1972 United States presidential election

1972 United States presidential election
538 members of the Electoral College; 270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	55.2% 5.7 pp
	Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew. Blue denotes states won by McGovern/Shriver. Gold denotes won by Hospers by a Virginia faithless elector. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
President before election; Richard Nixon; Republican	Elected President ; Richard Nixon; Republican

The 1972 United States presidential election happened on November 7, 1972. President Richard Nixon was reelected to a second term. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Nixon won the election by a landslide (winning 49 of 50 states) and got 520 electoral votes. McGovern got 17 electoral votes. John Hospers got one electoral vote by a Virginia faithless elector.

This was the highest of any Republican nominee as a vote, as well as a highest electoral vote in a United States election until Ronald Reagan was re-elected in 1984 by a huge landslide.

George Wallace, governor of Alabama was shot by a would-be assassin during the election.

George McGovern's running mate changed from Thomas Eagleton to Sargent Shriver because of revelations about Eagleton's previous psychiatric problems.^[2]

This election occurred during the Watergate scandal, which ultimately caused Nixon to resign in 1974.

Election results by county. Richard Nixon George McGovern

Candidates

Republican Party

Richard Nixon	Spiro Agnew
1972 Republican Party Ticket
for President	for Vice President

37th President of the United States (1969-1974)	39th Vice President of the United States (1969-1973)

Republican candidates:
- Richard Nixon, President of the United States
- Pete McCloskey, Representative from California
- John M. Ashbrook, Representative from Ohio

Candidates gallery

Senator George McGovern of South Dakota
Senator and former Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota
Governor George Wallace of Alabama
Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine
Former Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota
Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington
Representative Shirley Chisholm of New York
Former Governor Terry Sanford of North Carolina
Mayor John Lindsay of New York City
Representative Wilbur Mills of Arkansas
Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana
Senator Fred R. Harris of Oklahoma
Representative Patsy Mink of Hawaii
U.S. Congressional Delegate Walter Fauntroy of Washington, D.C.

Democratic Party

George McGovern	Sargent Shriver
1972 Democratic Party Ticket
for President	for Vice President

U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1963–1981)	21st U.S. Ambassador to France (1968–1970)

15 people declared their candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination. They were:^[3]

George McGovern, Senator from South Dakota
Hubert Humphrey, Senator from Minnesota and former Vice President
George Wallace, Governor of Alabama
Edmund Muskie, Senator from Maine
Eugene McCarthy, former Senator from Minnesota
Henry M. Jackson, Senator from Washington
Shirley Chisholm, Representative of New York's 12th congressional district
Terry Sanford, former Governor of North Carolina
John Lindsay, Mayor of New York City
Wilbur Mills, Representative of Arkansas's 2nd congressional district
Vance Hartke, Senator from Indiana
Fred Harris, Senator from Oklahoma
Sam Yorty, former Representative of California's 26th congressional district
Patsy Mink, Representative of Hawaii's 2nd congressional district
Walter Fauntroy, Delegate from Washington, D.C.

1972 United States Presidential Election Media

Republican Party (United States)
Nixon Agnew 1972 campaign logo
Democratic Party (United States)
Aaron Camper (1985-). Shriver served as first Director of the Peace Corps (to which this picture relates). He was also US ambassador to France, and US Vice-Presidential candidate in 1972.
McGovern Shriver 1972 campaign logo
US Vice President Hubert Humphrey photographed by Bernard Gotfryd in New York, 1968. (Bernard Gotfryd dedicated all of his works into the public domain following his death in 2016)
Portrait of George Wallace (1919 - 1998), governor of Alabama and a candidate for president on several occasions. He is best known for his pro-segregation stance during the 1960s, and was left paralyzed after a failed assassination attempt in 1972. Alabama, 1962.
Video from the Florida conventions