With Americans in turmoil over the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson framed his 1968 State of the Union Address around this rhetorical question, "Why, then, this restlessness?" Three months later, that same restlessness forced LBJ to abandon his dreams of another term in the White House.
There is no better gauge to the political realities behind a war-time address than the rhetorical questions the president feels compelled to pose. When the Commander in Chief has to ask, "Is the sacrifice worth...
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