October 31

Everything old is new again
On the 31st in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation to inform the populace that due to the progress achieved at the Paris Peace Talks he was ordering the complete cessation of “all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam.” Things went from bad to worse after his announcement of this good news, the first good news in a very long time, and the war in Vietnam would continue and escalate, with ever-growing ferocity, until April 30, 1975. Johnson’s address was the 60s version of President Bush’s appearance on a naval vessel standing beneath a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished”.