyond the political campaign. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June further transformed an already extraordinary year. The Vice President later recalled that the sequence of events had become almost unbearable and that he temporarily suspended his campaign following Kennedy's assassination.

Humphrey's experience in 1968 illustrates the complicated nature of political loyalty. He had spent years building a national reputation as a liberal Democrat and civil-rights advocate, yet as vice president he had become inseparably associated with Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War. When the President unexpectedly withdrew on March 31, Vice President Humphrey inherited both the advantages and the burdens of that association.

President Johnson's decision was therefore a turning point not only for the president but for Vice President Humphrey. Within weeks, the vice president went from being the second-ranking official in the administration to being the leading figure in a struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The irony was that Vice President Humphrey had not planned to enter the 1968 campaign under those circumstances. President Johnson's withdrawal gave him the opportunity he had sought for much of his political career, but it gave him that opportunity at the worst possible moment for the Democratic Party. The Vietnam War, racial conflict, social unrest, and the struggle over the future direction of American liberalism had converged in a single election year.

The Vice President's reaction to the Presidents' announcement was consequently more than surprise. It was the beginning of a political transformation. He had lost the president whose administration he had loyally served, inherited the political consequences of that administration, and suddenly found himself responsible for trying to hold together a Democratic Party that was coming apart.

March 31, 1968, changed Vice President Hubert H Humphrey's political life forever. President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek another term opened the door to Vice President Humphrey's presidential campaign—but it also placed him directly in the middle of the political storm that defined one of the most consequential elections in American history.

The 1968 campaign presented special problems for all of us in WHCA. When RFK was assassinated there was no Secret Service provided to any presidential candidate. Immediately after RFK’s death the Secret Service was directed to provide protection to all candidates until election day and a clear nominee was announced. That meant that WHCA would support the Secret Service at every location where the six presidential and vice-presidential candidates held a rally or gave a speech until after election day. Plus we still had a sitting President requiring a high level of security that required support until the inauguration in January 1969.

WHCA formed one-man teams, assigned them a standard radio trip package, everyone was given a book of Travel Requests (TR) and told to stand by. We were assigned one location at a time with City of the event, the Candidate’s name, the Advance SS Agents name and a contact number, with  the location of the SS Command Post. When the event concluded we were given the next location of a new event. We leap frogged over the entire country for approx. six months.

I supported all but one candidate multiple times and ended up in California two weeks prior to the 1968 election. In those last two weeks I supported three different candidates in five cities and six different events. On election night I crashed Richard Nixon’s victory party at the Century Plaza Hotel.

The day after election I collected all of the equipment and arranged to finally return to Washington DC and home.