President Joe Biden, dogged by questions about his own insight, privately acknowledged that the coming days will be a key test of his reelection campaign, as reported by CNN earlier this week.
He has remained openly defiant and insists he will continue his campaign, but if he ultimately decides to seek reelection, he would not be the first president to step down.
More recently, in 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson shocked the nation by announcing at the end of an Oval Office speech about his plans to limit U.S. military operations in Vietnam that he would not run for office. Here is an excerpt from that speech:
At a time when America's sons are toiling in far-flung fields, when America's future is at stake at home, and our hopes for peace and that of the world are daily threatened, I do not believe that I should waste an hour of my time, or a day, on personal partisan activities or on any other duty than the great duties of this office, the Presidency of your country. Therefore, I will not seek or accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President.
Nearly 60 years old Johnson looked very old when he gave the speech: He died of a sudden heart attack in 1973 at age 64, before he was eligible for Medicare or other retirement benefits. He signed it into law, expanding Social Security.
Unlike Biden, Johnson faced multiple challenges for the Democratic nomination before dropping out of the race in the spring of 1968. Racial strife in the United States, combined with the nation's division over the Vietnam War, led to a decline in Johnson's popularity. In early 1968, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam revealed that the Communist forces in Vietnam were much stronger than the U.S. military had claimed, and American casualties in the war also increased.
Read more about Johnson's decision not to run for a second term here.
