1968 년 미국 정부의 미국 대통령 선거

1968 년 미국 대통령 선거, 1968 년 11 월 5 일 공화당 리처드 닉슨 대통령이 민주당 허버트 H. 험프리를 격파 한 미국 대통령 선거.

배경

1968 년 선거에 대한 출범은 1967 년 미네소타의 민주당 상원 의원 인 유진 제이 맥카시 (Eugene J. McCarthy)가 민주당 대선에 이의를 제기하면서 변형되었습니다. Lyndon B. Johnson의 베트남 전쟁 정책. 존 F. 케네디 암살에 이어 존슨은 1963 년에 대통령직을 계승했으며 1964 년에 압도적으로 재선거되었다. 임기 초에 그는 대단한 인기를 얻었지만 미국의 베트남 정부 참여는 대통령 행정부에서 보이지 않게 확대되었다. 드와이트 D. 아이젠 하워와 케네디는 미국의 사망자 수가 급격히 증가함에 따라 눈에 잘 띄게되었으며, 전쟁의 인기가 높아지면서 존슨도 마찬가지였다.

1966 년의 선거는 공화당을 의회에서 큰 소수로 회복 시켰으며, 사회 법규는 둔화되면서 가용 한 돈을 얻기 위해 베트남 전쟁과 경쟁했다. 민권법 (1964)과 투표권 법 (1965)에도 불구하고 많은 아프리카 계 미국인들이 민권의 진보에 매료되었습니다. 따라서“흑인”운동이 일어나 아프리카 계 미국인들 사이에서도 존슨의 인기를 얻었습니다. 도시의 전반적인 범죄 증가와 산발적 인 폭력으로 인해 백인 공동체에 대한 불안감이 높아졌습니다. “법과 질서”에 대한 요구는 응답이었으며, 그것은 문제가되었을뿐만 아니라 많은 사람들이 아프리카 계 미국인 억압을위한 코드 단어라고 믿었습니다.

Early in 1968, Michigan Republican Gov. George Romney announced his candidacy for the presidency. Many believed New York’s governor, Nelson Rockefeller, might also be a challenger, and George Wallace, former Democratic governor of Alabama and a segregationist during his tenure, began hinting of his interest in the office. Peace factions and black militants talked of nominating their own candidates, and a rerun of the four-way race of 1948 seemed possible.

Primaries

In this setting, McCarthy, whose criticism of the administration on its Vietnam policies had become increasingly caustic, announced his candidacy for president and entered the New Hampshire primary—the first of the presidential primaries. Rockefeller denied that he was a candidate but said that he would accept a draft; 30 Republican leaders endorsed him. At this time Nixon, who had been Eisenhower’s vice president and who had narrowly lost to Kennedy in 1960, declared that new leadership could end the war; he announced his candidacy and entered the New Hampshire primary.

McCarthy was the only major Democrat on the New Hampshire ballot, but, shortly before the March 12 voting, Democratic regulars, alarmed by the effectiveness of McCarthy’s legion of young amateur campaign workers, mounted a desperate write-in campaign for the president. Johnson won 48 percent of the vote, but McCarthy, with 42 percent, won 20 of the 24 delegates. Nixon won the Republican primary; Romney, with polls indicating that he had little hope of winning, had withdrawn from the primary and the presidential race.

A few days later Robert F. Kennedy announced that he would enter the race on the Democratic side. On March 31 President Johnson stunned the country by announcing an end to the bombing of most of North Vietnam—and his decision not to seek reelection. Two days later McCarthy won a somewhat diluted triumph over the president in the Wisconsin primary.

The following Thursday, April 4, African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Grief and shock among African Americans turned to anger, which found expression in rioting and violence in more than 100 cities, leading many white voters to look more closely at Wallace, who was stressing “law and order” and promising to be on the ballot in 50 states.

After King’s funeral, McCarthy, unopposed, won a preferential primary but no delegates in Pennsylvania. However, he took all the delegates in the Massachusetts primary. The upset Republican winner in Massachusetts was Rockefeller, for whom a hasty write-in campaign had been contrived. Rockefeller beat Gov. John Volpe, who was on the ballot, and Richard Nixon, who was not, and reversed his decision not to run.

Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, took four weeks to assess his chances after Johnson’s withdrawal. Humphrey then declared his candidacy and hurriedly assembled an organization to hunt delegates. In the Indiana primary Kennedy defeated both McCarthy and Indiana Gov. Roger Branigan. He also won in Washington, D.C., and trounced McCarthy in Nebraska. In Oregon McCarthy won his only primary victory over an active opponent who was on the ballot, handing Kennedy his first election defeat and winning 45 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 39 percent. The next week, on June 4, Kennedy scored a solid victory over McCarthy in California, but shortly after midnight, as the votes were still being counted, Kennedy was fatally shot.

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Nixon, meanwhile, won every Republican primary he entered; the Massachusetts write-in effort for Rockefeller was his only reverse. Rockefeller intensified his efforts and in mid-July finished a 44-state tour as his $3 million advertising campaign reached a peak.

Humphrey entered no primaries, but he was able to gain enough delegates in those states without primaries to give him apparent control over the convention. However, dissenters were taking an increasingly hard line against him and the administration. To ardent liberals, Humphrey—until recently denounced by rightists as a dangerous radical—was becoming the very image of the establishment.