On August 31, 1967, Governor George Romney of Michigan was considered the front runner for the Republican nomination for president. Until he said something in an interview that was picked up by the New York Times:
Romney Asserts He Underwent 'Brainwashing' on Vietnam Trip
Probably not very many people saw the interview, since there were only three national television networks, and they each had a half hour news program every evening. And of course, there was no YouTube. Now there is, and if you want to see what Romney said before there was an internet, watch it here.
Following this, the Detroit News called on Romney to get out of the presidential race, asking "how long does a brainwashing linger?" Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota was asked about Romney's claim that he had been brainwashed, and he quipped that in Romney's case brainwashing would not have been necessary, but
that "a light rinse would have done it."
Most people didn't hear McCarthy say that, either. If they wanted to follow what was going on, they probably could have scanned the headlines in the New York Times, which would have given them some sense of what lay ahead in 1968.
Here's some of what they would have seen: