maccarthy had been persuaded to run against johnson, to challenge johnson for the democratic nomination and in the fall of 1967. he was not getting anywhere. until be tet offensive and until the new hampshire primary that took place in amid march of that year and if that is for me i will call them back. in which maccarthy like the offensive but came so close to defeating him it was a psychological victory and a few days later senator robert f kennedy enters the nominating contests as well which was johnson's worst nightmare. there was an incredible dislike between kennedy and johnson. a visceral dislike. a chemical dislike. johnson spent his entire presidency thinking that senator kennedy was just waiting for an opportunity to drive him from office. this was his worst nightmare. he even had nightmares about this process. now it was coming true. by the end of march 1968, some of you remember watching the speech, primetime, network television. these were the days there were only three networks and at the president gave a speech in prime time, that was all that was on. the nation was watch