Amid speculation over Joe Biden, the story of a US president who decided not to run for re-election

For the past few weeks, much of the US media’s focus has been on President Joe Biden’s age – and whether he will drop out of his re-election race.

Biden has maintained that he will not do so despite a growing call from some in his own party and Hollywood Democratic fundraisers including George Clooney.

He has remained insistent that he is the best candidate to beat former president Donald Trump in November.

He has said that ‘only the Lord almighty’ can convince him otherwise.

However, if he changes his mind, Biden wouldn’t be the first president to do so.

The last sitting president to do so would be Lyndon Baines Johnson – better known as LBJ.

But what happened? Why did LBJ not seek re-election?

Let’s take a closer look:

Who was LBJ?

First, let’s take a brief look at LBJ.

LBJ was born on August 27, 1908, in Texas.

Johnson, a moderate Democrat, served as vice-president under John F Kennedy.

Kennedy, a charismatic personality and a fabulous orator, hailed from the famed Kennedy family.

He took power after defeating Richard M Nixon in a close contest in 1960.

However, in November 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

It was then that Johnson took over as Commander-In-Chief.

Johnson played a hugely important role in the tumultuous days after Kennedy’s assignation – helping soothe an anxious nation.

Invoking the memory of Kennedy while addressing a joint session of US Congress, Johnson urged them to pass the Civil Rights Act.

The passage of the landmark act was arguably Johnson’s biggest achievement as president.

Johnson in 1964 defeated Republican Barry Goldwater to retain the presidency.

Johnson’s victory was one of truly epic proportions.

He got over 61 per cent of the popular vote – the largest ever for a US presidential election.

More importantly, Johnson also decimated Goldwater where it counted – in the Electoral College.

Johnson won 486 votes in the Electoral College compared to just 52 for Goldwater.

By the start of 1968, LBJ had some other big achievements as well.

LBJ had begun his quest to create the ‘Great Society.’

He declared a war on poverty and pushed through a far-reaching legislative agenda including Medicare.

In 1964, he had pushed through a massive tax cut for businesses and citizens.

But Johnson stunned many when he decided he wasn’t going to run for re-election.

So, what happened?

Why LBJ decided not to run again

In a word? Vietnam.

The US quagmire by which all other quagmires are judged to this day.

Though Johnson had received authorisation from Congress to send troops to Vietnam – a war he inherited from his predecessor Kennedy – the conflict had slowly grown more unpopular.

The United States was also undergoing a schism – over race, class, ideology, gender and age.

Things would become worse when on January 30, 1968, America’s enemies in Vietnam began their Tet Offensive push.

Vietnam would be the nail in Johnson’s political coffin.

According to the Bill of Rights Institute website, the Tet Offensive completely altered the way the US public looked at the war.

Prior to it, half of those polled said the US was making progress in successfully ending the war.

After the offensive, just a third of people polled said so.

Meanwhile, nearly half of those polled said the US ought never to have gone into Vietnam in the first place.

The Democrats were equally divided over the war.

Robert F Kennedy, the brother of the slain president and the former US Attorney General, who was said to disdain LBJ, said, “Our enemy, savagely striking at will across all of South Vietnam, has finally shattered the mask of official illusion with which we have concealed our true circumstances, even from ourselves.”

Kennedy added that the US seemed “unable to defeat our enemy or break his will—at least without a huge, long and ever more costly effort.”

Senator Eugene McCarthy, who had announced he would run against LBJ in the primaries, then shocked many by nearly dethroning the incumbent in the first presidential primary in New Hampshire.

McCarthy was the voice of the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy also announced his candidacy for president.

Johnson, on March 31, 1968, shocked the world twice.

First, he announced a cessation of bombing against North Vietnam.

Then, he declared that he would not seek re-election.

“With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office–the Presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president,” Johnson said.

But others say Vietnam wasn’t LBJ’s only concern.

Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, told CNN that LBJ was equally concerned about his health.

“There’s the misconception that LBJ opted not to run again due solely to the growing controversy and divisions over the war in Vietnam. That may have been part of it, but his principal concern was his health,” Updegrove said.

“He had had a nearly fatal heart attack in 1955, and his family had a history of fatal heart disease. He didn’t want to put the country through the kind of crisis we had gone through with the sudden death of FDR in 1945, and Woodrow Wilson’s stroke in 1919, which left him incapacitated,” he added.

What happened next

For the Democrats, what happened next was pure disaster.

In April, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, who provided LBJ with moral support during the passage of the Civil Rights Act, was assassinated.

Riots broke out in cities across the United States – forcing LBJ to send in the National Guard.

Robert F Kennedy, like his brother, would also meet his end at the hands of an assassin’s bullet just a few months later.

The Democratic Party at their Chicago convention in August 1968 chose to nominate Hubert Humphrey over the stridently anti-war and far more popular McCarthy.

This came amid scenes of brutal street fighting outside the convention between protesters and the Chicago police – sending the signal that the Democrats were a house divided and that the country was spiralling out of control.

On the other side, the Republicans elevated a familiar face – Nixon.

Nixon touted a ‘secret plan’ to end the Vietnam War.

He also declared himself the ‘law and order’ candidate – appealing to voters who were frightened by tumult they had endured and the violence they had seen.

Nixon then defeated Humphries in the 1968 election – with a little bit of an assist from Independent candidate and segregationist George Wallace.

Nixon, though he won just 43.4 per cent of the popular vote, nabbed 301 Electoral Votes.

Humphries, meanwhile, got just 191 Electoral Votes.

Wallace, who won multiple southern states, received 46 Electoral Votes.

Will history repeat itself?

Only time will tell.

With inputs from agencies