European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 22, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Saul Pett a staff writer from accession to withdrawal the time was rounded in ironic symmetry. He began with a nation stunned an bewildered. His withdrawal came with a nation stunned and bewildered. He began in the lengthening Shadow of a dead Kennedy. He ends in the lengthening Shadow of a live , it seems there was a Kennedy. He began with a plea for Unity. Heeds with a plea for a Unity that appears More elusive than Ever. But curiously it was at the beginning when he became president and at. The end when he said he would not again be president that he attracted the most compassion from his countrymen. He began with a nation shaken by violence in the Street. He ends with a nation shaken by far More violence inthe streets. He began with a nation turning in on itself and questioning it self. He ends in a time of greater National soul searching. My god my god what Are we com ing to cried House speaker John Mccormack Back there in november 1963after the president of the United states was shot and killed in the Street and his accused murderer was shot and killed in a jail two Days  then Many More americans have asked that agonizing question of themselves As they watch on television americans dying in a Distant War a they also watch on television Ameri cans killing americans in the streets Ina War that seems to defy Hope. Thus the Lyndon Johnson years framed in an Arch of Paradox. And in Between years of Triumph and defeat Hope and dismay and Many Many separate  had pushed through Congress in his administration More civil right legislation than any president in his tory and yet at the end the country racial problem was More acute than Ever. He had passed More social legis lation than any president since Frank Lin Roosevelt and yet he lost the Liber als. He spent More Federal Money on education than any other president and yet he lost the intellectuals and the Stu dents. He won in 1964, the biggest land slide in history and yet four years later he found himself at the Center of More divisiveness than perhaps any the country had seen since the civil  in the name and Hope of Unity he Felt obliged to renounce further Claimon the presidency. No one can yet know How history will remember Lyndon Johnson. If he is remembered positively it will Likely before a determined stand on principle in foreign affairs and social Progress at Home. Both possibilities would seem to require certain events to occur in the months left to him in office peace in Vietnam and the avoidance of a National explosion at Home. If he is remembered negatively there Likely will be historians who will say he was a victim in Many ways of himself and a victim of events of personal Man Ner and the deep impersonal currents of his  the beginning he was plagued by the word style and to the end by the phrase credibility  even at the moment Many called his finest when he announced a partial bombing pause in North Vietnam when he revealed he would not seek and would not accept renomination there were those who suspected a double reverse plot that somehow on a counter Averof emotion would bring him the Nomi nation by  Days later even As Lyndon Johnson seemed to have consigned him self to the limbo of a lame Duck things began to happen. Or seemed to. Hanoi in its first hopeful sign said it was ready to talk about peace talks. The currents of history that Trou bled Lyndon Johnson s administration were already moving when he became president he inherited a Small War and a still Small race problem both grew profoundly Large. Between that dark november in 1963,when he became president to that stun Ning sunday night when he said he would not run again the War in Viet Nam grew and grew and would not go away. It grew into an american War from 16,000 american troops to More than 511,000. It grew in american casual Page 12 in irony Itema a so a v irs-ftmmm�&z3m up he began in the lengthening Shadow of a dead Kennedy. Up " Arizona 1961 he inherited a Small War and a till so race problem. Both grew profoundly  in the White House 1968 and now there comes Robert  Here inspecting riot torn Washington up ties from 120 deaths to More than 20,-000. It grew in puzzlement in confusion and frustration until it seemed to approach the ultimate in dilemma a Ware could not afford to lose or go All out to win. It grew into a storm of loud and bitter protest at Home and abroad but Lyndon Johnson stuck to his gun Sand said we would see it through. And Between that same november in19b3 and that sunday night America s Battle of conscience at Home grew and grew. It began then in what now seems like a quieter time when the racial eruptions appeared confined to the South and negroes there with the Wel come Aid of Young White liberals from the North were demonstrating for their constitutional rights. The White North leaned Back and said with self Righte Ous concern in t it awful about Selma and Birmingham and the old South but that was Only the beginning of the convulsion. And then came Lyndon Johnson the first Man from the South to become president in 100 years. He stood up inthe House and in his first presidential address before a joint session of con Gress on a night when his countrymen were still numbed by the trauma of John Kennedy s death Lyndon Johnson pleaded for Quick and comprehensive civil rights legislation. This Man wit the tones of the South who had moved into the White House with great care to preserve the nation s sense of continuity and Unity was particularly moving that night. He ended his speech with the familiar words America America god shed his Grace on thee and Crown thy goo with brotherhood from sea to shining  unlike the president before him Lyn Don Johnson soon got a civil rights Bill dealing with Public accommodations equal employment and strengthening previous legislation affecting desegregation of schools. The next year he got another Bill affecting negro voting rights suspending literacy tests and permitting use of Federal registrars i much of the South. He opened a War on poverty and be fore he was through a total of $5.7 billion was moving toward the nation slums Black and White. He got billions appropriated to Aid education he go medicare raised the minimum wage und social Security benefits. He got these and other Bills through and National Prosperity climbed to record peaks and the unemployment rate fell from 5.8 per cent Lute in 1963 to 3.7 per cent Early this year. But the big Domestic problem would not go away. And it grew and it grew from isolated eruptions in the South to Mam Moth nightmares of bloodletting i Watts and Newark and Detroit and other cities in turmoil in the North. And like the Vietnam War which would t go away the racial under grew and people were asking if anarchy or revolution was next and in the pro � found wonderment and confusion and i apprehension a giant thins p 1.1?malaise spread across the am1. Amm Ca suddenly seemed terribly Uncertain. These were the historic current the stars and stripes Mana special Man who tory in a special Way. There was Lyndon Johnson master manipulator magical majority Leader a the Senate who knew where the Bod were buried and where the votes we to be had and he never moved Wey said without the votes. But in i960 the political master Trig to become president and was Soun trounced by a younger Man e j Cor Kennedy a senator with a so so r and no particular repute on 01 a in the Power game. So l Luigi a surprised everybody Wall cd y As big As the Texas Sny i a a Consolation prize nomination 101 president. Rome to but like so much that would no later if there was satisfaction to bin ,1 from second spot on the tuck not undiluted. Johnson left Naiven Tion in los Angeles Cornice month Lias Kennedy an intensive Young up Nany years his Junior had tried up him. Ice president he quickly disco Nat even he the former majority would have no Power. Hein humiliating impotence and a and people who were there was inclined to blame his Trou in Robert Kennedy the attorney the president s brother and for jct Cal purposes the second Mostman in government. Only those bullets exploded on nov. 22, 1963, and the Man exas who had t been Able to on his own was president. He like a whirlwind piled up Adous legislative record and be roaring through every sight from Railroad strikes to y conducted Tours of the White rom the Panama crisis to a in the executive mansion. Folksy or just Plain corny thus or devious inspiring per i Iru he is win twister Lyndon Boson was now firmly in the Byal in a few months he hf1.  and relish . No you can t e i presi Dent ii save the  after dangling it " managed suspense Between 1968 army the War in Vietnam grew and grew and would not go away. It grew into an american War., h Here in War zone the stars and stripes pa9e 13