1972 Newport steering issue

Howdy all,
I finally had a nice enough day to jack my 72 newport off the ground and peek around at steering components. For those of you that don't know, the problem is wandering at high speeds.
After jacking up, I wiggled both front tires at 6 and 12 o'clock and 3 and 9. No play whatsoever (tie rod ends/ball joints). Crawling under the car and having someone push the tires in both directions, I noticed that the tie rod was able to move around 1/2 inch in either direction. The problem...

1972 Newport steering issue
Author: Jon O.