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This unique volume, containing official printings of Johnson’s State Of the Union Addresses, from 1966-68, each signed by him, traces his often conflicted approach to the Vietnam War over three terms. Despite his escalation of the war in 1965, “Johnson did not want a war in Vietnam and did not want to be a war president… Johnson felt compelled to maintain… the commitments that his predecessors had made… His thinking was driven by the containment notion that South Vietnam was an outpost on the front line of the global Cold War and by his political sense that this frustrating war was a real danger to his domestic agenda” (Anderson, Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War, 44-48).

 

Johnson’s 1966 State of the Union importantly conveys his early conviction that Vietnam would not derail his social programs. “I believe that we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam,” Johnson states. “We will give our fighting men what they must have: every gun, and every dollar, and every decision—whatever the cost or whatever the challenge… And let me be absolutely clear: The days may become months, and the months may become years, but we will stay as long as aggression commands us to battle.” His 1967 State of the Union, despite continuing to assert his vision for the Great Society, reveals an emerging pessimism: “this is a time of testing for our nation. At home, the question is whether we will continue working for better opportunities… Abroad, the question is whether we have the staying power to fight a very costly war… I wish I could report to you that the conflict is almost over. This I cannot do. We face more cost, more loss, and more agony.”

 

In Johnson’s final State of the Union, delivered January 17, 1968, he opens with a brief summation of attempts to negotiate peace in Vietnam before turning to an extended focus on domestic upheaval. “Tonight our Nation is accomplishing more for its people than has ever been accomplished before… Yet there is in the land a certain restlessness.” Noting the “despair and frustrated hopes in the cities where the fires of disorder burned last summer,” Johnson insists: “We can—and in time we will—change that despair into confidence.” He concludes: “So this, my friends, is the State of our Union: seeking, building, tested many times in this past year—and always equal to the test. Thank you and good night.” The year’s subsequent presidential election would come “at the height of the Vietnam War and in the wake of major upheavals in the struggle for civil rights… Johnson withdrew as a candidate for reelection on March 31, leaving Senator Robert F. Kennedy the front runner. Kennedy, however, was assassinated in June, and the nomination ultimately went to Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey…. Humphrey too wanted the war to end but for most of the campaign defended Johnson’s policies” (Anderson, 117), and Nixon was elected the nation’s 37th president.

 

This volume also contains, bound in at the rear, a typed letter on the letterhead of Vice President Humphrey (measuring 7 by 9 inches unfolded) and signed by him. Humphrey’s letter is dated February 20, 1968, one month after Johnson’s final State of the Union and one month before he startled the nation by announcing: “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” In his letter to Minnesota supporter Charles L. Horn, Humphrey, who would become his party’s presidential nominee, writes (in typescript on recto) “Dear Charlie; Ask and it shall be yours. The President was happy to sign his State of the Union messages for you, and they are enclosed. With my best wishes. Sincerely, [signed] Hubert H. [typescript] Hubert H. Humphrey. [at lower left] Mr. Charles L. Horn. 2700 Foshay Tower, Minneapolis, Minesota 55402.” Following the letter, also bound in, is the accompanying original letterhead envelope (10 by 6-1/2 inches unfolded) of the “Office of the Vice President, Washington, D.C. Official Business,” with a facsimile of Humphrey’s signature at the upper right, addressed in typescript on the recto to: Mr. Charles L. Horn, 2700 Foshay Tower, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402.” Inkstamp on envelope verso stating: “Received Feb 23, 1968 Federal Cartridge Corp. Minneapolis, Minn.” Small numerical notation to envelope recto. Recipient Charles Horn was founder and president of Federal Cartridge Corporation in 1922 and served as longtime chairman of the Olin Foundation. During WWII Horn’s company’s TCOP plant earned the “E” award for excellence in war production. In 2004 Minnesota congressman Mark Kennedy honored Charles Horn on the floor of Congress as “a true American icon. A successful businessman who gave generously to his community, Horn will long be remembered… as an innovator and a dedicated philanthropist” (Congressional Record: Volume 150, No. 26).

 

A fine collection of major signed State of the Union messages, together with a fine signed letter and accompanying letterhead envelope, handsomely bound.