1968 United States presidential election

46th U.S. presidential election, 1968, Nixon-Humphrey-Wallace

1968 United States presidential election

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| <- 1964 | November 5, 1968 | 1972 ->

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538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout| 60.8%[1] 1.1 pp
|  | File:Richard Nixon portrait (1).jpg | File:Hubert Humphrey crop.jpg | File:George C Wallace (3x4a).jpg

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Nominee  | Richard Nixon | Hubert Humphrey | George Wallace
Party  | Republican | Democratic | American Independent
Home state  | New York[a] | Minnesota | Alabama
Running mate  | Spiro Agnew | Edmund Muskie | Curtis LeMay
Electoral vote  | 301 | 191  | 46
States carried  | 32 | 13 + DC | 5
Popular vote  | 31,783,783 | 31,271,839  | 9,901,118
Percentage  | 43.4% | 42.7%  | 13.5%

* * *

Error: Image is invalid or non-existent.

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew, blue denotes those won by Humphrey/Muskie, and orange denotes those won by Wallace/LeMay, including a North Carolina faithless elector. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state.

* * *

| President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

| Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

|

The 1968 United States presidential election was held on November 5, marking the 46th quadrennial presidential election. Republican candidate and former two-term vice president Richard Nixon emerged victorious against Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and former Alabama governor George Wallace, who represented the American Independent Party.

Initially, incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson was the Democratic front-runner but withdrew after narrowly winning the New Hampshire primary. Eugene McCarthy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Humphrey emerged as major candidates until Kennedy's assassination. Humphrey secured the nomination, sparking anti-war protests. Nixon won the Republican nomination by defeating Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan. Wallace campaigned on a segregationist platform as the American Independent Party candidate. The election year was chaotic, marred by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and widespread protests against the Vietnam War.

Humphrey's support of civil rights hurt his appeal in the South, allowing Wallace to attract segregationist Democrats, and Dixiecrats throughout the South, while at the same time encroaching further support from white working-class voters in the Industrial North and Midwest who were attracted to Wallace's economic populism and anti-establishment rhetoric. Nixon positioned himself as the Republican candidate who was listening to the "silent majority," advocating a centrist platform to appeal to moderate conservative voters alienated by both Humphrey's liberalism and Wallace's extremism. Ultimately, Nixon won by 111 Electoral College votes and a narrow popular vote margin. This election marked the first time a non-incumbent vice president was elected president, a feat not repeated until 2020 with Joe Biden. Nixon remains the last candidate to win his party's nomination and the presidency after losing a previous election. Notably, this was the last election under a winner-take-all system for all states, as well as the last time both major party nominees had previously held the vice presidency.

Additionally, it was the most recent election in which the incumbent president was eligible to run again but did not receive their party's nomination. Nixon's victory was marked by unique patterns, including losing numerous states traditionally held by Republicans."Voting Rights Act of 1965". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-02-01. Azari, Julia (August 20, 2020). "Biden Had To Fight For The Presidential Nomination. But Most VPs Have To". FiveThirtyEight.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Republican Party nomination
* 2.1 Other major candidates
* 2.2 Primaries
* 2.3 Republican Convention
* 3 Democratic Party nomination
* 3.1 Other major candidates
* 3.2 Enter Eugene McCarthy
* 3.3 Johnson withdraws
* 3.4 Contest
* 3.5 Democratic Convention and antiwar protests
* 3.6 Endorsements
* 4 American Independent Party nomination
* 4.1 Other parties and candidates
* 5 General election
* 5.1 Polling
* 5.2 Campaign strategies
* 5.3 Campaign themes
* 5.4 Humphrey's comeback and the October surprise
* 5.5 Nixon campaign sabotage of peace talks
* 5.6 Election
* 6 Results
* 6.1 Results
* 6.2 Geography of results
* 6.2.1 Cartographic gallery
* 6.2.2 Results by state
* 6.3 Close states
* 6.3.1 Statistics
* 6.4 National voter demographics
* 6.5 Voter demographics in the South
* 7 See also
* 8 Sources
* 9 References
* 10 Notes
* 11 Further reading
* 11.1 Primary sources
* 12 External links

## Background[edit | edit source]

In the election of 1964, incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson won the largest popular vote landslide in U.S. presidential election history over Republican United States Senator Barry Goldwater. During the presidential term that followed, Johnson was able to achieve many political successes, including passage of his Great Society domestic programs (including "War on Poverty" legislation), landmark civil rights legislation, and the continued exploration of space. Despite these significant achievements, Johnson's popular support would be short-lived. Even as Johnson scored legislative victories, the country endured large-scale race riots in the streets of its larger cities, along with a generational revolt of young people and violent debates over foreign policy. The emergence of the hippie counter-culture, the rise of New Left activism, and the emergence of the Black Power movement exacerbated social and cultural clashes between classes, generations, and races. Adding to the national crisis, on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, igniting riots of grief and anger across the country. In Washington, D. C., rioting took place within a few blocks of the White House, and the government stationed soldiers with machine guns on the Capitol steps to protect it.[2][3]

The Vietnam War was the primary reason for the precipitous decline of President Lyndon B. Johnson's popularity. He had greatly escalated U.S. commitment: By late 1967, over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Draftees made up 42 percent of the military in Vietnam, but suffered 58% of the casualties, as nearly 1000 Americans a month were killed, and many more were injured.[4] But resistance to the war rose as success seemed ever out of reach. The national news media began to focus on the high costs and ambiguous results of escalation, despite Johnson's repeated efforts to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

In early January 1968, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said the war would be winding down, claiming that the North Vietnamese were losing their will to fight. But, shortly thereafter, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, in which they and Communist Vietcong forces undertook simultaneous attacks on all government strongholds across South Vietnam. Though the uprising ended in a U.S. military victory, the scale of the Tet offensive led many Americans to question whether the war could be "won", or was worth the costs to the US. In addition, voters began to mistrust the government's assessment and reporting of the war effort. The Pentagon called for sending several hundred thousand more soldiers to Vietnam. Johnson's approval ratings fell below 35%. The Secret Service refused to let the president visit American colleges and universities, and prevented him from appearing at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, because it could not guarantee his safety.[5]

## Republican Party nomination[edit | edit source]

Main article: 1968 Republican Party presidential primaries

Republican Party (United States)

1968 Republican Party ticket

Richard Nixon | Spiro Agnew
for President | for Vice President

File:Richard Nixon portrait.jpg

File:Spiro Agnew (MD).png

36th
Vice President of the United States
(1953–1961) | 55th
Governor of Maryland
(1967–1969)
Campaign
File:Nixon Agnew 1968 campaign logo.svg

### Other major candidates[edit | edit source]

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks, were listed in publicly published national polls, or ran a campaign that extended beyond their flying home delegation in the case of favorite sons.

Nixon received 1,679,443 votes in the primaries.

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the nomination race

Ronald Reagan | Nelson Rockefeller | Harold Stassen | George W. Romney

File:NelsonRockefeller.png

File:Harold Stassen.jpg

File:George W. Romney official portrait.jpg

Governor of California
(1967–1975) | Governor of New York
(1959–1973) | Former president of the University of Pennsylvania
(1948–1953) | Governor of Michigan
(1963–1969)
Campaign | Campaign |  | Campaign
Lost nomination: August 8, 1968
1,696,632 votes | Lost nomination: August 8, 1968
164,340 votes | Lost nomination: August 8, 1968
31,665 votes | Withdrew: February 28, 1968
4,447 votes

### Primaries[edit | edit source]

File:NIXONcampaigns.jpg

Richard Nixon campaign rally, July 1968

The front-runner for the Republican nomination was former Vice President Richard Nixon, who formally began campaigning in January 1968.[6] Nixon had worked tirelessly behind the scenes and was instrumental in Republican gains in Congress and governorships in the 1966 midterm elections. Thus, the party machinery and many of the new congressmen and governors supported him. Still, there was wariness in the Republican ranks over Nixon, who had lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy and then lost the 1962 California gubernatorial election. Some hoped a more "electable" candidate would emerge. The story of the 1968 Republican primary campaign and nomination may be seen as one Nixon opponent after another entering the race and then dropping out. Nixon was the front runner throughout the contest because of his superior organization, and he easily defeated the rest of the field.

Nixon's first challenger was Michigan Governor George W. Romney. A Gallup poll in mid-1967 showed Nixon with 39%, followed by Romney with 25%. After a fact-finding trip to Vietnam, Romney told Detroit talk show host Lou Gordon that he had been "brainwashed" by the military and the diplomatic corps into supporting the Vietnam War; the remark led to weeks of ridicule in the national news media. Turning against American involvement in Vietnam, Romney planned to run as the anti-war Republican version of Eugene McCarthy.[7] But, following his "brainwashing" comment, Romney's support faded steadily; with polls showing him far behind Nixon, he withdrew from the race on February 28, 1968.[8]

Senator Charles Percy was considered another potential threat to Nixon, and had planned on waging an active campaign after securing a role as Illinois's favorite son. Later, however, Percy declined to have his name listed on the ballot for the Illinois presidential primary. He no longer sought the presidential nomination.[9]

Nixon won a resounding victory in the important New Hampshire primary on March 12, with 78% of the vote. Anti-war Republicans wrote in the name of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, the leader of the Republican Party's liberal wing, who received 11% of the vote and became Nixon's new challenger. Rockefeller had not originally intended to run, having discounted a campaign for the nomination in 1965, and planned to make United States Senator Jacob Javits, the favorite son, either in preparation of a presidential campaign or to secure him the second spot on the ticket. As Rockefeller warmed to the idea of entering the race, Javits shifted his effort to seeking a third term in the Senate.[10] Nixon led Rockefeller in the polls throughout the primary campaign, and though Rockefeller defeated Nixon and Governor John Volpe from Massachusetts primary on April 30, he otherwise fared poorly in state primaries and conventions. He had declared too late to get his name placed on state primary ballots.

By early spring, California governor Ronald Reagan, the leader of the Republican Party's conservative wing, had become Nixon's chief rival. In the Nebraska primary on May 14, Nixon won with 70% of the vote to 21% for Reagan and 5% for Rockefeller. While this was a wide margin for Nixon, Reagan remained Nixon's leading challenger. Nixon won the next primary of importance, Oregon, on May 15 with 65% of the vote, and won all the following primaries except for California (June 4), where only Reagan appeared on the ballot. Reagan's victory in California gave him a plurality of the nationwide primary vote, but his poor showing in most other state primaries left him far behind Nixon in the delegate count.

Total popular vote:

* Ronald Reagan: 1,696,632 (37.93%)
* Richard Nixon: 1,679,443 (37.54%)
* James A. Rhodes: 614,492 (13.74%)
* Nelson Rockefeller: 164,340 (3.67%)
* Unpledged: 140,639 (3.14%)
* Eugene McCarthy (write-in): 44,520 (1.00%)
* Harold Stassen: 31,655 (0.71%)
* John Volpe: 31,465 (0.70%)
* Others: 21,456 (0.51%)
* George Wallace (write-in): 15,291 (0.34%)

* Robert F. Kennedy (write-in): 14,524 (0.33%)
* Hubert Humphrey (write-in): 5,698 (0.13)
* Lyndon B. Johnson (write-in): 4,824 (0.11%)
* George W. Romney: 4,447 (0.10%)
* Raymond P. Shafer: 1,223 (0.03%)
* William Scranton: 724 (0.02%)
* Charles H. Percy: 689 (0.02%)
* Barry Goldwater: 598 (0.01%)
* John Lindsay: 591 (0.01%)

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### Republican Convention[edit | edit source]

Main article: 1968 Republican National Convention

See also: 1968 Miami riot

As the 1968 Republican National Convention opened on August 5 in Miami Beach, Florida, the Associated Press estimated that Nixon had 656 delegate votes – 11 short of the number he needed to win the nomination. Reagan and Rockefeller were his only remaining opponents and they planned to unite their forces in a "stop-Nixon" movement.

Because Goldwater had done well in the Deep South, delegates to the 1968 Republican National Convention included more Southern conservatives than in past conventions. There seemed potential for the conservative Reagan to be nominated if no victor emerged on the first ballot. Nixon narrowly secured the nomination on the first ballot, with the aid of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who had switched parties in 1964.[11][page needed] He selected dark horse Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate, a choice which Nixon believed would unite the party, appealing to both Northern moderates and Southerners disaffected with the Democrats.[12] Nixon's first choice for running mate was reportedly his longtime friend and ally Robert Finch, who was the Lieutenant Governor of California at the time. Finch declined that offer, but later accepted an appointment as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in Nixon's administration. With Vietnam a key issue, Nixon had strongly considered tapping his 1960 running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a former U.S. senator, ambassador to the UN, and ambassador twice to South Vietnam.

Candidates for the Vice-Presidential nomination:

* Spiro T. Agnew, Governor of Maryland
* Howard Baker, U.S. senator from Tennessee
* Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, two-time ambassador to South Vietnam, and 1960 GOP VP nominee.
* Edward Brooke, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
* George H. W. Bush, U.S. representative from Texas
* David F. Cargo, Governor of New Mexico
* John Chafee, Governor of Rhode Island
* Daniel J. Evans, Governor of Washington
* Robert H. Finch, Lieutenant Governor of California
* Mark Hatfield, U.S. senator from Oregon
* Jacob K. Javits, U.S. senator from New York
* Warren P. Knowles, Governor of Wisconsin

* John Lindsay, Mayor of New York City, New York
* John A. Love, Governor of Colorado
* Rogers C.B. Morton, U.S. representative from Maryland
* Charles H. Percy, U.S. senator from Illinois
* Ronald Reagan, Governor of California
* James A. Rhodes, Governor of Ohio
* Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York
* George W. Romney, Governor of Michigan
* John G. Tower, U.S. senator from Texas
* John A. Volpe, Governor of Massachusetts

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The Republican Convention Tally[13] President | (before switches) | (after switches) | Vice President | Vice-Presidential votes

|
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|

Richard Nixon | 692 | 1238 | Spiro Agnew | 1119
Nelson Rockefeller | 277 | 93 | George W. Romney | 186
Ronald Reagan | 182 | 2 | John V. Lindsay | 10
Ohio governor James A. Rhodes | 55 | — | Massachusetts senator Edward Brooke | 1
Michigan governor George W. Romney | 50 | — | James A. Rhodes | 1
New Jersey senator Clifford Case | 22 | — | not voting | 16
Kansas senator Frank Carlson | 20 | — | — |
Arkansas governor Winthrop Rockefeller | 18 | — | — |
Hawaii senator Hiram Fong | 14 | — | — |
Harold Stassen | 2 | — | — |
New York City mayor John V. Lindsay | 1 | — | — |

As of the 2020 presidential election, 1968 was the last time that two siblings (Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller) ran against each other in a presidential primary.

## Democratic Party nomination[edit | edit source]

Main article: 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Democratic Party (United States)

1968 Democratic Party ticket

Hubert Humphrey | Edmund Muskie
for President | for Vice President

File:Hubert Humphrey crop.jpg

File:Portrait of Edmund Muskie, looking up.jpg

38th
Vice President of the United States
(1965–1969) | U.S. Senator
from Maine
(1959–1980)
Campaign

### Other major candidates[edit | edit source]

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks, were listed in publicly published national polls, or ran a campaign that extended beyond their home delegation in the case of favorite sons.

Humphrey received 166,463 votes in the primaries.

Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the nomination race

Eugene McCarthy | George McGovern | Channing E. Phillips | Lester Maddox | Robert F. Kennedy | Lyndon B. Johnson

File:GeorgeStanleyMcGovern.jpg

File:Channing Phillips at his desk at the NEH.jpg

File:Lester Maddox.jpg

File:Robert F Kennedy crop.jpg

File:Lyndon B. Johnson addresses the Nation March 31, 1968 - LBJ Museum C9284-35 (cropped).jpg

U.S. senator from Minnesota
(1959–1971) | U.S. senator from South Dakota
(1963–1981) | Reverend at Lincoln Temple
from Washington, D.C. | Governor of Georgia
(1967–1971) | U.S. senator from New York
(1965–1968) | 36th president of the United States
(1963–1969)
Campaign | Campaign | Campaign |  | Campaign | Campaign
Lost nomination: August 29, 1968
2,914,933 votes | Lost nomination: August 29, 1968
0 votes | Lost nomination: August 29, 1968
0 votes | Withdrew and endorsed George Wallace: August 28, 1968
0 votes | Assassinated: June 5, 1968
2,305,148 votes | Withdrew: March 31, 1968
383,590 votes

### Enter Eugene McCarthy[edit | edit source]

Because Lyndon B. Johnson had been elected to the presidency only once, in 1964, and had served less than two full years of the term before that, the 22nd Amendment did not disqualify him from running for another term.[14] As a result, it was widely assumed when 1968 began that President Johnson would run for another term, and that he would have little trouble winning the Democratic nomination.

Despite growing opposition to Johnson's policies in Vietnam, it appeared that no prominent Democratic candidate would run against a sitting president of his own party. It was also accepted at the beginning of the year that Johnson's record of domestic accomplishments would overshadow public opposition to the Vietnam War and that he would easily boost his public image after he started campaigning.[15] Even Senator Robert F. Kennedy from New York, an outspoken critic of Johnson's policies, with a large base of support, publicly declined to run against Johnson in the primaries. Poll numbers also suggested that a large share of Americans who opposed the Vietnam War felt the growth of the anti-war hippie movement among younger Americans and violent unrest on college campuses was not helping their cause.[15] On January 30, however, claims by the Johnson administration that a recent troop surge would soon bring an end to the war were severely discredited when the Tet Offensive broke out. Although the American military was eventually able to fend off the attacks, and also inflict heavy losses among the communist opposition, the ability of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong to launch large scale attacks during the Tet Offensive's long duration greatly weakened American support for the military draft and further combat operations in Vietnam.[16] A recorded phone conversation which Johnson had with Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley on January 27 revealed that both men had become aware of Kennedy's private intention to enter the Democratic presidential primaries and that Johnson was willing to accept Daley's offer to run as Humphrey's vice president if he were to end his re-election campaign.[17] Daley, whose city would host the 1968 Democratic National Convention, also preferred either Johnson or Humphrey over any other candidate, and stated that Kennedy had met him the week before, and that he was unsuccessful in his attempt to win over Daley's support.[17]

In time, only Senator Eugene McCarthy from Minnesota proved willing to challenge Johnson openly. Running as an anti-war candidate in the New Hampshire primary, McCarthy hoped to pressure the Democrats into publicly opposing the Vietnam War. Since New Hampshire was the first presidential primary of 1968, McCarthy poured most of his limited resources into the state. He was boosted by thousands of young college students, led by youth coordinator Sam Brown,[18] who shaved their beards and cut their hair to be "Clean for Gene". These students organized get-out-the-vote drives, rang doorbells, distributed McCarthy buttons and leaflets, and worked hard in New Hampshire for McCarthy. On March 12, McCarthy won 42 percent of the primary vote, to Johnson's 49 percent, a shockingly strong showing against an incumbent president, which was even more impressive because Johnson had more than 24 supporters running for the Democratic National Convention delegate slots to be filled in the election, while McCarthy's campaign organized more strategically. McCarthy won 20 of the 24 delegates. This gave McCarthy's campaign legitimacy and momentum.

Sensing Johnson's vulnerability, Senator Robert F. Kennedy announced his candidacy four days after the New Hampshire primary. Thereafter, McCarthy and Kennedy engaged in a series of state primaries. Despite Kennedy's high profile, McCarthy won most of the early primaries, including Kennedy's native state of Massachusetts and some primaries in which he and Kennedy were in direct competition.[19][20] Following his victory in the key battleground state of Oregon, it was assumed that McCarthy was the preferred choice among the young voters.[21]

### Johnson withdraws[edit | edit source]

On March 31, 1968, following the New Hampshire primary and Kennedy's entry into the election, the president made a televised speech to the nation and said that he was suspending all bombing of North Vietnam in favor of peace talks. After concluding his speech, Johnson announced,

> "With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties, other than the awesome duties of this office — the presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."

Not discussed publicly at the time was Johnson's concern that he might not survive another term — Johnson's health was poor, and he had already suffered a serious heart attack in 1955. He died on January 22, 1973, two days after the end of the new presidential term. Bleak political forecasts also contributed to Johnson's withdrawal; internal polling by Johnson's campaign in Wisconsin, the next state to hold a primary election, showed the President trailing badly.[22]

File:Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson.jpg

Vice President Hubert Humphrey, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and General Creighton Abrams in a Cabinet Room meeting in March 1968

Historians have debated why Johnson quit a few days after his weak showing in New Hampshire. Jeff Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House, but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative, he decided to leave.[23] Lewis L. Gould says that Johnson had neglected the Democratic party, was hurting it by his Vietnam policies, and under-estimated McCarthy's strength until the last minute, when it was too late for Johnson to recover.[24] Randall Bennett Woods said Johnson realized he needed to leave, in order for the nation to heal.[25] Robert Dallek writes that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. His health was poor, and he was pre-occupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement, and his base of support continued to shrink. Leaving the race would allow him to pose as a peace-maker.[26] Anthony J. Bennett, however, said Johnson "had been forced out of a re-election race in 1968 by outrage over his policy in Southeast Asia".[27]

In 2009, an AP reporter said that Johnson decided to end his re-election bid after CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, who was influential, turned against the president's policy in Vietnam. During a CBS News editorial which aired on February 27, Cronkite recommended the US pursue peace negotiations.[28][29] After watching Cronkite's editorial, Johnson allegedly exclaimed: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."[28] This quote by Johnson has been disputed for accuracy.[30] Johnson was attending Texas Governor John Connally's birthday gala in Austin, Texas, when Cronkite's editorial aired and did not see the original broadcast.[30] But, Cronkite and CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer defended reports that the remark had been made. They said that members of Johnson's inner circle, who had watched the editorial with the president, including presidential aide George Christian and journalist Bill Moyers, later confirmed the accuracy of the quote to them.[31][32] Schieffer, who was a reporter for the Star-Telegram's WBAP television station in Fort Worth, Texas, when Cronkite's editorial aired, acknowledged reports that the president saw the editorial's original broadcast were inaccurate,[32] but claimed the president was able to watch a taping of it the morning after it aired and then made the remark.[32] However, Johnson's January 27, 1968, phone conversion with Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley revealed that the two were trying to feed Robert Kennedy's ego so he would stay in the race, convincing him that the Democratic Party was undergoing a "revolution".[17] They suggested he might earn a spot as vice president.[17]

After Johnson's withdrawal, the Democratic Party quickly split into four factions.

* The first faction consisted of labor unions and big-city party bosses (led by Mayor Richard J. Daley). This group had traditionally controlled the Democratic Party since the days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and they feared loss of their control over the party. After Johnson's withdrawal this group rallied to support Hubert Humphrey, Johnson's vice-president; it was also believed that President Johnson himself was covertly supporting Humphrey, despite his public claims of neutrality.
* The second faction, which rallied behind Senator Eugene McCarthy, was composed of college students, intellectuals, and upper-middle-class urban whites who had been the early activists against the war in Vietnam; they perceived themselves as the future of the Democratic Party.
* The third group was primarily composed of African-Americans, Latinos, and other minorities, as well as several anti-war groups; these groups rallied behind Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
* The fourth group consisted of white Southern Democrats. Some older voters, remembering the New Deal's positive impact upon the rural South, supported Vice-president Humphrey. Many would rally behind the third-party campaign of former Alabama Governor George Wallace as a "law and order" candidate.

Since the Vietnam War had become the major issue that was dividing the Democratic Party, and Johnson had come to symbolize the war for many liberal Democrats, Johnson believed that he could not win the nomination without a major struggle, and that he would probably lose the election in November to the Republicans. However, by withdrawing from the race, he could avoid the stigma of defeat, and he could keep control of the party machinery by giving the nomination to Humphrey, who had been a loyal vice-president.[33] Milne (2011) argues that, in terms of foreign-policy in the Vietnam War, Johnson at the end wanted Nixon to be president rather than Humphrey, since Johnson agreed with Nixon, rather than Humphrey, on the need to defend South Vietnam from communism.[34] However, Johnson's telephone calls show that Johnson believed the Nixon camp was deliberately sabotaging the Paris peace talks. He told Humphrey, who refused to use allegations based on illegal wiretaps of a presidential candidate. Nixon himself called Johnson and denied the allegations. Dallek concludes that Nixon's advice to Saigon made no difference, and that Humphrey was so closely identified with Johnson's unpopular policies that no last-minute deal with Hanoi could have affected the election.[35]

### Contest[edit | edit source]

File:1968DemocraticPresidentialPrimaries.png

Statewide contest by winner: Red = Kennedy, Orange = Smathers, Yellow = Young, Green = Johnson, Blue = McCarthy, Grey = No primary

Robert Kennedy

George Smathers

Stephen Young

Lyndon Johnson

Eugene McCarthy

No primary

After Johnson's withdrawal, Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy. Kennedy was successful in four state primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California), and McCarthy won six (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, and Illinois). However, in primaries where they campaigned directly against one another, Kennedy won three primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, and California), and McCarthy won only one (Oregon).[36] Humphrey did not compete in the primaries, leaving that job to favorite sons who were his surrogates, notably United States Senator George A. Smathers from Florida, United States Senator Stephen M. Young from Ohio, and Governor Roger D. Branigin of Indiana. Instead, Humphrey concentrated on winning the delegates in non-primary states, where party leaders such as Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley controlled the delegate votes in their states. Kennedy defeated Branigin and McCarthy in the Indiana primary, and then defeated McCarthy in the Nebraska primary. However, McCarthy upset Kennedy in the Oregon primary.

After Kennedy's defeat in Oregon, the California primary was seen as crucial to both Kennedy and McCarthy. McCarthy stumped the state's many colleges and universities, where he was treated as a hero for being the first presidential candidate to oppose the war. Kennedy campaigned in the ghettos and barrios of the state's larger cities, where he was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters. Kennedy and McCarthy engaged in a television debate a few days before the primary; it was generally considered a draw. On June 4, Kennedy narrowly defeated McCarthy in California, 46%–42%. However, McCarthy refused to withdraw from the race, and made it clear that he would contest Kennedy in the upcoming New York primary, where McCarthy had much support from anti-war activists in New York City. The New York primary quickly became a moot point, however, for Kennedy was assassinated shortly after midnight on June 5; he died twenty-six hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital. Kennedy had just given his victory speech in a crowded ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; he and his aides then entered a narrow kitchen pantry on their way to a banquet room to meet with reporters. In the pantry, Kennedy and five others were shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship, who hated Kennedy because of his support for Israel. Sirhan admitted his guilt, was convicted of murder, and is still in prison.[37] In recent years some have cast doubt on Sirhan's guilt, including Sirhan himself, who said he was "brainwashed" into killing Kennedy and was a patsy.[38]

Political historians still debate whether Kennedy could have won the Democratic nomination, had he lived. Some historians, such as Theodore H. White and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., have argued that Kennedy's broad appeal and famed charisma would have convinced the party bosses at the Democratic Convention to give him the nomination. Jack Newfield, author of RFK: A Memoir, stated in a 1998 interview that on the night he was assassinated, "[Kennedy] had a phone conversation with Mayor Daley of Chicago, and Mayor Daley all but promised to throw the Illinois delegates to Bobby at the convention in August 1968. I think he said to me, and Pete Hamill: 'Daley is the ball game, and I think we have Daley.'"[39] However, other writers such as Tom Wicker, who covered the Kennedy campaign for The New York Times, believe that Humphrey's large lead in delegate votes from non-primary states, combined with Senator McCarthy's refusal to quit the race, would have prevented Kennedy from ever winning a majority at the Democratic Convention, and that Humphrey would have been the Democratic nominee, even if Kennedy had lived. The journalist Richard Reeves and historian Michael Beschloss have both written that Humphrey was the likely nominee, and future Democratic National Committee chairman Larry O'Brien wrote in his memoirs that Kennedy's chances of winning the nomination had been slim, even after his win in California.

At the moment of RFK's death, the delegate totals were:

* Hubert Humphrey 561
* Robert F. Kennedy 393
* Eugene McCarthy 258

Total popular vote:[40]

* Eugene McCarthy: 2,914,933 (38.7%)
* Robert F. Kennedy: 2,304,542 (30.6%)
* Stephen M. Young: 549,140 (7.3%)
* Lyndon B. Johnson: 383,048 (5.1%)
* Roger D. Branigin: 238,700 (3.2%)
* George Smathers: 236,242 (3.1%)
* Hubert Humphrey: 166,463 (2.2%)

* Unpledged: 670,328 (8.9%)
* George Wallace: 33,520 (0.4%)
* Richard Nixon (write-in): 13,035 (0.2%)
* Nelson A. Rockefeller: 5,116 (0.1%)
* Ronald Reagan (write-in): 4,987 (0.1%)
* Ted Kennedy: 4,052 (0.1%)
* Others: 10,963 (0.1%)

|

### Democratic Convention and antiwar protests[edit | edit source]

Robert Kennedy's death altered the dynamics of the race. Although Humphrey appeared the presumptive favorite for the nomination, thanks to his support from the traditional power blocs of the party, he was an unpopular choice with many of the anti-war elements within the party, who identified him with Johnson's controversial position on the Vietnam War. However, Kennedy's delegates failed to unite behind a single candidate who could have prevented Humphrey from getting the nomination. Some of Kennedy's support went to McCarthy, but many of Kennedy's delegates, remembering their bitter primary battles with McCarthy, refused to vote for him. Instead, these delegates rallied around the late-starting candidacy of Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, a Kennedy supporter in the spring primaries who had presidential ambitions himself. This division of the anti-war votes at the Democratic Convention made it easier for Humphrey to gather the delegates he needed to win the nomination.

When the 1968 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, thousands of young activists from around the nation gathered in the city to protest the Vietnam War. On the evening of August 28, in a clash which was covered on live television, Americans were shocked to see Chicago police brutally beating anti-war protesters in the streets of Chicago in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. While the protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching", the police used clubs and tear gas to beat back or arrest the protesters, leaving many of them bloody and dazed. The tear gas wafted into numerous hotel suites; in one of them Vice President Humphrey was watching the proceedings on television. The police said that their actions were justified because numerous police officers were being injured by bottles, rocks, and broken glass that were being thrown at them by the protestors. The protestors had also yelled insults at the police, calling them "pigs" and other epithets. The anti-war and police riot divided the Democratic Party's base: some supported the protestors and felt that the police were being heavy-handed, but others disapproved of the violence and supported the police. Meanwhile, the convention itself was marred by the strong-arm tactics of Chicago's mayor Richard J. Daley (who was seen on television angrily cursing Senator Abraham Ribicoff from Connecticut, who made a speech at the convention denouncing the excesses of the Chicago police). In the end, the nomination itself was anti-climactic, with Vice-president Humphrey handily beating McCarthy and McGovern on the first ballot.

After the delegates nominated Humphrey, the convention then turned to selecting a vice-presidential nominee. The main candidates for this position were Senators Edward M. Kennedy from Massachusetts, Edmund Muskie from Maine, and Fred R. Harris from Oklahoma; Governors Richard Hughes of New Jersey and Terry Sanford of North Carolina; Mayor Joseph Alioto of San Francisco, California; former Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus Vance; and Ambassador Sargent Shriver from Maryland. Another idea floated was to tap Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, one of the most liberal Republicans. Ted Kennedy was Humphrey's first choice, but the senator turned him down. After narrowing it down to Senator Muskie and Senator Harris, Vice-president Humphrey chose Muskie, a moderate and environmentalist from Maine, for the nomination. The convention complied with the request and nominated Senator Muskie as Humphrey's running mate.

The publicity from the anti-war riots crippled Humphrey's campaign from the start, and it never fully recovered. Before 1968 the city of Chicago had been a frequent host for the political conventions of both parties; since 1968 only one national convention has been held there (the Democratic convention of 1996, which nominated Bill Clinton for a second term).[41]

Balloting  Presidential tally | Vice Presidential tally

|

Hubert Humphrey | 1759.25 | Edmund S. Muskie | 1942.5
Eugene McCarthy | 601 | Not Voting | 604.25
George S. McGovern | 146.5 | Julian Bond | 48.5
Channing Phillips | 67.5 | David Hoeh | 4
Daniel K. Moore | 17.5 | Edward M. Kennedy | 3.5
Edward M. Kennedy | 12.75 | Eugene McCarthy | 3.0
Paul W. "Bear" Bryant | 1.5 | Others | 16.25
James H. Gray | 0.5 |  |
George Wallace | 0.5 |  |

Source: Keating Holland, "All the Votes... Really", CNN[42]

### Endorsements[edit | edit source]

Hubert Humphrey

* President Lyndon B. Johnson
* Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago
* Former President Harry S. Truman
* Singer/actor Frank Sinatra

Robert F. Kennedy

* Senator Abraham Ribicoff from Connecticut[43]
* Senator George McGovern from South Dakota[44]
* Senator Vance Hartke from Indiana[45]
* Labor Leader Cesar Chavez
* Writer Truman Capote[46]
* Writer Norman Mailer
* Actress Shirley MacLaine[46]
* Actress Stefanie Powers
* Actor Robert Vaughn
* Actor Peter Lawford
* Singer Bobby Darin[47]

Eugene McCarthy

* Representative Don Edwards from California
* Actor Paul Newman
* Actress Tallulah Bankhead[46]
* Playwright Arthur Miller[46]
* Writer William Styron[46]

George McGovern (during convention)

* Senator Abraham Ribicoff from Connecticut
* Governor Harold E. Hughes of Iowa

## American Independent Party nomination[edit | edit source]

See also: George Wallace 1968 presidential campaign

1968 American Independent Party ticket

George Wallace | Curtis LeMay
for President | for Vice President

File:George C Wallace.jpg

File:Curtis LeMay (USAF).jpg

45th
Governor of Alabama
(1963–1967) | Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
(1961–1965)
Campaign
File:Wallace Lemay bumper sticker.svg

The American Independent Party, which was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer, nominated former Alabama Governor George Wallace – whose pro-racial segregation policies had been rejected by the mainstream of the Democratic Party – as the party's candidate for president. The impact of the Wallace campaign was substantial, winning the electoral votes of several states in the Deep South. He appeared on the ballot in all fifty states, but not the District of Columbia. Although he did not come close to winning any states outside the South, Wallace was the 1968 presidential candidate who most disproportionately drew his support from among young men.[48] Wallace also proved to be popular among blue-collar workers in the North and Midwest, and he took many votes which might have gone to Humphrey.[49]

Wallace was not expected to win the election – his strategy was to prevent either major party candidate from winning a preliminary majority in the Electoral College. Although Wallace put considerable effort into mounting a serious general election campaign, his presidential bid was also a continuation of Southern efforts to elect unpledged electors that had taken place in every election from 1956 – he had his electors promise to vote not necessarily for him but rather for whomever he directed them to support – his objective was not to move the election into the U.S. House of Representatives where he would have had little influence, but rather to give himself the bargaining power to determine the winner. Wallace's running mate was retired four star General Curtis LeMay.

Prior to deciding on LeMay, Wallace gave serious consideration to former U.S. senator, governor, and Baseball Commissioner A. B. Happy Chandler of Kentucky as his running mate.[50] Chandler and Wallace met a number of times; however, Chandler said that he and Wallace were unable to come to an agreement regarding their positions on racial matters. Paradoxically, Chandler supported the segregationist Dixiecrats in the 1948 presidential elections. However, after being re-elected Governor of Kentucky in 1955, he used National Guard troops to enforce school integration.[51]

LeMay embarrassed Wallace's campaign in the fall by suggesting that nuclear weapons could be used in Vietnam.

### Other parties and candidates[edit | edit source]

Also on the ballot in two or more states were black activist Eldridge Cleaver (who was ineligible to take office, as he would have only been 33 years of age on January 20, 1969) for the Peace and Freedom Party; Henning Blomen for the Socialist Labor Party; Fred Halstead for the Socialist Workers Party; E. Harold Munn for the Prohibition Party; and Charlene Mitchell – the first African-American woman to run for president, and the first woman to receive valid votes in a general election – for the Communist Party. Comedians Dick Gregory and Pat Paulsen were notable write-in candidates. A facetious presidential candidate for 1968 was a pig named Pigasus, as a political statement by the Yippies, to illustrate their premise that "one pig's as good as any other".[52][page needed]

File:Pigasus The Immortal.jpg

Pigasus, a satirical Presidential candidate nominated by the Youth International Party

## General election[edit | edit source]

### Polling[edit | edit source]

Polling aggregates  Candidates

Richard Nixon
Hubert Humphrey
George Wallace
Undecided/Other
Events
Conventions

Poll source  | Date  | Richard Nixon
Republican | Hubert Humphrey
Democratic | George Wallace
American Ind. | Undecided/Other  | Leading by
(points)

|
|
|
|
|
|

Election Results | November 5, 1968  | 43.42% | 42.72%  | 13.53%  | 0.33%  | 0.70
Harris[53] | November 4, 1968  | 40%  | 43% | 13%  | 4%  | 3
Gallup[54] | November 4, 1968  | 42% | 40%  | 14%  | 4%  | 2
Harris[55] | November 1, 1968  | 40% | 37%  | 16%  | 7%  | 3
Gallup[56] | October 24, 1968  | 44% | 36%  | 15%  | 5%  | 8
Harris[57] | October 18, 1968  | 40% | 35%  | 18%  | 7%  | 5
Gallup[58] | October 9, 1968  | 44% | 29%  | 20%  | 7%  | 8
Gallup[59] | September 29, 1968  | 43% | 28%  | 21%  | 8%  | 15
Harris[60] | September 23, 1968  | 39% | 31%  | 21%  | 9%  | 8
Gallup[61] | September 11, 1968  | 43% | 31%  | 19%  | 7%  | 12
Harris[62] | August 27, 1968  | 40% | 34%  | 17%  | 9%  | 6
Gallup[63] | August 21, 1968  | 45% | 29%  | 18%  | 8%  | 16
Harris[64][65] | July 31, 1968  | 36%  | 41% | 16%  | 7%  | 5
Crossley[64][66] | July 31, 1968  | 39% | 36%  | 19%  | 6%  | 3
Gallup[67] | July 31, 1968  | 40% | 38%  | 16%  | 6%  | 2
Harris[68][62] | July 20, 1968  | 35%  | 37% | 17%  | 11%  | 2
Gallup[69] | July 11, 1968  | 35%  | 40% | 16%  | 9%  | 5
Harris[70] | June 24, 1968  | \-  | - | \-  | \-  | 7
Gallup[71] | June 23, 1968  | 37%  | 42% | 14%  | 7%  | 5
Gallup[72] | June 12, 1968  | 36%  | 42% | 14%  | 8%  | 6
Harris[73] | May 23, 1968  | 37%  | 41% | 14%  | 8%  | 4
Gallup[74] | May 12, 1968  | 39% | 36%  | 14%  | 11%  | 3
Harris[75] | May 6, 1968  | 36%  | 38% | 13%  | 13%  | 2
Gallup[76] | April 21, 1968  | 43% | 34%  | 14%  | 9%  | 9
Harris[77] | April 6, 1968  | 34%  | 35% | 12%  | 19%  | 1

### Campaign strategies[edit | edit source]

Nixon developed a "Southern strategy" that was designed to appeal to conservative white southerners, who had traditionally voted Democratic, but were opposed to Johnson and Humphrey's support for the civil rights movement, as well as the rioting that had broken out in the ghettos of most large cities. Wallace, however, won over many of the voters Nixon targeted, effectively splitting that voting bloc. Indeed, Wallace deliberately targeted many states he had little chance of carrying himself in the hope that by splitting as many votes with Nixon as possible he would give competitive states to Humphrey and, by extension, boost his own chances of denying both opponents an Electoral College majority.[78]

Since he was well behind Nixon in the polls as the campaign began, Humphrey opted for a slashing, fighting campaign style. He repeatedly – and unsuccessfully – challenged Nixon to a televised debate, and he often compared his campaign to the successful underdog effort of President Harry Truman, another Democrat who had trailed in the polls, in the 1948 presidential election. Humphrey predicted that he, like Truman, would surprise the experts and win an upset victory.[79]

### Campaign themes[edit | edit source]

Nixon campaigned on a theme to restore "law and order",[80] which appealed to many voters angry with the hundreds of violent riots that had taken place across the country in the previous few years. Following the murder of Martin Luther King in April 1968, there was massive rioting in inner city areas. The police were overwhelmed and President Johnson decided to call out the U.S. Army. Nixon also opposed forced busing to desegregate schools.[81] Proclaiming himself a supporter of civil rights, he recommended education as the solution rather than militancy. During the campaign, Nixon proposed government tax incentives to African Americans for small businesses and home improvements in their existing neighborhoods.[82]

During the campaign, Nixon also used as a theme his opposition to the decisions of Chief Justice Earl Warren, pledging to "remake the Supreme Court."[83] Many conservatives were critical of Chief Justice Warren for using the Supreme Court to promote liberal policies in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, and the separation of church and state. Nixon promised that if he were elected president, he would appoint justices who would take a less-active role in creating social policy.[84] In another campaign promise, he pledged to end the draft.[85] During the 1960s, Nixon had been impressed by a paper he had read by Professor Martin Anderson of Columbia University. Anderson had argued in the paper for an end to the draft and the creation of an all-volunteer army.[86] Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the anti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent college-age youths would stop protesting the war once their own possibility of having to fight in it was gone.[87]

Humphrey, meanwhile, promised to continue and expand the Great Society welfare programs started by President Johnson, and to continue the Johnson Administration's "War on Poverty". He also promised to continue the efforts of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the Supreme Court, in promoting the expansion of civil rights and civil liberties for minority groups. However, Humphrey also felt constrained for most of his campaign in voicing any opposition to the Vietnam War policies of President Johnson, due to his fear that Johnson would reject any peace proposals he made and undermine his campaign. As a result, early in his campaign Humphrey often found himself the target of anti-war protestors, some of whom heckled and disrupted his campaign rallies.

### Humphrey's comeback and the October surprise[edit | edit source]

After the Democratic Convention in late August, Humphrey trailed Nixon by double digits in most polls, and his chances seemed hopeless. Many within Humphrey's campaign saw their real goal as avoiding the potential humiliation of finishing behind Wallace in the electoral college vote (if not necessarily the popular vote), rather than having any serious chance of defeating Nixon. According to Time magazine, "The old Democratic coalition was disintegrating, with untold numbers of blue-collar workers responding to Wallace's blandishments, Negroes threatening to sit out the election, liberals disaffected over the Vietnam War, the South lost. The war chest was almost empty, and the party's machinery, neglected by Lyndon Johnson, creaked in disrepair."[88] Calling for "the politics of joy", and using the still-powerful labor unions as his base, Humphrey fought back. In order to distance himself from Johnson, and to take advantage of the Democratic plurality in voter registration, Humphrey stopped being identified in ads as "Vice-President Hubert Humphrey", instead being labelled "Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey".

Humphrey attacked Wallace as a racist bigot who appealed to the darker impulses of Americans. Wallace had been rising in the polls as a result of tailoring his message to audiences outside of his southern strongholds by using anti-establishment rhetoric and attacks on "concentrated wealth", with Wallace's polling numbers peaking at 21% nationally in late September and early October. However, Wallace's momentum went into reverse after he selected Curtis LeMay as his running mate. Curtis LeMay's suggestion of using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam conjured up the worst memories of the 1964 Goldwater campaign.[11] Labor unions also undertook a major effort to win back union members who were supporting Wallace, with some substantial success. Polling numbers that had showed Wallace winning almost one-half of union members in the summer of 1968 went increasingly into sharp decline as the election campaign progressed into the fall up to early November election day. As election day approached and Wallace's support in the North, Midwest and West began to wane, Humphrey finally began to climb in the polls.

In October, Humphrey—who was rising sharply in the polls due to the sharp decline of the Wallace polling—began to distance himself publicly from the Johnson administration on the Vietnam War, calling for a bombing halt. The key turning point for Humphrey's campaign came when President Johnson officially announced a bombing halt, and even a possible peace deal, the weekend before the election. The "Halloween Peace" gave Humphrey's campaign a badly needed boost. In addition, Senator Eugene McCarthy finally endorsed a vote for Humphrey in late October after previously refusing to do so, and by election day the polls were reporting a dead heat.[89]

### Nixon campaign sabotage of peace talks[edit | edit source]

The Nixon campaign had anticipated a possible "October surprise", a peace agreement produced by the Paris negotiations; as such an agreement would be a boost to Humphrey, Nixon thwarted any last-minute chances of a "Halloween Peace". Nixon told campaign aide and his future White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman to put a "monkey wrench" into an early end to the war.[90] Johnson was enraged and said that Nixon had "blood on his hands", and that Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen agreed with Johnson that such action was "treason".[91][92] Defense Secretary Clark Clifford considered the moves an illegal violation of the Logan Act.[93] A former director of the Nixon Library called it a "covert action" which "laid the skulduggery of his presidency".[90]

Bryce Harlow, former Eisenhower White House staff member, claimed to have "a double agent working in the White House... I kept Nixon informed." Harlow and Nixon's future National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was friendly with both campaigns and guaranteed a job in either a Humphrey or Nixon administration, separately predicted Johnson's "bombing halt": "The word is out that we are making an effort to throw the election to Humphrey. Nixon has been told of it", Democratic senator George Smathers informed Johnson.[94]

Nixon asked Anna Chennault to be his "channel to Mr. Thieu" in order to advise him to refuse participation in the talks, in what is sometimes described as the "Anna Chennault Affair".[95] Thieu was promised a better deal under a Nixon administration.[96][95] Chennault agreed and periodically reported to John Mitchell that Thieu had no intention of attending a peace conference. On November 2, Chennault informed the South Vietnamese ambassador: "I have just heard from my boss in Albuquerque who says his boss [Nixon] is going to win. And you tell your boss [Thieu] to hold on a while longer." In 1997, Chennault admitted that, "I was constantly in touch with Nixon and Mitchell".[97] The effort also involved Texas Senator John Tower and Kissinger, who traveled to Paris on behalf of the Nixon campaign. William Bundy stated that Kissinger obtained "no useful inside information" from his trip to Paris, and "almost any experienced Hanoi watcher might have come to the same conclusion". While Kissinger may have "hinted that his advice was based on contacts with the Paris delegation", this sort of "self-promotion ... is at worst a minor and not uncommon practice, quite different from getting and reporting real secrets".[98]

Johnson learned of the Nixon-Chennault effort because the NSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.[99] In response, Johnson ordered NSA surveillance of Chennault and wire-tapped the South Vietnamese embassy and members of the Nixon campaign.[100] He did not leak the information to the public because he did not want to "shock America" with the revelation,[101] nor reveal that the NSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.[102] Johnson did make information available to Humphrey, but at this point Humphrey thought he was going to win the election, so he did not reveal the information to the public. Humphrey later regretted this as a mistake.[103] The South Vietnamese government withdrew from peace negotiations, and Nixon publicly offered to go to Saigon to help the negotiations.[104] A promising "peace bump" ended up in "shambles" for the Democratic Party.[102]

### Election[edit | edit source]

The election on November 5, 1968, proved to be extremely close, and it was not until the following morning that the television news networks were able to declare Nixon the winner. The key states proved to be California, Ohio, and Illinois, all of which Nixon won by three percentage points or less. Had Humphrey carried all three of these states, he would have won the election. Had he carried only two of them or just California among them, George Wallace would have succeeded in his aim of preventing an electoral college majority for any candidate, and the decision would have been given to the House of Representatives, at the time controlled by the Democratic Party. Nixon won the popular vote with a plurality of 512,000 votes, or a victory margin of about one percentage point. In the electoral college Nixon's victory was larger, as he carried 32 states with 301 electoral votes, compared to Humphrey's 13 states and 191 electoral votes and Wallace's five states and 46 electoral votes.[105]

Richard Nixon was able to win the Electoral College, dominating several regions in the Western United States, Midwest, Upland South, and portions of the Northeast, while winning the popular vote by a relatively small 511,944 votes over Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey. Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey performed relatively well in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Wallace finished last with five states in the Deep South; he is the most recent third-party candidate to win any states.[106] This is the first time that the Republican popular vote margin was under 5 points since 1896.

Out of all the states that Nixon had previously carried in 1960, Maine and Washington were the only two states that did not vote for Nixon again in 1968; while Nixon carried them four years later during his re-election campaign in 1972. He also carried eight states that voted for John F. Kennedy in 1960: Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Delaware. This was the last time until 1988 that the state of Washington voted Democratic and until 1992 that Connecticut, Maine, and Michigan voted Democratic in the general election. Nixon was also the last Republican candidate to win a presidential election without carrying Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This is the first time which the Republican candidate captured the White House without carrying Michigan, Minnesota, Maine and Pennsylvania. He would be the last Republican candidate to carry Minnesota (four years later, in 1972), as of 2020.[106] This is also the first time since 1916 that Minnesota voted for the candidate who did not eventually win.[107]

Remarkably, Nixon won the election despite winning only two of the six states (Arizona and South Carolina) won by Republican Barry Goldwater four years earlier. He remains the only presidential candidate to win in spite of defending such a low number of his own party's states. All of the remaining four States carried by Goldwater were carried by Wallace in 1968. They would be won by Nixon in 1972.[105][106] Four of the fives states won by Wallace had voted for Goldwater.[108]

Of the 3,130 counties/districts/independent cities making returns, Nixon won in 1,859 (59.39%) while Humphrey carried 693 (22.14%). Wallace was victorious in 578 counties (18.47%), all of which (with one exception of Pemiscot County, Missouri) were located in the South.[105]

Nixon said that Humphrey left a gracious message congratulating him, noting, "I know exactly how he felt. I know how it feels to lose a close one."[109]

## Results[edit | edit source]

File:PresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Election results by county.

Richard Nixon

Hubert Humphrey

George Wallace

File:1968 Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District.png

Results by congressional district.

Nixon's victory is often considered a realigning election in American politics. From 1932 to 1964, the Democratic Party was undoubtedly the majority party, winning seven out of nine presidential elections, and their agenda influenced policies undertaken by the Republican Eisenhower administration. The 1968 election reversed the situation completely. From 1968 until 2004, Republicans won seven out of ten presidential elections, and its policies clearly affected those enacted by the Democratic Clinton administration via the Third Way.[110][106]

The election was a seismic event in the long-term realignment in Democratic Party support, especially in the South.[111] Nationwide, the bitter splits over civil rights, the new left, the Vietnam War, and other "culture wars" were slow to heal. Democrats could no longer count on white Southern support for the presidency, as Republicans made major gains in suburban areas and areas filled with Northern migrants.[112] The rural Democratic "courthouse cliques" in the South lost power. While Democrats controlled local and state politics in the South, Republicans usually won the presidential vote. In 1968, Humphrey won less than ten percent of the white Southern vote, with two-thirds of his vote in the region coming from blacks, who now voted in full strength.[113]

From 1968 until 2004, only two Democrats were elected president, both native Southerners – Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Bill Clinton of Arkansas. Not until 2008 did a Northern Democrat, Barack Obama of Illinois, again win a presidential election. In 2020, another Northern Democrat, Joe Biden of Delaware, won a presidential election.[106][114]

Another important result of this election was that it led to several reforms in how the Democratic Party chose its presidential nominees. In 1969, the McGovern–Fraser Commission adopted a set of rules for the states to follow in selecting convention delegates. These rules reduced the influence of party leaders on the nominating process and provided greater representation for minorities, women, and youth. The reforms led most states to adopt laws requiring primary elections, instead of party leaders, to choose delegates.[115]

After 1968, the only way to win the party's presidential nomination became through the primary process; Humphrey turned out to be the last nominee of either major party to win his party's nomination without having directly competed in the primaries. Interestingly, this remains the most recent presidential election in which the incumbent president was not nominated for a presidential term despite being eligible, and the only such election to occur after the Twenty-second Amendment came into effect. It is also the last election in which any third-party candidate won an entire state's electoral votes, with Wallace carrying five states.[106]

This election was the last time until 1992 that the Democratic nominee won Connecticut, Maine, and Michigan and the last until 1988 when Washington voted Democrat, and the last time a Republican won the presidency without winning Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.[106] It was also the first time since 1888 that bellwether Coös County, New Hampshire did not support the winning candidate.[116]

This was the first time since 1928 that North Carolina voted for a Republican, and the first since 1912 (only the second and final time since 1852) that Maine and Vermont did not support the same party. Similarly, it is the last time that Oregon and Washington did not support the same party, meaning the two neighboring states have only voted for different candidates twice in 100 years. By losing New York, Nixon became the third victorious candidate to lose his home state, which also occurred in 1844, 1916, and 2016.

Despite the narrow (0.7%) difference in the popular vote, Humphrey took only 35.5% of the electoral vote. This disparity prompted the introduction of the Bayh–Celler amendment in Congress, which would have replaced the Electoral College with a direct election of the presidency. The effort was not successful and the Electoral College is still in force.[117]

### Results[edit | edit source]

Electoral results  Presidential candidate  | Party  | Home state  | Popular vote  | Electoral
vote  | Running mate

|
|
|
|
|

Count  | Percentage  | Vice-presidential candidate  | Home state  | Electoral vote
Richard Milhous Nixon | Republican | New York[a] | 31,783,783  | 43.42%  | 301  |  Spiro Theodore Agnew | Maryland | 301
Hubert Horatio Humphrey | Democratic | Minnesota | 31,271,839  | 42.72%  | 191  |  Edmund Sixtus Muskie | Maine | 191
George Corley Wallace | American Independent | Alabama | 9,901,118  | 13.53%  | 46[118] |  Curtis Emerson LeMay | California[119] | 46[118]
Other | 243,259  | 0.33%  | —  | Other | —
Total  | 73,199,999  | 100%  | 538  |  | 538
Needed to win  | 270  |  | 270

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1968 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 7, 2005. Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 7, 2005.

| Popular vote

|  |
Nixon |

| 43.42%
Humphrey |

| 42.72%
Wallace |

| 13.53%
Others |

| 0.33%

| Electoral vote

|  |
Nixon |

| 55.95%
Humphrey |

| 35.50%
Wallace |

| 8.55%

### Geography of results[edit | edit source]

File:1968 Electoral Map.png

* 1968 United States presidential election results map by county.svg

Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

#### Cartographic gallery[edit | edit source]

* PresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Presidential election results by county

* RepublicanPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Republican presidential election results by county

* DemocraticPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Democratic presidential election results by county

* American Independent presidential election results by county

* "Other" presidential election results by county

* Cartogram of presidential election results by county

* CartogramRepublicanPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county

* CartogramDemocraticPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county

* CartogramAmericanIndependentPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Cartogram of American Independent presidential election results by county

* CartogramOtherPresidentialCounty1968Colorbrewer.gif

Cartogram of "Other" presidential election results by county

#### Results by state[edit | edit source]

[120]

States/districts won by Nixon/Agnew

States/districts won by Humphrey/Muskie
States/districts won by Wallace/LeMay
| Richard Nixon
Republican  | Hubert H. Humphrey
Democratic  | George Wallace
American Independent  | Margin  | Margin
swing[b] | State Total

|
|
|
|
|
|

State  | electoral
votes  | #  | %  | electoral
votes  | #  | %  | electoral
votes  | #  | %  | electoral
votes  | #  | %  | %  | #  |
Alabama | 10  | 146,923  | 13.99  | \-  | 196,579  | 18.72  | \-  | 691,425  | 65.86  | 10  | -494,846  | -47.13  | -83.8%  | 1,049,917  | AL
Alaska | 3  | 37,600  | 45.28  | 3  | 35,411  | 42.65  | \-  | 10,024  | 12.07  | \-  | 2,189  | 2.64  | 34.5%  | 83,035  | AK
Arizona | 5  | 266,721  | 54.78  | 5  | 170,514  | 35.02  | \-  | 46,573  | 9.56  | \-  | 96,207  | 19.76  | 18.8%  | 486,936  | AZ
Arkansas | 6  | 189,062  | 31.01  | \-  | 184,901  | 30.33  | \-  | 235,627  | 38.65  | 6  | -46,565  | -7.64  | 13.1%  | 609,590  | AR
California | 40  | 3,467,664  | 47.82  | 40  | 3,244,318  | 44.74  | \-  | 487,270  | 6.72  | \-  | 223,346  | 3.08  | 21.4%  | 7,251,587  | CA
Colorado | 6  | 409,345  | 50.46  | 6  | 335,174  | 41.32  | \-  | 60,813  | 7.50  | \-  | 74,171  | 9.14  | 32.2%  | 811,199  | CO
Connecticut | 8  | 556,721  | 44.32  | \-  | 621,561  | 49.48  | 8  | 76,650  | 6.10  | \-  | -64,840  | -5.16  | 29.5%  | 1,256,232  | CT
Delaware | 3  | 96,714  | 45.12  | 3  | 89,194  | 41.61  | \-  | 28,459  | 13.28  | \-  | 7,520  | 3.51  | 25.7%  | 214,367  | DE
D.C. | 3  | 31,012  | 18.18  | \-  | 139,566  | 81.82  | 3  | \-  | \-  | \-  | -108,554  | -63.64  | 7.4%  | 170,578  | DC
Florida | 14  | 886,804  | 40.53  | 14  | 676,794  | 30.93  | \-  | 624,207  | 28.53  | \-  | 210,010  | 9.60  | 11.9%  | 2,187,805  | FL
Georgia | 12  | 380,111  | 30.40  | \-  | 334,440  | 26.75  | \-  | 535,550  | 42.83  | 12  | -155,439  | -12.43  | -11.9%  | 1,250,266  | GA
Hawaii | 4  | 91,425  | 38.70  | \-  | 141,324  | 59.83  | 4  | 3,469  | 1.47  | \-  | -49,899  | -21.12  | 36.4%  | 236,218  | HI
Idaho | 4  | 165,369  | 56.79  | 4  | 89,273  | 30.66  | \-  | 36,541  | 12.55  | \-  | 76,096  | 26.13  | 28.0%  | 291,183  | ID
Illinois | 26  | 2,174,774  | 47.08  | 26  | 2,039,814  | 44.15  | \-  | 390,958  | 8.46  | \-  | 134,960  | 2.92  | 21.9%  | 4,619,749  | IL
Indiana | 13  | 1,067,885  | 50.29  | 13  | 806,659  | 37.99  | \-  | 243,108  | 11.45  | \-  | 261,226  | 12.30  | 24.7%  | 2,123,597  | IN
Iowa | 9  | 619,106  | 53.01  | 9  | 476,699  | 40.82  | \-  | 66,422  | 5.69  | \-  | 142,407  | 12.19  | 36.2%  | 1,167,931  | IA
Kansas | 7  | 478,674  | 54.84  | 7  | 302,996  | 34.72  | \-  | 88,921  | 10.19  | \-  | 175,678  | 20.13  | 29.2%  | 872,783  | KS
Kentucky | 9  | 462,411  | 43.79  | 9  | 397,541  | 37.65  | \-  | 193,098  | 18.29  | \-  | 64,870  | 6.14  | 34.5%  | 1,055,893  | KY
Louisiana | 10  | 257,535  | 23.47  | \-  | 309,615  | 28.21  | \-  | 530,300  | 48.32  | 10  | -220,685  | -20.11  | -18.4%  | 1,097,450  | LA
Maine | 4  | 169,254  | 43.07  | \-  | 217,312  | 55.30  | 4  | 6,370  | 1.62  | \-  | -48,058  | -12.23  | 25.4%  | 392,936  | ME
Maryland | 10  | 517,995  | 41.94  | \-  | 538,310  | 43.59  | 10  | 178,734  | 14.47  | \-  | -20,315  | -1.64  | 29.3%  | 1,235,039  | MD
Massachusetts | 14  | 766,844  | 32.89  | \-  | 1,469,218  | 63.01  | 14  | 87,088  | 3.73  | \-  | -702,374  | -30.12  | 22.6%  | 2,331,752  | MA
Michigan | 21  | 1,370,665  | 41.46  | \-  | 1,593,082  | 48.18  | 21  | 331,968  | 10.04  | \-  | -222,417  | -6.73  | 26.9%  | 3,306,250  | MI
Minnesota | 10  | 658,643  | 41.46  | \-  | 857,738  | 54.00  | 10  | 68,931  | 4.34  | \-  | -199,095  | -12.53  | 15.2%  | 1,588,510  | MN
Mississippi | 7  | 88,516  | 13.52  | \-  | 150,644  | 23.02  | \-  | 415,349  | 63.46  | 7  | -264,705  | -40.44  | -4.7%  | 654,509  | MS
Missouri | 12  | 811,932  | 44.87  | 12  | 791,444  | 43.74  | \-  | 206,126  | 11.39  | \-  | 20,488  | 1.13  | 29.2%  | 1,809,502  | MO
Montana | 4  | 138,835  | 50.60  | 4  | 114,117  | 41.59  | \-  | 20,015  | 7.29  | \-  | 24,718  | 9.01  | 27.4%  | 274,404  | MT
Nebraska | 5  | 321,163  | 59.82  | 5  | 170,784  | 31.81  | \-  | 44,904  | 8.36  | \-  | 150,379  | 28.01  | 33.2%  | 536,851  | NE
Nevada | 3  | 73,188  | 47.46  | 3  | 60,598  | 39.29  | \-  | 20,432  | 13.25  | \-  | 12,590  | 8.16  | 25.3%  | 154,218  | NV
New Hampshire | 4  | 154,903  | 52.10  | 4  | 130,589  | 43.93  | \-  | 11,173  | 3.76  | \-  | 24,314  | 8.18  | 36.0%  | 297,298  | NH
New Jersey | 17  | 1,325,467  | 46.10  | 17  | 1,264,206  | 43.97  | \-  | 262,187  | 9.12  | \-  | 61,261  | 2.13  | 33.9%  | 2,875,395  | NJ
New Mexico | 4  | 169,692  | 51.85  | 4  | 130,081  | 39.75  | \-  | 25,737  | 7.86  | \-  | 39,611  | 12.10  | 31.1%  | 327,281  | NM
New York | 43  | 3,007,932  | 44.30  | \-  | 3,378,470  | 49.76  | 43  | 358,864  | 5.29  | \-  | -370,538  | -5.46  | 31.8%  | 6,790,066  | NY
North Carolina | 13  | 627,192  | 39.51  | 12  | 464,113  | 29.24  | \-  | 496,188  | 31.26  | 1  | 131,004  | 8.25  | 20.6%  | 1,587,493  | NC
North Dakota | 4  | 138,669  | 55.94  | 4  | 94,769  | 38.23  | \-  | 14,244  | 5.75  | \-  | 43,900  | 17.71  | 33.8%  | 247,882  | ND
Ohio | 26  | 1,791,014  | 45.23  | 26  | 1,700,586  | 42.95  | \-  | 467,495  | 11.81  | \-  | 90,428  | 2.28  | 28.2%  | 3,959,698  | OH
Oklahoma | 8  | 449,697  | 47.68  | 8  | 301,658  | 31.99  | \-  | 191,731  | 20.33  | \-  | 148,039  | 15.70  | 27.2%  | 943,086  | OK
Oregon | 6  | 408,433  | 49.83  | 6  | 358,866  | 43.78  | \-  | 49,683  | 6.06  | \-  | 49,567  | 6.05  | 33.8%  | 819,622  | OR
Pennsylvania | 29  | 2,090,017  | 44.02  | \-  | 2,259,405  | 47.59  | 29  | 378,582  | 7.97  | \-  | -169,388  | -3.57  | 26.6%  | 4,747,928  | PA
Rhode Island | 4  | 122,359  | 31.78  | \-  | 246,518  | 64.03  | 4  | 15,678  | 4.07  | \-  | -124,159  | -32.25  | 29.5%  | 385,000  | RI
South Carolina | 8  | 254,062  | 38.09  | 8  | 197,486  | 29.61  | \-  | 215,430  | 32.30  | \-  | 38,632  | 5.79  | -12.0%  | 666,982  | SC
South Dakota | 4  | 149,841  | 53.27  | 4  | 118,023  | 41.96  | \-  | 13,400  | 4.76  | \-  | 31,818  | 11.31  | 22.5%  | 281,264  | SD
Tennessee | 11  | 472,592  | 37.85  | 11  | 351,233  | 28.13  | \-  | 424,792  | 34.02  | \-  | 47,800  | 3.83  | 14.8%  | 1,248,617  | TN
Texas | 25  | 1,227,844  | 39.87  | \-  | 1,266,804  | 41.14  | 25  | 584,269  | 18.97  | \-  | -38,960  | -1.27  | 25.6%  | 3,079,406  | TX
Utah | 4  | 238,728  | 56.49  | 4  | 156,665  | 37.07  | \-  | 26,906  | 6.37  | \-  | 82,063  | 19.42  | 29.1%  | 422,568  | UT
Vermont | 3  | 85,142  | 52.75  | 3  | 70,255  | 43.53  | \-  | 5,104  | 3.16  | \-  | 14,887  | 9.22  | 41.8%  | 161,404  | VT
Virginia | 12  | 590,319  | 43.36  | 12  | 442,387  | 32.49  | \-  | 321,833  | 23.64  | \-  | 147,932  | 10.87  | 18.2%  | 1,361,491  | VA
Washington | 9  | 588,510  | 45.12  | \-  | 616,037  | 47.23  | 9  | 96,990  | 7.44  | \-  | -27,527  | -2.11  | 22.5%  | 1,304,281  | WA
West Virginia | 7  | 307,555  | 40.78  | \-  | 374,091  | 49.60  | 7  | 72,560  | 9.62  | \-  | -66,536  | -8.82  | 27.1%  | 754,206  | WV
Wisconsin | 12  | 809,997  | 47.89  | 12  | 748,804  | 44.27  | \-  | 127,835  | 7.56  | \-  | 61,193  | 3.62  | 28.0%  | 1,691,538  | WI
Wyoming | 3  | 70,927  | 55.76  | 3  | 45,173  | 35.51  | \-  | 11,105  | 8.73  | \-  | 25,754  | 20.25  | 33.4%  | 127,205  | WY
TOTALS:  | 538  | 31,783,783  | 43.42  | 301  | 31,271,839  | 42.72  | 191  | 9,901,118  | 13.53  | 46  | 511,944  | 0.70  | 23.3%  | 73,199,998  | US

### Close states[edit | edit source]

States where margin of victory was less than 5 percentage points (223 electoral votes):

1. Missouri, 1.13% (20,488 votes)
2. Texas, 1.27% (38,960 votes)
3. Maryland, 1.64% (20,315 votes)
4. Washington, 2.11% (27,527 votes)
5. New Jersey, 2.13% (61,261 votes)
6. Ohio, 2.28% (90,428 votes) (tipping point state for Nixon win)
7. Alaska, 2.64% (2,189 votes)
8. Illinois, 2.92% (134,960 votes) (tipping point state for Humphrey win)
9. California, 3.08% (223,346 votes)
10. Delaware, 3.51% (7,520 votes)
11. Pennsylvania, 3.57% (169,388 votes)
12. Wisconsin, 3.62% (61,193 votes)
13. Tennessee, 3.83% (47,800 votes)

States where margin of victory was more than 5 percentage points, but less than 10 percentage points (155 electoral votes):

1. Kentucky, 5.14% (64,870 votes)
2. Connecticut, 5.16% (64,840 votes)
3. New York, 5.46% (370,538 votes)
4. South Carolina, 5.79% (38,632 votes)
5. Oregon, 6.05% (49,567 votes)
6. Michigan, 6.73% (222,417 votes)
7. Arkansas, 7.64% (46,565 votes)
8. Nevada, 8.17% (12,590 votes)
9. New Hampshire, 8.17% (24,314 votes)
10. North Carolina, 8.25% (131,004 votes)
11. West Virginia, 8.82% (66,536 votes)
12. Montana, 9.01% (24,718 votes)
13. Colorado, 9.14% (74,171 votes)
14. Vermont, 9.22% (14,887 votes)
15. Florida, 9.60% (210,010 votes)

Notes: In Alabama, Wallace was the official Democratic Party nominee, while Humphrey ran on the ticket of short-lived National Democratic Party of Alabama, loyal to him as an official Democratic Party nominee.[121]

In North Carolina one Nixon Elector cast his ballot for George Wallace (President) and Curtis LeMay (Vice President).[122]

#### Statistics[edit | edit source]

[120]

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Republican)

1. Hooker County, Nebraska 87.94%
2. Jackson County, Kentucky 84.09%
3. McIntosh County, North Dakota 82.65%
4. McPherson County, South Dakota 80.34%
5. Sioux County, Iowa 80.04%

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Democratic)

1. Duval County, Texas 88.74%
2. Jim Hogg County, Texas 82.06%
3. Washington, D.C. 81.82%
4. Webb County, Texas 79.65%
5. Suffolk County, Massachusetts 75.62%

Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (American Independent)

1. Geneva County, Alabama 91.73%
2. George County, Mississippi 91.20%
3. Lamar County, Alabama 88.25%
4. Calhoun County, Mississippi 87.80%
5. Holmes County, Florida 87.21%

### National voter demographics[edit | edit source]

NBC sample precincts 1968 election

| % Humphrey  | % Nixon  | % Wallace
High income urban  | 32  | 63  | 5
Middle income urban  | 43  | 44  | 13
Low income urban  | 69  | 19  | 12
Rural (all income)  | 33  | 46  | 21
African-American neighborhoods | 94  | 5  | 1
Italian neighborhoods  | 51  | 39  | 10
Slavic neighborhoods  | 65  | 24  | 11
Jewish neighborhoods  | 81  | 17  | 2
Unionized neighborhoods  | 61  | 29  | 10

Source: Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. "Group Analysis of the 1968 Presidential Vote" XXVI, No. 48 (November 1968), p. 3218\.

### Voter demographics in the South[edit | edit source]

NBC sample precincts 1968 election: South only

| % Humphrey  | % Nixon  | % Wallace
Middle income urban neighborhoods  | 28  | 40  | 32
Low income urban neighborhoods  | 57  | 18  | 25
Rural (all income)  | 29  | 30  | 41
African-American neighborhoods  | 95  | 3  | 2
Hispanic neighborhoods  | 92  | 7  | 1

Source: Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. "Group Analysis of the 1968 Presidential Vote", XXVI, No. 48 (November 1968), p. 3218\.

## See also[edit | edit source]

* 1968 United States House of Representatives elections
* 1968 United States Senate elections
* 1968 United States gubernatorial elections
* History of the United States (1964–1980)
* History of the United States Democratic Party
* History of the United States Republican Party
* List of presidents of the United States
* First inauguration of Richard Nixon

## Sources[edit | edit source]

* White, Theodore H. (1970). The Making of the President 1968. Pocket Books.

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89. ^ Theodore H. White, The Making of the President, 1968 (1970)
90. ^ a b Baker, Peter. "Nixon Tried to Spoil Johnson's Peace Talks in '68, Notes Show". New York Times.
91. ^ Mark Lisheron. "In tapes, LBJ accuses Nixon of treason". Austin American-Statesman. December 5, 2008. "Johnson tells Sen. Everett Dirksen, the Republican minority leader, that it will be Nixon's responsibility if the South Vietnamese don't participate in the peace talks. 'This is treason', LBJ says to Dirksen."
92. ^ Robert "KC" Johnson. "Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What The New LBJ Tapes Reveal". History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording on YouTube of President Johnson: "This is treason."
"I know."
93. ^ Clark M. Clifford (1991). Counsel to the President: A Memoir (May 21, 1991 ed.). Random House. p. 709. ISBN 978-0-394-56995-6. p. 582. "The activities of the Nixon team went far beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat. It constituted direct interference in the activities of the executive branch and the responsibilities of the Chief Executive, the only people with authority to negotiate on behalf of the nation. The activities of the Nixon campaign constituted a gross, even potentially illegal, interference in the security affairs of the nation by private individuals."
94. ^ Robert Dallek (2007), Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, HarperCollins, pp. 73-74.
95. ^ a b US Department of State, Office of the Historian, "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VII, Vietnam, September 1968–January 1969, November 1-12, 1968: South Vietnamese Abstention From the Expanded Peace Conference; the Anna Chennault Affair", https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/ch5
96. ^ Diem Bui with David Chanoff (1999). In the Jaws of History (April 1, 1999 ed.). Indiana University Press. p. 367\. ISBN 978-0-253-21301-3. p. 237. Waiting for me in the lobby was Anna Chennault. A few minutes later I was being introduced to Nixon and John Mitchell, his law partner and adviser. (...) Nixon (...) added that his staff would be in touch with me through John Mitchell and Anna Chennault.
97. ^ Dallek, pp. 74-75.
98. ^ Dallek, pp. 73-74.
99. ^ Thomas Powers. "The Man who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms & the CIA". Alfred A. Knopf, 1979, p.198. "during the week which ended Sunday, October 27 [1968], the National Security Agency intercepted a radio message from the South Vietnamese Embassy to Saigon explicitly urging (Nguyen Van) Thieu to stand fast against an agreement until after the election. As soon as Johnson learned of the cable he ordered the FBI to place Madame (Anna) Chennault under surveillance and to install a phone tap on the South Vietnamese Embassy"
100. ^ Dallek, p. 75.
101. ^ Robert "KC" Johnson. "Did Nixon Commit Treason in 1968? What the New LBJ Tapes Reveal". History News Network, January 26, 2009. Transcript from audio recording on YouTube of President Johnson: "Now, I can identify 'em, because I know who's doing this. I don't want to identify it. I think it would shock America if a principal candidate was playing with a source like this on a matter this important. (...) I don't want to do that."
102. ^ a b Taylor, David (March 15, 2013). "The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon's 'treason'". BBC News. London. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
103. ^ Jules Witcover. "The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat". Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, p131. "Johnson had turned over incriminating evidence about (Anna) Chennault's activities to (Hubert) Humphrey's for use in the final days of the campaign. The idea was that such an act of treason would sink Nixon and elect Humphrey. But Humphrey declined to use it, partly because he felt he could not reveal the sources of the classified material (…) Later, in his memoir, Humphrey recounted a memo of his own at the time: "I wonder if I should have blown the whistle on Anna Chennault and Nixon. I wish [his italics] I could have been sure. Damn Thieu. Dragging his feet this past weekend hurt us. I wonder if that call did it. If Nixon knew."
104. ^ "In Tapes, Johnson Accused Nixon's Associates of Treason". The New York Times, December 4, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
105. ^ a b c Leip, David. "1968 Presidential General Election Results". David Leip's Atlas of Presidential Elections.
106. ^ a b c d e f g "Historical U.S. Presidential Elections 1789-2016". www.270towin.com. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
107. ^ "Presidential Election of 1916". www.270towin.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
108. ^ Murphy, Paul (1974). Political Parties In American History, Volume 3, 1890-present. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
109. ^ "1968 Year In Review". UPI. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
110. ^ "A Realigning Election? | RealClearPolitics". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
111. ^ "Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment". RealClearPolitics.com. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
112. ^ Lassiter, Matthew (2007). The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt. Princeton University Press. pp. 2, 17.
113. ^ Gould (1993) p 165; White (1969) p 401
114. ^ Michael A. Cohen, American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division (2016)
115. ^ "McGovern-Fraser Commission | Politics Matters". Retrieved 2019-02-01.
116. ^ The Political Graveyard; Coös County Votes for President
David Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections; Presidential Election, 2016 in New Hampshire
117. ^ "The First (And Last) Serious Challenge to the Electoral College System". mentalfloss.com. 2014-12-06. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
118. ^ A North Carolina faithless Republican elector voted for Wallace/LeMay
119. ^ "Electoral Votes for President and Vice President". Senate Manual. Government Printing Office. 2005. Retrieved March 14, 2006.
120. ^ a b "1968 Presidential General Election Data – National". Retrieved March 18, 2013.
121. ^ Wasson, Don F. (November 3, 1968). "Alabamians Must Sort Out Most Confusing Ballot in State History". The Selma Times-Journal. p. 3. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
122. ^ "1968 Presidential General Election Results – North Carolina". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved November 3, 2008.

## Notes[edit | edit source]

1. ^ a b Nixon's official state of residence was New York because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books, including the January 6, 1969, edition of the Congressional Record, list his home state as New York.
2. ^ Percentage point difference in margin from the 1964 election, of Republican over Democrat margins

## Further reading[edit | edit source]

* Ambrose, Stephen E. (1987). Nixon: The Education of a Politician: 1962–1972.
* Boomhower, Ray E. "Fighting the Good Fight: John Bartlow Martin and Hubert Humphrey's 1968 Presidential Campaign." Indiana Magazine of History (2020) 116#1 pp 1–29.
* Brown, Stuart Gerry. The Presidency on Trial: Robert Kennedy's 1968 Campaign and Afterwards. U. Press of Hawaii, 1972. 155 pp.
* Burner, David, and West, Thomas R. The Torch Is Passed: The Kennedy Brothers and American Liberalism. (1984). 307 pp.
* Carter, Dan T. (1995). The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics. ISBN 978-0-8071-2597-7.
* Chester, Lewis; Hodgson, Godfrey; Page, Bruce (1969). An American Melodrama: The Presidential Campaign of 1968. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-11991-2.
* Coffey, Justin P. Spiro Agnew and the Rise of the Republican Right (ABC-CLIO, 2015).
* Cohen, Michael A. American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division (Oxford UP, 2016) excerpt and online review
* Converse, Philip E.; Miller, Warren E.; Rusk, Jerrold G.; Wolfe, Arthur C. (1969). "Continuity And Change In American Politics: Parties and Issues in the 1968 Election". American Political Science Review. 63 (4): 1083–1105. doi:10.2307/1955073. JSTOR 1955073. S2CID 54762012.
* Gould, Lewis L. (1993). 1968: The Election that Changed America. Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 978-1-56663-010-8.
* Herzog, Arthur. McCarthy for President (1969)
* Farber, David (1988). Chicago '68. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-23800-5.
* Jamieson, Patrick E. "Seeing the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidency through the March 31, 1968 Withdrawal Speech." Presidential Studies Quarterly Vol 29#1 1999 pp. 134+
* Kimball, Warren F. "The Election of 1968." Diplomatic History 2004 28(4): 513–528. ISSN 0145-2096 Fulltext online in SwetsWise, Ingenta and Ebsco. Comments by others at pp. 563–576; reply, p. 577.
* Kogin, Michael (Spring 1966). "Wallace and the Middle Class". Public Opinion Quarterly. 30 (1): 98. doi:10.1086/267384.
* LaFerber, Walter. The Deadly Bet: LBJ, Vietnam, and the 1968 Election (2005) short survey
* Lesher, Stephan. George Wallace: American Populist. (1994). 587 pp.
* Lichtenstein, Nelson, ed. Political Profiles: The Johnson Years. 1976. short biographies of 400+ key politicians.
* Longley, Kyle. LBJ's 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval (2018) excerpt
* Mayer, Jeremy D. (2002). "Nixon Rides the Backlash to Victory: Racial Politics in the 1968 Presidential Campaign". Historian. 64 (3): 351–366. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2002.tb01487.x. S2CID 143272460.
* Nelson, Michael. Resilient America: Electing Nixon in 1968, Channeling Dissent, and Dividing Government (University Press of Kansas; 2014) 360 pages
* Nelson, Michael. "The Historical Presidency: Lost Confidence: The Democratic Party, the Vietnam War, and the 1968 Election." Presidential Studies Quarterly 48.3 (2018): 570–585.
* O'Mara, Margaret. Pivotal Tuesdays: Four Elections That Shaped the Twentieth Century (2015), compares 1912, 1932, 1968, 1992 in terms of social, economic, and political history
* Richardson, Darcy G. (2002). A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign. ISBN 978-0-595-23699-2.
* Rising, George (1997). Clean for Gene: Eugene McCarthy's 1968 Presidential Campaign. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-95841-1.
* Savage, Sean J. (2004). JFK, LBJ, and the Democratic Party. SUNY Albany Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-6169-3.
* Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. (1978). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-24897-3.
* Schumacher, Michael. The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America's Soul (U of Minnesota Press, 2018) 540 pp. online review
* Shesol, Jeff. Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud that Defined a Decade (1997)
* Small, Melvin. "The Election of 1968", Diplomatic History (2004) 28#4 pp 513–528, on foreign-policy issues online
* Solberg, Carl. Hubert Humphrey (2003), scholarly biography excerpt and text search
* Time. "Wallace's Army: The Coalition Of Frustration", Time October 18, 1968
* Unger, Irwin; Unger, Debi (1988). Turning Point: 1968. Scribner's. ISBN 978-0-684-18696-2.
* Woods, Randall. LBJ: Architect of American Ambition (2006)

### Primary sources[edit | edit source]

* Gallup, George H., ed. The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971. 3 vols. Random House, 1972. press releases;
* Humphrey, Hubert H. (1976). The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-8166-1897-2.
* McCarthy, Eugene. The Year of the People (1969), memoir
* McGinniss, Joe (1969). The Selling of the President 1968. Trident Press. ISBN 978-0-671-82249-1.; firsthand reporting
* Nixon, Richard M. (1978). RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. ISBN 978-0-671-70741-5. online
* White, Theodore H. (1969). The Making of the President—1968. Atheneum. ISBN 978-0-224-61796-3., famous report by American journalist
* Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) online
* Porter, Kirk H., and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840-1972 (1973)

## External links[edit | edit source]

* The Election Wall's 1968 Election Video Page
* 1968 popular vote by counties
* 1968 popular vote by states
* 1968 popular vote by states (with bar graphs)
* Campaign commercials from the 1968 election
* "LBJ Tapes Implicate Nixon With Treason". ABC News. December 5, 2008, (video).
* Election of 1968 in Counting the Votes

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(← 1964) 1968 United States presidential election (1972 →)

Republican Party|

* Convention
* Primaries

Candidates|

* Nominee: Richard Nixon
* campaign
* VP nominee: Spiro Agnew

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* Winthrop Rockefeller
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Democratic Party|

* Convention
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Candidates|

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* campaign
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* campaign
* Thomas C. Lynch
* Eugene McCarthy
* campaign
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* Dan K. Moore
* Channing E. Phillips
* George Smathers
* Stephen M. Young

American Independent Party|

| Candidates|

* Nominee: George Wallace
* campaign
* VP nominee: Curtis LeMay

|

Other third party and independent candidates

Communist Party|

* Nominee: Charlene Mitchell
* VP nominee: Michael Zagarell

Peace and Freedom Party|

* Nominee: Eldridge Cleaver
* VP nominee: Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd

Prohibition Party|

* Nominee: E. Harold Munn

Socialist Labor Party|

* Nominee: Henning A. Blomen

Socialist Workers Party|

* Nominee: Fred Halstead
* VP nominee: Paul Boutelle

Independents and other candidates|

* Dick Gregory
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* Other 1968 elections: House
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State and district results of the 1968 United States presidential election

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Electoral map, 1968 election

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(1966 <-)  1968 United States elections (-> 1970)

President|

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* Portal:Politics
* Third party (United States)
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* Third-party members of the United States House of Representatives

* v
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Richard Nixon

* 37th President of the United States (1969–1974)
* 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961)
* U.S. Senator from California (1950–1953)
* U.S. Representative for CA–12 (1947–1950)

Pre-presidency|

* Checkers speech
* Vice presidency
* Presidential transition of Dwight D. Eisenhower
* 1958 motorcade attack
* Kitchen Debate
* Operation 40
* Presidential transition of John F. Kennedy

File:Richard Nixon presidential portrait (cropped).jpg

Presidency|

* Transition
* First inauguration
* Second inauguration
* Nixon Doctrine
* "Bring Us Together"
* Economic policies
* Bank Secrecy Act
* Fair Credit Reporting Act
* Family Assistance Plan
* Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973
* Nixon shock
* Revised Philadelphia Plan
* Smithsonian Agreement
* Tar Baby Option
* Education Amendments of 1972
* Title IX
* Council on Environmental Quality
* Environmental Quality Improvement Act
* National Environmental Policy Act
* Environmental Protection Agency
* Clean Air Amendments of 1970
* Clean Water Act
* Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
* National Ambient Air Quality Standards
* National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
* New Source Performance Standards
* Noise Control Act
* Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970
* Occupational Safety and Health Act
* National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
* Occupational Safety and Health Administration
* Permissible exposure limit
* U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
* Consumer Product Safety Act
* Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act
* Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970
* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
* Space exploration
* 1971 National Cancer Act
* Vietnam War
* Cambodian bombing
* Paris Peace Accords
* "Peace with Honor"
* Vietnamization
* Silent majority
* Cold War period
* Linkage policy
* Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
* 1970 Lincoln Memorial visit
* 1972 visit to China
* Shanghai Communiqué
* Détente
* 1972 Moscow Summit
* Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
* SALT I Treaty
* Prevention of Nuclear War Agreement
* Threshold Test Ban Treaty
* Endangered Species Act
* National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse
* War on Drugs
* Drug Enforcement Administration
* Cannabis policy
* Enemies List
* list of opponents
* Operation CHAOS
* Watergate
* timeline
* White House tapes
* United States v. Nixon
* Senate Watergate Committee
* impeachment process
* "I am not a crook"
* Resignation
* speech
* Pardon
* State of the Union Address (1970
* 1973
* 1974)
* Wilson desk
* Judicial appointments
* Supreme Court
* controversies
* Executive Orders
* Presidential Proclamations

Life and
politics|

* Richard Nixon Foundation
* Presidential Library and Museum
* Birthplace and boyhood home
* "Last press conference"
* Florida White House
* "La Casa Pacifica"
* Nixon Center
* Nixon v. General Services Administration
* Death and state funeral

Books|

* Six Crises (1962)
* Bibliography

Elections|

* U.S. House of Representatives: 1946
* 1948
* U.S. Senate: 1950
* California gubernatorial election: 1962
* GOP presidential primaries: 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* GOP national conventions: 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1968
* campaign
* 1972
* Presidential elections: 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* debates
* 1968
* 1972

Popular
culture|

* "Nixon goes to China"
* Millhouse (1971 film)
* An Evening with Richard Nixon (1972 play)
* Richard (1972 film)
* Another Nice Mess (1972 film)
* Four More Years (1972 film)
* Impeach the President (1973 song)
* The Werewolf of Washington (1973 film)
* White House Madness (1975 film)
* All the President's Men (1976 film)
* The Public Burning (1977 novel)
* Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977 miniseries)
* Secret Honor (1984 film)
* Nixon in China (1987 opera)
* The Final Days (1989 film)
* Nixon (1995 film)
* Elvis Meets Nixon (1997 film)
* Futurama (1999 TV series)
* Dick (1999 film)
* Nixon's China Game (2000 film)
* Dark Side of the Moon (2002 film)
* The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004 film)
* Frost–Nixon interviews (2006 play, 2008 film)
* Black Dynamite (2009 film)
* "The Impossible Astronaut" (2011 TV episode)
* Our Nixon (2013 film)
* X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014 film)
* Crooked (2015 novel)
* Elvis & Nixon (2016 film)
* The Post (2017 film)
* U.S. postage stamp

Related|

* Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act
* Presidential Townhouse
* Richard Nixon mask

Staff|

* Jack Brennan (aide de camp)
* Murray Chotiner (early campaign manager)
* Manolo Sanchez (valet)
* Rose Mary Woods (secretary)

Family|

* Thelma "Pat" Ryan Nixon (wife)
* Tricia Nixon Cox (daughter)
* Julie Nixon Eisenhower (daughter)
* Christopher Nixon Cox (grandson)
* Jennie Eisenhower (granddaughter)
* Francis A. Nixon (father)
* Hannah Milhous Nixon (mother)
* Donald Nixon (brother)
* Edward Nixon (brother)

* ← Lyndon B. Johnson
* Gerald Ford →

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Hubert Humphrey

38th Vice President of the United States (1964–1969) • United States Senator from Minnesota (1949–1964, 1971–1978)

Political career|

* Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
* 1948 Civil Rights speech
* Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act

File:Hubert Humphrey crop.jpg

Electoral history|

* Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1960
* 1968
* 1972
* Democratic National Convention 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* protests
* 1972
* United States presidential election 1964
* 1968
* 1968 presidential campaign (Edmund Muskie)

Legacy|

* Primary (1960 documentary)
* Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
* Humphrey School of Public Affairs
* Hubert H. Humphrey Building

Family and
personal life|

* Muriel Humphrey (wife)
* Hubert "Skip" Humphrey III (son)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

George Wallace

Family|

* Lurleen Wallace
* George Wallace Jr.
* Cornelia Wallace

Elections|

| Gubernatorial|

* 1962
* 1970
* 1974
* 1982

|

Presidential|

* 1964 presidential campaign
* 1968 presidential campaign
* 1972 presidential campaign
* 1976 presidential campaign

Related|

* 1963 Inaugural Address
* Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
* Foster Auditorium
* Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963 documentary)
* American Independent Party
* Arthur Bremer
* An Assassin's Diary

* George Wallace (1997 film)
* George Wallace Tunnel

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