Ihe Political Devaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson

political situation was summarized as follows by Walter Lippmann in his November 19 TV interview. He stated that "the country was in a mess," that "this is the most unpopular war" in his experience, and that Lyndon B. Johnson is treading a path analogous to that of Herbert Hoover. The war is discrediting the president, he said, just as the depression discredited Hoover to the point where he feared to go out of the White House by the end of 1932. Lippmann predicted that Johnson would be defeated if he ran again next year. Were he by chance to be reelected, that outcome, said Lippmann, would be dangerous and disastrous for the country.