Everyone presumed Lyndon Baines Johnson would run for re-election in 1968. He was eligible, having served less than two years of his predecessor’s first and final term. He had won re-election in 1964 by one of the largest landslides in history. What nobody knew, except for LBJ and some close friends, was that the president was dying and uncertain he would live through a third term.
LBJ had other problems as primary season began. He had lost much of the South. The “solid South” had voted reliably for nearly every Democrat since before the Civil War. But LBJ had pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, leading to massive integration. School desegregation was especially unpopular. He had also lost many votes in the Northeast and Midwest over his escalation of the war in Vietnam.
After a disappointing New Hampshire primary result against anti-war candidate Edmund Muskie, Johnson dropped out of the race. “I will not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president,” he told a national TV audience on the last day of March 1968.
LBJs withdrawal set up a feeding frenzy of candidates as the nation devolved into chaos. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy, the younger brother of the popular former president, emerged to challenge Muskie. Muskie polled well with younger voters disenchanted with the war. Kennedy did well with the poor and minorities. Humphrey appealed to the labor unions and workers.
Four days after LBJ withdrew, Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. Riots broke out across the country. RFK surged in the polls. Two months and one day later, Kennedy was shot and killed in Los Angeles. The Democratic Convention in Chicago that year was an orgy of blood and violence as protestors and police clashed outside the venue. Humphrey emerged as the standard-bearer.
Meanwhile, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama entered the race as a third-party candidate. Wallace had famously stood at the “schoolhouse door” to stop the integration of the University of Alabama in 1963. His campaign clothed segregation in terms of “states’ rights” and lashed out at the political elites, the media and higher education. He called for law and order and an end to protests, saying that if any “anarchists” tried to lie down in front of his car as a protest, he would run them over.
Wallace did not expect to win. He hoped to throw the election into the House of Representatives where he could act as a power broker between Humphrey and Richard Nixon. Perhaps he could extract political concessions in exchange for his support. And it almost worked. Wallace had gained support by promising to end the Vietnam War in 90 days. He had strong support nationally from young white males.
When it came time to pick a vice president, he was turned down by Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler and Kentucky Fried Chicken purveyor, Colonel Sanders. The campaign settled on Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay, the man responsible for carpet bombing Germany and dropping atomic bombs on Japan. In his very first press conference, LeMay came out in favor of using nuclear weapons on North Vietnam. The damage to the Wallace campaign was severe and irreparable.
On election day, Wallace garnered 13.5% of the vote nationally and carried five Southern states. It was one of the most successful third-party campaigns in our history, but not enough to send the election to the House. It was enough to ensure Richard Nixon was elected as our 37th president. All of the “solid South” went for either Nixon or Wallace, except for Texas. In states like Florida, Wallace acted as a spoiler. He carried 28% of the vote, winning the panhandle counties as well as both Duval and St. Johns.
The election of 1968 is considered a major realigning election changing the political map and destroying the Democratic “New Deal” coalition that had dominated elections for three decades. That new map is recognizable today.
Scott A. Grant is a local author and regular contributor. The title to this article is a direct reference to a book by Theodore H. White of the same name. He welcomes your comments at scottg@standfastic.com.
