Nixon wins 1968 Presidential Election

[ccie12933]

I had no idea Wallace had actually won five states.

[ccie12933]

Chicago, chicago, that twice-votin' town...

[observer9670]

I'd love to see more of the entire election night coverage. The 1960, 2000 and 2008 election nights are posted on YT, but I'd also like to see 1964 and 1976.

[MIKESOWELL]

@irrelevent100 Yeah, you're right. The Midwest is where Wallace really hurt Humphrey. I also wonder if Humphrey would have beaten Nixon in New Jersey if it was a one on one race. Humphrey was really surging in that last month of the campaign,

[kinggeoian]

"And brought to you in color....." Looks more like fail to me.

[observer9670]

@kinggeoian You can tell by the time stamp that this is archive tape. Archive tape was always b&w until the early 70's. Color video tape was considered too expensive until then.

[mjwillbethere37]

Can someone explain to me the ins and outs of Nixon's entire presidency? Really all I learned is election nothing nothing watergate resignation. I mean was the economy stagnated, prospering, or recessing? Was our foreign policy kicking ass? Why isn't Nixon considered a Reaganesque figure in the eyes of conservatives?

[MIKESOWELL]

@mjwillbethere37 Because everyone loves a winner, and not a disgraced president forced to resign. Also, Nixon was not a true conservative.

[glennmillerfan]

Nixon was a good president, but relatively liberal

[bdgop]

Without Wallace in the race, Nixon would have won comfortably.

[MIKESOWELL]

@bdgop I am not so sure about that. Humphrey had 191 electoral votes. Remember even WITH Wallace running (and Johnson not on the ticket) Humphrey carried Texas by 40,000 votes. Nixon would have won more southern states, but Humphrey was hurt by Wallace in some Northeastern and especially Midwestern states where the result was close.

[glimmer2158]

@bdgop They made sure of that in '72.

[oiramldx]

Oh the wonderful things he would have made the years later

[WilliamDRowlett]

Humphrey won Texas? It could never happen today.

[ScottyUrb]

@WilliamDRowlett Actually, it's very possible. In fact, the state may elect a Democratic governor in this election.

[WilliamDRowlett]

@ScottyUrb I live in Plano. I've already voted and it wasn't for Slick Rick Perry. But I don't think Bill White has a chance to be elected next Tuesday. Sadly.

[MickeyMorandini1]

@WilliamDRowlett

Back then, Texas was like Ohio is now and.. Illinois was like Florida is now. They were critical swing states along with California. The candidate that took two out of those three big states usually won.

[MegaObserver1]

Humphrey could not have won the Presidency outright. Nixon had too many electoral votes for Humphrey to overcome the loss of the South to Wallace. Humphrey was hoping that Nixon couldn't get to 270 in the Electoral College to force the issue into the House, where Democrats had a huge advantage. But California and Illinois gave Nixon the needed 270+ electoral votes.

[ITILII]

@MegaObserver1 Out of approx. 73 million votes, a change of only 42,000 (less than 1/10th of 1%) would have left Nixon without a majority of electoral votes, which would have resulted in Humphrey's victory since the House of Representatives was Democratic; a change of approx. 150,000 votes (about 2/10 of 1 %) would have elected Humphrey.

[GoreFreeTennessee]

Nixon started out ahead then Humphrey took the lead for a while then after midnight it became apparant Nixon was going to win.

[BranIL28]

In 1964 ND 1968 Illinois has been the deciding state and the under the table state.

[1macboo]

Nixon was a sick man...smart for sure and all that but he had serious problems...

[sandythebear]

Humphrey wasn't as good as nixon

[TrailerBob]

I think Hunter S. Thompson voted for Dick Gregory is this election. The horror of the Chicago Democratic Convention turned off a lot of people to that party. Hard to believe that Nixon looked like a better alternative to a corrupt Democratic machine to some people.

[vitoduval]

LBJ was going to hold a summit with the Soviets, but the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia right before the Democratic convention.

[hulkyone]

@vitoduval Johnson was distracted with Vietnam. If not for his Vietnam mishaps, JOHNSON WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE GREATEST, AND STRONGEST, PRESIDENTS THE NATION HAD EVER HAD.

[steveforsane]

A sad for America! Johnson would have kicked his ass!! Tricky Dicky committted treason!

[steveforsane]

DAY!

[teamofrivals1]

But Hubert Humphrey closed the gap between he and Nixon in the final weeks. The popular vote was miniskule.

[steveforsane]

Yes, I have studied that....Yet, President Johnson would have walked away with the election...He was well on the way to resolving the Vietnam War! Until that Tricky Dicky sabatoaged the peace talks in Paris, Treason..Humphhrey could have ben a good prez...Johnson wopuld have solified the Great Society and pushed on with the longest substained economic gorwth in America history..Vietnam solved, no wasted enegry on Watergate..

[hulkyone]

@steveforsaneJohnson would have never won the election, sorry to say, because he misguided; and I'm a loyal Democrat myself. If not for Vietnam, Johnson would have gone down as one of the greatest, and strongest, leaders to ever grace American politics

[gopconservative78]

Nixon ruled....he would have arrested commie scum like you

[ottoskidoo]

That's why he was almost impeached by the GOP as well -- you can't arrest somebody for having a different point of view. Get to a real commie country, you America hater.

[CamoJackv2]

How could Kennedy of ran in this election?

[greeniem]

* Holds up his Democrats for Nixon button*

[palermoboy426]

oh hell no so kennedy really woulda won this BIG TIME......

[iVenge]

Had the South been allowed to remain the Confederacy, the United States would very likely have had a public national health care system in the 1930s, a civil rights bill would have been passed in the late 40s, and the whole country would be about 75% better than it is today. That scum garbage in the South has held the US back in the dark ages for over 100 years.

And Humphrey probably would have been president in 1960, with Kennedy as VP.

[teamofrivals1]

What makes you suggest that?

[iVenge]

Which part? Admittedly names like Humphrey and Kennedy might never have become known to the American public had there been two nations. But it is damn near a political certainty that without the weight of the Southern Democratic Party, the US would have developed a union-driven social democratic party to displace the weaker Democratic Party in the Union states. The CSA would have become a collection of provincial fiefdoms like Brazil or Mexico, with a much slower rate of development.

[Outlaw1257]

I wonder who would have won had George Wallace not run. I was just a kid back in '68, but I remember some Democrats who supported Wallace because they disliked HHH, and I knew Republicans who voted for Wallace because they could not support Nixon.

[bealio721]

The nation really fucked up when it didn't elect Humphrey. History shows that Americans deserve the leader they elect. America deserved Nixon, and sadly, Bush.

[firewolf222]

i wasn't alive when Nixon was elected and i was about to die cause Bush Jr was re elected lol

[joe2stones]

Nixon was a great man. You think Humphrey would have opened China? That's a laugh.

[bealio721]

Humphrey, like Nixon, could have gone to China. I don't believe the whole "Only Nixon could go to China" thing. Humphrey was not seen as a soft on communism. Carter officially reestablished diplomatic relations. If Carter could do it then so could Humphrey. Nixon was not a great man. Eleanor Roosevelt called it in a interview shortly before her death. She said that Nixon was smart but that he was also crooked. And Nixon did not put country first by selecting Agnew. Now that's a laugh.

[Berno10011001]

Wallace all the way. segragation now, segragation then, segragation forever!

[hulkyone]

@joe2stones As great of a leader he was, HE WAS ALSO A CROOK AND A CONTROL-FREAK.

[representative46]

@joe2stones yea opening china is sure a great idea now right?

[lsl70]

@joe2stones Opening China really worked out well for us. Their cheap slave labor crap took away millions of American jobs and now were in debt to a communist nation.

[billyguns2]

@joe2stones Nixon is a tragic figure of Shakespearian dimension, IMO; a highly intelligent and sophisticated man,a brilliant visionary in foreign policy but suffering from personal psychological demons and something of a sociopath with little regard for the rule of law, I believe he was "done in" by dark forces who wanted to replace him with someone they could better manipulate. These same forces killed Kennedy like a dog in the street, got their way with LBJ, and found Nixon too obstreperous.

[jose123001]

@joe2stones he was a shady man.

[Outlaw1257]

Bealio721, I'm a Liberal Democrat who thinks of Humphrey aas a grand man and a capable senator; but Humphrey was not the right man for the nation at that time.

I'd love to think that a Presidenbt can stop a war, just as I wish Obama could extricate us from

Iraq overnight; but the financial powers that profit from war were too strong for Humphrey to deal with.

Domestically, HHH woud have been far better than Nixon; but Nixon was far stromnger in

Foreign policy.

[bealio721]

I agree with what you said about HHH and domestic affairs. However, I disagree about Viet.

Averell Harriman, Humphrey confidante and head Paris Peace negotiator said, "I know that, as president, Hubert would have stopped the Vietnam War in 1969....His election would have avoided the extended tragedy of the Vietnam War as well as Watergate. In addition, I believe that period would have been a time of economic and social progress under an irresistibly optimistic, wise, and determined president."

[Outlaw1257]

Bealio721:

I would like to agree with you, but the economic powers that governed the smoke-filled rooms during that time had a very tight grip on The Oval Office, irrespective of party affiliation.

There was simply too much money being made off the war, and both parties were too beholden to those economic powers.

I do not doubt HHH's honorable intentions, but The POTUS's power is, in many ways, limited to a bully pulpit. I don't think HHH could have successfully prevailed over powers.

[Outlaw1257]

I remember when Ford pardoned Nixon. (BTW, as a Liberal Democrat, I believe history has shown Ford did the right thing.)

I remember how he spoke of how so many issues that he faced in the Oval Office looked little or nothing like what he faced as Minority Leader. Remember, Ford was a master deal broker on The Hill; not a minor player at all.

I think HHH would have discovered the same thing. No question of HHH's decency, but LBJ's damaged legacy would have left HHH hamstrung.

[592010]

Obama being the best example of your point about F-ups.

[bealio721]

Give the man a chance. Whether you hate him or love him, it is far too early to make a judgment .

[cicio428]

Give Nixon the credit he was due. This was a great comback! And Humphrey almost made his own great comback and won. The 1968 election was very interesting.

[cutis1000]

BS! Don't need to give credit to Nixon on ANYTHING! He ruined the nation and those who voted for Nixon ruined the nation!

[vitoduval]

I remember reading if 1968 had deadlocked electorally, the House backup election would have had 1 vote per state, 26 of the smallest states could have forced a President on the bigger states possibly.

[wilmoer]

I remember this cliffhanger all too well.

[VaeVictis06]

The end of 1930s onward progress, right there. Not until 2008 do we have the hope of restoring some economic prosperity. It was compounded in 1980, let's hope Obama will get that New Deal prosperity to a country (and world) that desperately needs it.

[swami1]

Were you alive during the 80s?

[VaeVictis06]

For most of it I wasn't, making me young. But on the other hand, I've read more than a little history and understand enough economics to know that supply side economics was not a good thing for this country. We are feeling the effects of it in 2008, just as those in 1929 felt the effects of decades of laissez-faire policies.

[Zoomer30]

Wow....Humpphrey must have campaigned in all the low elec vote states :)

[wmbrown6]

Even as late as '68, the bulky RCA TK-41's (as seen in the background on shots where David Brinkley was pontificating) were still being used by NBC.

[KL58383]

Wasn't 1968 the year RCA brought out the TK-41's successor (TK-44)? .........the TK-41's were being phased out. Hey, at least I won't have to give up my analog tv set in February......I got directv (the feed is automatically digital). Though a flat screen tv would be nice.

[wmbrown6]

1968 was indeed when the TK-44A was first introduced . . . but NBC didn't start using it until 1969.

[MIKESOWELL]

Richard Nixon (Republican) 31,785,480 popular votes 43.4% 301 electoral votes 32 states carried/ Hubert Humphrey (Democrat) 31,275,166 popular votes 42.7% 191 electoral votes 13 states DC carried/ George Wallace (American Independent) 9,906,473 popular votes 13.5% 46 electoral votes 5 states carried

[USAGiant]

That why the electoral college needs to be gone forever. It set stage for corruption in disputed ie 1960, 1968, 2000, & probably this year in 2008 again. Too bad the party bosses of both major parties wont change it any time soon because it opens door for third party canadiates which needed in America more than ever imo.

[zeppelinfan]

You might be right. I got this gut feeling that this election (2008) with how close it is right now, might end up in a 269-269 tie in the electoral college. Which could be another nightmare.

[USAGiant]

I wont be surprised either. Ever since 2000, in every major election that appears to be close there are attorneys on stand by hoping for a major pay day lol.

Getting back to this election in 1968, i was amazed at how the vote counts was used by *today standards* primative chalk boards that Brinkley/Huntley and NBC News team used.

Even most public access channels in USA now use computer graphics more advance than this clip, which shows how far in 40 years our society has come in technology.

[KL58383]

The election's over.........You guys got nothin to worry about this year.

[KL58383]

Getting rid of the electoral college sounds good on paper, but the reality is if we did that, all the smaller states would not have their say in a national Presidential election. Example: Small states like Vermont (with 3 electorates) has and should have just as much right to factor in a national presidential election as California (55 electorates). It's called "Leveling the Playing Field" my friend. It's not perfect. But every voter in each state has a chance to have their voice heard.

[cicio428]

Can you post when Humphery had the early lead on election night 1968? The newsmen began to comment that he might win.