Praveena Somasundaram — who may not even have been born when it happened — reminds us of that day when America was shocked by President Lyndon Johnson announcing he would not seek re-election.
I was sixteen that night and did not hear it live. He kind of buried the lede in a long speech about the Vietnam War. I was watching something else in my room when my mother came in and told me I might want to switch over to what the three major networks were carrying. It was just post-speech and I recall a couple of unprepared-for-this news anchors babbling on, gasping 'n' grasping for something to say about L.B.J.'s utterly-unexpected announcement. The phrase "It's a brand-new ball game" was heard a couple of times.
Gee, I wonder why The Washington Post ran an article about this now.