Ep. 7: No Exit

Lyndon Johnson has been talking about escaping the presidency almost since the day he took office. But finally, on March 31, 1968, he stuns the nation with an announcement that he won't seek reelection that fall. This episode presents a beat-by-beat account of the day, through Lady Bird's perspective -- it's a moment she's been planning with Lyndon for four years. But there's just a brief bit of relief following Lyndon's speech. Just four days later, Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, and violence erupts across the nation. Riots rock Washington, DC. Both Lyndon and Lady Bird seem besieged in the aftermath of this tragedy: neither attends the funeral for Dr. King in Atlanta, ceding it to a constellation of '60s stars like Stevie Wonder, Harry Belafonte, and Diana Ross, as well as members of congress, and presidential candidates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to Ep. 7: No Exit online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep. 7: No Exit is an episode from In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson by ABC News.

This episode is 36:56 long.

This episode was published on Apr 5, 2021.

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