America in '68: Nightmare in Vietnam (Part 1)
After ending the bombing of North Vietnam, who would replace Johnson?
Tonight I want to speak to you of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.鈥� On the night of Sunday, 31st of March 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, after announcing an end to the bombing of North Vietnam, stunned the world by revealing he would not seek the democratic nomination for that year鈥檚 presidential election. The seemingly never-ending Vietnam War had already made LBJ hugely unpopular with his progressive base. But now, facing challenges from Eugene McCarthy, the ambiguously anti-war senator from Minnesota, and Robert 鈥淏obby鈥� Kennedy, heir to the Kennedy throne, Johnson had decided to bow out. And so, as the war slowed for a moment, the Democrats would have to decide on the best candidate to take on a certain Richard M. Nixon鈥�
Join Tom and Dominic in the first episode of our six part series on America in 1968, as they look at the stories of Lyndon B. Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, and how the Vietnam War would come to define them both.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
