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The war in Vietnam exerted crucial influence over the presidential election of 1968. Many Americans felt they should support U.S. foreign policies toward Vietnam wholeheartedly and without public criticism that might give encouragement to America's enemies. Their motto was "My country, right or wrong."
In contrast, many other Americans felt the U.S. participation in the war in Southeast Asia was fundamentally wrong. They believed that America should not be involved in a "police action" on foreign soil when there was no direct threat to the United States and when our national interest in the conflict could not be clearly defined. Frustrated with entrenched politics in Washington, these people were inclined to participate in grassroots protests that included letter-writing campaigns and public demonstrations.
Regardless of their ideology, Americans were increasingly concerned with the mounting numbers of U.S. servicemen killed or wounded in Southeast Asia and with the political unrest that the war was causing at home, especially on college campuses. In addition, deficit spending to pay for the war caused the national debt to skyrocket at an alarming rate.
In response to these strong feelings, political parties and presidential candidates aligned themselves according to their position on the war. Late in 1967, Eugene McCarthy, Democratic senator from Minnesota, announced his candidacy for the 1968 presidential election on an anti-war ticket. McCarthy's intention was not so much to run for president as it was to gain a platform from which to speak out against the war. For that reason, he set up only a minimal campaign organization.
Traditionally, a first-term president is nominated by his party for a second term, since being the incumbent is a great advantage in an election. In spite of the divisive issues surrounding the war, Johnson's Great Society domestic measures - including the Civil Rights Act, increased funding for education and public housing, and a government health insurance program for retirees - were popular. Johnson was sensitive, however, to the rising tide of criticism concerning his war policies, especially from members of his own party.
During the Vietnamese Lunar New Year called Tet, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong began a general offensive that struck nearly all the provincial capitals, every American base, and many other villages and towns, including Saigon itself. Eventually the communists were forced back to the North, and General Westmoreland, commander of the American forces in Vietnam, declared the Tet Offensive a defeat for the Vietcong and North Vietnamese. Psychologically, however, the Tet Offensive had a profound impact not only in Vietnam, but also in the United States. American support for the war eroded rapidly, and McCarthy's presidential platform was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Volunteers, many of them students, conducted a door-to-door campaign for McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary election. Amazingly for a virtual unknown before his candidacy, McCarthy picked up 42 percent of the Democratic vote in that state.
Encouraged by McCarthy's success, Robert F. Kennedy decided to enter the race. He also opposed Johnson's military policy in Vietnam, and he disliked Johnson personally. Sharing his brother John's charismatic appeal, Robert Kennedy was a formidable opponent for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy's entry, combined with McCarthy's startlingly strong showing in New Hampshire, convinced Johnson that his political base was crumbling. Rather than risk a ruinous fight for the nomination, Johnson made the unusual move of announcing his withdrawal from the race. Vice President Hubert Humphrey then declared his candidacy and received Johnson's full endorsement.
Kennedy took the primaries in Nebraska and Indiana, while McCarthy prevailed in Wisconsin and Oregon. They were neck and neck in California, with Kennedy winning by only a few votes. But just after his victory speech in Los Angeles, Kennedy was tragically assassinated by a Palestinian Arab nationalist, Sirhan Sirhan, who was outraged over Kennedy's support for Israel.
The Democratic convention met in Chicago in late August of 1968. As Johnson's political heir and the choice of Chicago mayor Richard Daley, Humphrey dominated the caucus. Humphrey was closely identified with liberal social programs, which put him in the Democratic mainstream. But he had also supported Johnson's Vietnam policy, and this created tension among the delegates, many of whom backed McCarthy for that reason.
Democrats across the nation were sharply divided on the war issue. Several thousand anti-war activists traveled to Chicago intent on influencing the nomination in favor of McCarthy. Most demonstrated in an orderly, though visible and often loud, fashion. Others employed civil disobedience such as disrupting traffic, refusing to disband, and passively resisting arrest. A few resorted to violent confrontation with police.
Tension mounted in the city. Mayor Daley, fearing that the protesters would intimidate the delegates to vote in favor of McCarthy, called out a large force of police to protect the convention. As delegates cast their ballots, demonstrators shouted verbal abuse at police, and radical protesters threatened violence. The intensity of the protest escalated as Humphrey received the nomination and a pro-war election platform was adopted. While cameras rolled in nationwide live television coverage, police clashed with rioting protesters in a shockingly violent melee.
In contrast to the strained and eventful Democratic nomination for the 1968 presidential race, the Republicans progressed through the process in a relatively quiet and conventional manner. At first they had assumed that Johnson would be the Democratic nominee and that he would likely carry the presidential race, as was the usual case with an incumbent. Consequently, Republicans with sights on the presidency had not prepared for running in the 1968 election.
After his narrow loss to John Kennedy eight years before, Richard M. Nixon had run for the governorship of California in 1962, but again he lost. He then joined a prominent law firm in New York City but remained active in the Republican Party. Having served as vice president under Eisenhower, Nixon was familiar with national politics and still had ambitions for high public office. Seeing an opportunity in the void left by Johnson's departure, Nixon pulled together a campaign organization, swept the Republican primaries, and won the nomination.
The Republicans campaigned on a law-and-order platform that appealed to many voters concerned about unbridled demonstrations and the new restrictions placed on police and courts in apprehending and convicting criminals. Republican candidates were careful to craft an image of moderation and dignity, which stood in contrast to the disorder in the Democratic Party. On the international front, Nixon's achievements in diplomacy as vice president were a matter of record. His claim that he could "end the war and win the peace" was what most voters wanted to hear.
Nixon chose a relative unknown, Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew, to be his vice-presidential running mate because Maryland was a southern state, and Republicans were traditionally weakest in the South. In choosing Agnew, Nixon hoped to counter Alabama governor George Wallace for the southern conservative vote. Wallace represented a segment of the southern electorate that resented civil rights legislation and also what they considered to be appropriation of states' rights by the federal government in such areas as education and prisons. Wallace headed the American Independent Party, and his plan was to garner enough votes to deny both Humphrey and Nixon a majority in the Electoral College, and thus disrupt the election.
Forced desegregation of schools was the sparking point of Wallace's campaign. His appeal drew from a reservoir of fear concerning the destructive potential of racial unrest in the South and from bitter resentment at being forced to desegregate by order of the Supreme Court. The foreign policy plank in Wallace's campaign platform advocated bombing North Vietnam "back to the Stone Age."
The Democratic campaign had great difficulty backing a single candidate and platform. Whenever Humphrey attempted to speak in public, he was subjected to incessant heckling from antiwar protesters. For most of the campaign he trailed badly. In order to improve Humphrey’s chances, Johnson suspended bombing of North Vietnam. The protests receded, and voters shifted their focus to domestic issues. Those who benefited from Great Society and other New Deal type programs characteristic of a Democratic administration began to consider Humphrey in a more positive light. The Democratic ticket gained ground, especially among blacks and urban poor, and the country was close to evenly divided at election time.
The popular vote gave Nixon about 31.8 million, while Humphrey won 31.3 million votes. In the Electoral College, Nixon received 301 votes to Humphrey’s 191. Wallace got 46 electoral votes—not enough to rob Nixon of a majority. In spite of the change of guard in the White House, however, the Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.
Though Nixon had won the presidency, he owed his victory to a division in the Democratic Party rather than to strong support for himself or his platform. He was a president by default, without a mandate or a strong constituency. Understanding this, Nixon moved into his role as president with measured deliberateness. He made few changes in Johnson's Great Society programs, altered little in the economy or domestic affairs, and proposed no important new legislation. Exhausted from strife and contention, the country wanted peace and stability, both at home and abroad. Though many pressing issues begged to be addressed, Nixon saw his chief problem as Vietnam and set about trying to make an "honorable" peace in Southeast Asia.
Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education