Forty three years ago today and tomorrow marks one of the most significant 48 hour periods in American history!
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson passed away at age 64 and the Supreme Court declared the right of women to have abortions in Roe V. Wade on January 22, 1973.
The next day, January 23, 1973, the announcement of an agreement to end the Vietnam War was made.
So we lost our most creative, reform oriented President since Franklin D. Roosevelt; and women gained the right to control their own reproductive lives,;and the war that divided the nation like no other since the Civil War finally was ending.
Today, 43 years later, we have seen attempts to cut back on the Great Society accomplishments by Republicans in Congress, only stopped by the veto of Barack Obama!
We have seen constant attempts to ban abortion, and restrictions put on women’s reproductive rights, a major social issue that will not go away!
And the effects of the Vietnam War still reverberate today, and more recent wars in Iraq and ongoing in Afghanistan continue to cause emotional political debate about commitment of American troops to fight overseas, including against ISIL (ISIS) in the Middle East!
A book about those two days is appropriate by some scholar who can remind us of the tremendous significance that 48 hours of events can have on American history!