October 20

"There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves."

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President, 1963-1969- "from a news conference at the LBJ Ranch, Stonewall, Texas, on Saturday, November 28, 1964." This quote, uttered almost off-handedly by Johnson, has many levels of depth. Here he speaks on a Thanksgiving weekend from his Texas home, while taking a break from his duties in Washington, just a little over a year since the unfortunate assassination of President Kennedy. Taken by itself, it sounds like a reassuring statement for a still frazzled nation. On that level, he makes a very wise and home-spun statement that applies to almost any family, community, or national issue. However, in its political context, it seems to be more a back handed swipe directed towards our French ally, Charles de Gaulle. Twenty years after the end of World War II, de Gaulle seeks more autonomy from the Atlantic Alliance, also know as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which was formed in 1949 against further threats from Russia and East Germany. In the tense times of the 1960's Cold War between Russia and Western Europe and the United States, France seeks to be put on equal footing with Great Britain and the United States and to increase its military and nuclear power independently. Johnson states, "...The ultimate essentials of the defense of the Atlantic community are the firmness and the mutual trust of the United States and Europe...The safety of the United States depends upon the freedom of Europe, and the freedom of Europe depends upon the strength and the will of the United States...The United States is committed to the increasing strength and the cooperation of the Atlantic community in every field of action--economic, commercial, and monetary. There are no problems which we cannot solve together, and there are very few which any of us can settle by himself...The United States sees no safe future for ourselves and none for any other Atlantic nation in a policy of narrow national self-interest. One of the great aspirations within the Atlantic community is the aspiration toward growing unity among the free peoples of Europe...". Eventually a new European Union was formed but in 1966, France did pull out of complete compliance of the NATO alliance in its desire to strengthen itself. France also withdrew from its interests in French-Indo China (Vietnam). Partially as a result, Johnson and the United States escalated our military involvement in South-East Asia. The unpopular conflict grew and as more and more American lives were lost, in 1968 Johnson decided not to seek re-election. On a cultural level, the 1960's became a time of social upheaval with war and protest, draft-dodging, James Bond, the Civil Rights movement, hippies, and "the Generation Gap." Rather than solving problems together, the fabric of the nation was ripped apart and ever so slowly is spun and re-spun into our nation and world today.