Us presidential election - 1968
In 1968 the United States was busy with many internal and external affairs. The foreign affairs of the US mainly included its extensive participation in the War in Vietnam which was blowing through American tax dollars. While this was happening outside of the US there were many more events transpiring within our borders such as Anti-War protests, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., The Robert F. Kennedy assassination and a presidential election that was due to occur. The election was of course between two nominees one from the Democratic Party and one from the Republican party. Hubert Humphry represented the Democratic Party while former vice president Nixon represented the Republican Party. Humphry was a widely disputed choice for the Democratic Party for his less than favorable views on the Vietnam War. The Democratic Convention of 1968 showed the views of young American’s concerning the Vietnam War. Thousands of young activists rallied outside the convention expressing their opinions while the Chicago police struggled to keep them under control. The methods the police used to subdue the crowd have since been widely disputed. While the Democratic Party had a difficult time picking a nomination the Republicans decided on President Nixon in a rather timely matter. Nixon used a strategy known as the “southern strategy” to assure the vote of the white southerners. The southerners who had typically voted Democratic were angered over Humphry’s decision to support the civil rights movement. Humphry countered saying that Nixon’s campaign was a subtly tainted with white prejudice. According to the polls that were taken during the extant of the presidential race Humphry trailed Nixon by double digits in most polls. However in October Humphry received a badly needed boost when current Democratic President Johnson announced a bombing halt. Due to this boost Humphry position in the polls quickly increased however Nixon was still ahead of him. In the end Nixon won the election, which unexpectedly turned out to be very close indeed. This win for the Republican Party was very important since the Democratic Party had been in office since 1930.