44 Years Ago: Death Of Lyndon B. Johnson; Abortion Becomes Legal; End Of Engagement In Vietnam War–We Must Learn From These Events!

Ronald 17 Comments

44 years ago, on January 22, former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at the age of 64, and the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of Roe V. Wade, that women had a right to abortion in the first two trimesters.

44 years ago on January 23, announcement of an agreement to end US involvement in the Vietnam War was announced in Paris, therefore denying LBJ the ability to know of the peace agreement before his death, in a war that had forced him out of the Presidential race in 1968.

Looking back 44 years and to today in 2017, we can reflect that the Great Society of LBJ is under attack in a massive way, as is the New Deal of FDR. We are going backwards in so many ways under President Donald Trump.

Also, abortion rights are being taken away in many areas and by government policy, and the danger is that Roe V Wade could be reversed in a future Supreme Court decision, once a Trump appointed Justice is added to the Court. So women’s rights to control their own bodies will now face new restrictions, and will lead to more deaths, and abuses.

And our engagement in Vietnam, a massive mistake, has not been learned from, as now there are hints that Donald Trump is ready to send troops to fight ISIL (ISIS), committing us to a massive war in the Middle East, and with Trump asserting yesterday that America might just seize the oil of Iraq for ourselves, which would be a war crime, and a continuation of US imperialism overseas.

This is why we have intervened so much since World War II in other nations in the Middle East and in Asia, as well as Latin America.

And do not be surprised by a move to engage in war with Iran, in support of the right wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, and more warfare in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas of the Palestinians.

This is not to endorse Iran, the Palestinians, or anyone else, but to point out, it looks as if we are on the way to another major military conflict, that will cost American lives and make tons of profit for the war industry. And we are likely to see a new generation of American military personnel who end up having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and are unlikely to gain proper medical treatment for that condition.

In many ways, America has learned nothing from our historical experiences, and we are reverting to past mistakes in domestic and foreign policy.

17 comments on “44 Years Ago: Death Of Lyndon B. Johnson; Abortion Becomes Legal; End Of Engagement In Vietnam War–We Must Learn From These Events!”

  1. Paul Doyle January 24, 2017 9:43 am

    LBJ died two days after the second inauguration of Richard Nixon with the cover up of Watergate percolating in the background.

  2. Ronald January 24, 2017 9:59 am

    That is correct, Paul, and there were no former Presidents alive until Nixon resigned, as Truman had died on December 26, 1972, 27 days earlier than LBJ.

  3. Paul Doyle January 24, 2017 3:35 pm

    And revisionist history gave Truman a bump up with the publication of Merle Miller’s “Plain Speaking” a year and half later in 1974.

  4. Ronald January 24, 2017 3:39 pm

    That is correct. Paul!

  7. Paul Doyle January 24, 2017 6:16 pm

    Sigh…
    Professor, your post rekindled memories of the early 70’s and electoral politics. The 1972 Democratic primary season had just as many candidates as the 2016 GOP did in theirs.

    Who remembers the roster before George McGovern won the nomination in the wee hours of the convention nomination night?

    Henry Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Edmund Muskie, John Lindsey, Eugene McCarthy, Sam Yorty, Birch Bayh, Hubert Humphrey, Wilbur Mills (with Fannie Foxe somewhere in the background),. Even George Wallace, Patsy Mink and Harold Hughes got into the act.

    Alas, Don Quixote lost the battle with the windmill as McGovern’s longshot bid became even longer when his VP pick, Thomas Eagleton dropped out in favor of Sargent Shriver after it was revealed he fought depression with electro shock therapy.

    I was so disillusioned after that and the almost as many candidates running in 1976, I ended up voting for Fred Harris in the primary, passing up Mo Udall, Jerry Brown, Frank Church, Henry Jackson, and, yes that peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia.

    Footnote. Just as shocking the revelation was of Eagleton method of fighting his battles with depression, the wife of a future candidate, Kitty Dukakis has recently written a book touting the success of electroshock therapy successfully fighting her life long battle with the same disease.

  11. Ronald January 24, 2017 10:02 pm

    Thanks, Paul, for your reminiscences about the 1970s politics.

    I was for Birch Bayh and then Frank Church in 1976.

    I suffered through George McGovern’s loss in 1972as I could identify with him as a PH D student at the time, and him having a doctorate in history and having been a college professor, which I was just starting to be in 1972, starting teaching my first class ever eleven days before the Watergate break-in.

    And I was impressed about Kitty Dukakis’s story which I heard on NPR!

    Thanks again!

  12. Former Republican January 25, 2017 12:13 pm

    Thanks for that news Southern Liberal. Sounds to me like any government agency disagreeing with Trumpolini’s “alternate facts” is being censored.

  13. Princess Leia January 25, 2017 12:14 pm

    I predict Trump has a mental breakdown by the end of his first year, unless something else happens, like a stroke or an assassination attempt or a coup.

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