Newspapers: The Promised Land

After hearing President Johnson's State of the Union address, the Louisville Courier-Journal had a noble vision. ANOTHER MOSES STARTS TOWARD A PROMISED LAND, went the headline above the Courier's editorial assessment of the President's message: "One is constrained to believe that the land in deed is promised, and the leader is worthy." In Chicago the Tribune was moved too—but in an opposite direction. "The secular savior is to take us over," said the Tribune, "and give us the bum's rush up the road to his conception of the Great Society." Between these two extremes, the editorialists found ample...