The 1968 convention and general election has been the subject of much discussion this primary season. Given that the majority of people here weren't around during the 60s, I thought a brief review of some of the events that led up to the 1968 convention and the 1968 election, along with the outcomes, might be of some interest. Or at least give us something else to talk about tonight...
JFK was elected in 1960. The Cold War was hot. The US and USSR each had a military presence in dozens of countries around the world, protecting their respective interests. In 1960, there were some 900 US troops stationed in Vietnam, but there was no Vietnam War. By the time JFK was assassinated 1963, there were over 16,000 US troops in Vietnam, but still there was no Vietnam War. It was just another "military presence." The US had some 750,000 troops scattered around the globe.
Civil rights was the other hot issue. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other black leaders felt that their desire for equal treatment under the law was taking a backseat to the Cold War, especially with regard to JFK's priorities. They began staging peaceful protests to embarrass JFK, leader of the "free" world, and force him to deal with the issue. They succeeded.
On June 11, Alabama Governor George Wallace tried to prevent two Black students from enrolling in the University of Alabama. President Kennedy ordered him aside and enforced the Federal court integration orders. That night, JFK addressed the nation on civil rights, in which he announced his intention to submit to Congress a new and effective civil rights bill.
On June 19, 1963, JFK sent his civil rights bill to Congress. It went first to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by New York Democrat Emmanuel Celler, where it was strengthened. In August 1963, Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream Speech" at the March on Washington. In November 1963, the civil rights bill moved to the House Rules Committee, chaired by Virginia Democrat Howard W. Smith, who had a record of tabling civil rights legislation. Later that same month, JFK was assassinated, and LBJ assumed the Presidency.
LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964. Upon signing the bill, he supposedly told his Press Secretary Bill Moyers that "we have lost the South for a generation.
On August 7, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the use of force in Vietnam. Later, Congress would be criticized for giving LBJ "a blank check." Later, evidence began to surface that cast serious doubt on LBJ’s account of the incident; the discrepancies were alternately attributed to "faulty intelligence," coupled with an eagerness to engage in a war in Vietnam, and to outright lying.
In November 1964, LBJ was re-elected in a landslide, Democrats gained 36 seats in the House and 2 seats in the Senate. These gains gave them a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. This still stands as the largest majority to be held by either party in either the US House or Senate since WWII.
By 1965, there were nearly 185,000 US troops in Vietnam. Now there was a Vietnam War.
Because its entire membership is up for re-election every two years, the US House is a leading indicator for shifts in the mood of the electorate. In 1966, Democrats lost 47 seats in the US House and 3 seats in the Senate: Illinois, Oregon, and Tennessee.
By 1968, LBJ had deployed over half a million troops to a country the size of New Mexico. To pay for the war, he increased income taxes and cut back on his anti-poverty program. Between 1965 and 1968, his approval rating dropped from over 70% to 35%.
On March 12, Eugene McCarthy, running as an antiwar candidate, won 42% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, while LBJ won 49%...an unheard of challenge to a presidential incumbent. Four days later, RJK, who had previously refused to run against LBJ, announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination.
On March 31, LBJ announced he would not seek a second term; his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, entered the race a few days later. On April 4, MLK, Jr. was assassinated. On June 5, RFK was assassinated after winning the California primary. Humphrey won the nomination.
In the 1968 general election, the Democrats lost 5 seats in the House, 5 in the Senate, and the presidency. Richard Nixon, also running on a promise to end the Vietnam War, barely edged out Hubert Humphrey 43.4% to 42.7%, while George Wallace got 13.5% of the vote.
A few sources:
http://members.aol.com/...
http://www.crmvet.org/...
http://www.gwu.edu/...