"At the apartment, Johnson, Humphrey and I took seats in the vice president's small study. Handing the speech to Humphrey, Johnson said he wanted Humphrey's comments. Reading through the main text, Humphrey was his usual ebullient self, with many positive comments. Then came the 'I will not seek' peroration. Humphrey became short of breath, as if he was having an anxiety attack. He looked up, speechless. Johnson admonished Humphrey not to say anything because the decision to make the announcement wasn't final. Humphrey's eyes moistened. Then, perhaps thinking of his failed 1960 campaign for the Democratic nomination against John F. Kennedy and of Robert Kennedy's recent entry into the '68 race, Humphrey said, 'There's no way I can beat the Kennedys.'"
In the Los Angeles Times, Johnson Administration member James R. Jones recalls LBJ's decision forty years ago to drop out of the 1968 presidential campaign.
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