‘Johnson Felt People Did Not Want Him’
r.VZ Press Assn.—Copyright; CANBERRA, April 9.
President Johnson decided not to seek another term because he felt the people did not want him, Mrs Zara Holt said yesterday.
Mrs Holt, the widow of the former Prime Minister, returned from her two-month overseas trip after attending the memorial service for her husband in Westminster Abbey, London. She was a guest at the White House for two days and was in New York when President Johnson announced that he would not stand for another term.
“I think they all got a bit of a shock,” she said. “From my stay at the White House I had not the slightest feeling that be was preparing
for such a step or was more than usually worried, there was absolutely no suggestion of it “He looked tired and exhausted but he certainly did not look ill. I am sure it is not a political stunt I think he felt the people did not want him as President and so decided to step down. “He is a dedicated American and I think he put his country first in his own mind. “I was so sorry. He is important to the whole world, not just America. “He is a patient man, a nice man, and, more than that a great man.
“I feel that the people had taken everything that the man could give: brain, nerve, energy and determination. I have never thought they valued him the way they should value him.”
‘Johnson Felt People Did Not Want Him’
Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31652, 11 April 1968, Page 15
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