1968: The Shattering of American Politics
The 1968 presidential election unfolded during a year when the United States seemed to be coming apart at the seams. War abroad, violence at home, collapsing political coalitions, and generational revolt all converged into a single, seismic political season. The result was an election that reshaped both major parties, elevated new political forces, and exposed deep fractures in American society.
The Vietnam War and Lyndon Johnson’s Breaking Point
By early 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, once a towering figure of legislative mastery, found himself overwhelmed by the Vietnam War’s political and human costs. The Tet Offensive in January shattered public confidence in the administration’s optimistic claims. Anti-war sentiment surged, and Johnson’s approval ratings collapsed.
Johnson’s leadership style, once celebrated for its effectiveness in passing landmark civil rights and Great Society legislation, now seemed mismatched to a war that offered no clear path to victory. The war consumed political capital, federal resources, and national morale. By March, facing a strong anti-war primary challenge from Senator Eugene McCarthy and the looming entry of Robert F. Kennedy, Johnson shocked the nation by announcing he would not seek re-election.
His withdrawal left the Democratic Party without its incumbent and with no clear successor, an unprecedented vacuum at the height of national crisis.
The Assassinations of MLK and RFK: Trauma and Political Upheaval
Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. His death triggered riots and uprisings across American cities, exposing the depth of racial injustice and frustration. The unrest intensified calls for law and order, a theme that would become central to Richard Nixon’s campaign.
Robert F. Kennedy
Just two months later, on June 5, Robert F. Kennedy, who had rapidly become the Democratic frontrunner, was assassinated after winning the California primary. His death shattered the hopes of millions of anti-war Democrats, minorities, and young voters who saw him as a unifying and transformative figure.
RFK’s assassination left Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not competed in the primaries, as the establishment favorite, yet deeply distrusted by the anti-war left.
The Democratic Party Implodes: Chicago 1968
The Democratic National Convention in Chicago at the end of August became a symbol of the party’s internal collapse. Inside the convention hall, party leaders rallied behind Humphrey, who remained tied to Johnson’s Vietnam policies. Outside, thousands of anti-war protesters clashed violently with police in scenes broadcast nationwide.
Humphrey’s early campaign was defined by hostility from the anti-war movement. Many activists saw him as complicit in Johnson’s escalation of the war. His refusal to break publicly with Johnson fueled resentment, protests, and even heckling at campaign events.
Only in late September did Humphrey finally distance himself from Johnson, calling for a bombing halt and negotiations. This shift helped unify the Democratic base, but the change came too late to fully repair the damage.
The Republican Party: Nixon’s Calculated Reunification
On the Republican side, Richard Nixon returned from political exile with a highly-disciplined and methodical plan to reclaim the presidency. Nixon, who had served as President Dwight Eisenhower's vice president from 1953-1961, had been defeated by Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy (the brother of Robert F. Kennedy) in the 1960 presidential election. He would go on to face defeat again in the 1962 race to serve as California's governor, losing that bid to Democratic incumbent Pat Brown.
The GOP around this time in the mid-late 1960s was deeply divided, and so Nixon and his supporters certainly had their work cut out for them as a force that could unify:
- Moderates: Figures like Michigan Governor George Romney and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (later vice president under President Gerald Ford) represented the party’s left-leaning, pro-civil rights wing.
- Conservatives: Leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater embodied the party’s emerging right-wing, anti-establishment faction.
Nixon worked tirelessly to bridge these factions. Where crime and unrest were concerned, he positioned himself as the candidate of stability and law-and-order, appealing to voters exhausted by riots, assassinations, and war. His message of restoring law and order resonated with suburban and working-class voters unsettled by the year’s upheavals.
Simultaneously, Nixon was able to appeal to the Republican Party's moderates and liberals by having worked hard to shed his earlier image as a combative partisan, presenting himself by 1968 as a unifying, pragmatic leader who could appeal to mainstream voters across ideological lines. In effect, he had rebranded himself. This repositioning helped him appear acceptable to moderates who distrusted the party’s rising conservative wing.
Additionally, it should be noted that after his 1962 California gubernatorial defeat, Nixon had spent years building goodwill across the party, including with moderates. He campaigned for GOP candidates of all stripes in 1964 and 1966, earning political “credits” that softened resistance from liberal Republicans when he sought the nomination again.
Finally to this point, Nixon selected Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew, who at the time was viewed as a moderate Republican acceptable to the party’s liberal wing, to be his running mate. This choice helped balance the ticket and clearly signaled that Nixon was not aligning exclusively with the conservative faction.
By the time the Republican National Convention was held in Miami Beach at the beginning of August, Nixon had successfully unified the party enough to secure the nomination and present himself as the steady alternative to Democratic chaos.
George Wallace: The Third Party Wild Card
Former (and future) Alabama Governor George Wallace, a Democrat, launched a formidable third-party bid under the American Independent Party banner. Running on a platform of segregationist states’ rights, opposition to civil rights reforms, and a hard-line stance on Vietnam, Wallace appealed to:
- Southern white voters who felt abandoned by the Democrats
- Northern working-class voters frustrated by urban unrest
- Former Goldwater supporters drawn to his populist rhetoric
Wallace polled strongly throughout the summer and fall, at times threatening to throw the election into the House of Representatives. His campaign capitalized on racial tensions and resentment toward federal authority.
Ultimately, Wallace won 46 electoral votes, the strongest third-party showing since 1948, and reshaped the political map by accelerating the South’s drift away from the Democratic Party.
The Final Stretch: A Nation Chooses
As Election Day approached, the race tightened dramatically. Humphrey’s late break with Johnson on Vietnam helped him close a significant polling gap. Nixon maintained a narrow lead by emphasizing stability, unity, and an honorable end to the war. Wallace held firm in the Deep South.
On November 5, 1968, Richard Nixon won the presidency with 301 electoral votes. Humphrey secured 191, and Wallace captured 46. The popular vote margin between Nixon and Humphrey was extremely close.
Conclusion: A Turning Point in American Politics
The 1968 election marked the end of the New Deal coalition, the rise of a new conservative movement, and the beginning of a long political realignment. It exposed deep fractures, including racial, generational, and ideological divides, that would shape American politics for decades.
It was an election born of trauma, defined by division, and remembered as one of the most consequential in United States history.
