1968 United States presidential election

(Redirected from United States presidential election, 1968)

The 1968 United States presidential election happened on November 5, 1968. Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate and former vice president of the United States, won the election. He defeated the incumbent vice president, Hubert Humphrey, the Incumbent Vice President and a Democrat, and George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, who ran as a member of the American Independent Party

1968 United States presidential election

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →

538 members of the Electoral College
270 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout60.9%[1] Decrease 1.0 pp
  Richard Nixon presidential portrait (cropped).jpg Hubert Humphrey in New York, 1968 (3x4 crop).jpg George Wallace (D-AL) (3x4).jpg
Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George Wallace
Party Republican Democratic American Independent
Home state California Minnesota Alabama
Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie Curtis LeMay
Electoral vote 301 191 46
States carried 32 13 + D.C. 5
Popular vote 31,783,783 31,271,839 9,901,118
Percentage 43.4% 42.7% 13.5%

ElectoralCollege1968.svg
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew. Blue denotes states won by Humphrey/Muskie. Orange denotes states won by Wallace/LeMay, as well as a faithless elector in North Carolina who cast his electoral vote for Wallace/LeMay instead of Nixon/Agnew. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

Incumbent United States President Lyndon B. Johnson was able to run, but decided against it. On March 31, 1968, Johnson withdrew his nomination and he said, "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President".

The incumbent Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, brother of former United States President John F. Kennedy was a serious presidential candidate before his assassination on June 5, 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles after winning the California and South Dakota primaries for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Richard Nixon won the election by 301 electoral votes. Hubert Humphrey got 191 electoral votes. George Wallace received 46 electoral votes and a faithless elector in North Carolina voted Wallace and running mate Curtis LeMay.

Humphrey did not win the south because he was very liberal and favored civil rights. The only southern state he won was Texas (which he won narrowly).

Candidates

Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)
1968 Republican Party Ticket
Richard Nixon Spiro Agnew
for President for Vice President
Richard Nixon presidential portrait (1).jpg
Spiro Agnew.jpg
36th
Vice President of the United States
(1953-1961)
55th
Governor of Maryland
(1967-1969)
Campaign
Nixon Agnew 1968 campaign logo.svg

Candidates gallery

Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)
1968 Democratic Party Ticket
Hubert Humphrey Edmund Muskie
for President for Vice President
Hubert Humphrey crop.jpg
Edmund Muskie (1).jpg
38th
Vice President of the United States
(1965–1969)
U.S. Senator
from Maine
(1959-1980)
Campaign
Humphrey Muskie '68.svg

American Independent Party nomination

American Independent Party Logo.png

1968 American Independent Party ticket

George Wallace Curtis LeMay
for President for Vice President
George Wallace (D-AL) (3x4).jpg
Curtis LeMay (USAF) (cropped closein 3x4).jpg
45th
Governor of Alabama
(1963–1967)
Chief of Staff of the
United States Air Force

(1961–1965)
Campaign
Wallace Lemay bumper sticker.svg

1968 United States Presidential Election Media

References

  1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.

Other websites