(LBJ in 1965 - Great plans, great ideas - eclipsed by Vietnam)

(Until we get back to normal, Newstalgia is reposting a series of articles on the Health Care issue, in case you missed them the first time around.)

When Lyndon Johnson gave his first State Of The Nation address on January 4, 1965 after winning the 1964 election, it was filled with hope and optimism. Every good idea and plan for the American people was on the boards and ready to go. Many of the programs were implemented - Medicare, The Civil Rights Bill, the War on Poverty - a lot of programs still in effect today.

LBJ: “We must open opportunity to all our people. Most Americans enjoy a good life. But far too many are still trapped in poverty and idleness and fear. Let a just nation throw open to them the city of promise. To the elderly, by providing hospital care under Social Security and by raising benefit payments to those struggling to maintain the dignity of their later years.”

But there was that one element which would eventually turn the focus from all the good programs to what had become one very bad idea: Vietnam.

By the end of 1965 our involvement went from "training and advisers for the South Vietnamese Army" to increased draft calls and escalating weekly casualty figures of our own. We were in it and we were stuck in it. And by the end of 1965 there looked like no turning back.

The domestic programs were great. The Great Society was a wonderful idea. It's often been said that, had there been no Vietnam, LBJ would have gone down in history as a truly progressive President. Vietnam would become the thorn in his side and his eventual downfall.

It's one of those quirks of history - the ones that often repeat.

Continuing our survey of States of the Union past, here is President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivering a pre-recorded State of the Union address on January 11, 1944, owing to a bout with the flu that prevented him from delivering it in person to Congress.

Since we were right in the middle of World War 2, concerns were naturally on how the progress of the war was going and how it was affecting life in this country during that time. There was optimism it would be over soon, as the tide on several fronts were changing in the Allies favor. Still, it was optimism with caution.

This address has also been known as FDR's "Second Bill Of Rights Speech", since he outlines the aims of the Roosevelt administration for a post-war era.

President Roosevelt: "As our Nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being."

In these particular times, it's good to remember as our basic needs haven't changed.

Continuing our look at States Of The Union Past - today it's 1960 and the seventh State of The Union given by President Eisenhower. Knee-deep in the Cold War and a few months away from the infamous U-2 Spy Plane incident, Eisenhower expressed a certain "whistling in the dark" assurance that no one in their right minds would be insane enough to start a nuclear war. He felt certain, but no one else did. No doubt there were just as many Russians who swore up and down we'd be the first ones insane enough to pull the trigger. But then, the Soviets had just as many Hawks in the Politburo as we had in Congress. So in a strange way there was a balance of fear.

An interesting sidelight is the tone, certainly in parts, of this State of The Union address. It is reminiscent of his Farewell address, leading one to suspect that in the year absolutely nothing changed.

President Eisenhower: “My purpose today is to discuss some features of America's position, both at home and in her relations to others. First, I point out that for us, annual self-examination is made a definite necessity by the fact that we now live in a divided world of uneasy equilibrium, with our side committed to its own protection and against aggression by the other. With both sides of this divided world in possession of unbelievably destructive weapons, mankind approaches a state where mutual annihilation becomes a possibility. No other fact of today's world equals this in importance--it colors everything we say, plan, and do.”

Did then, does now. Only the divisions are domestic and the world is infinitely smaller.