From March to July 1968, Democratic Party voters elected delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention for the purpose of selecting the party's nominee for president in the upcoming election. Delegates, and the nominee they were to support at the convention, were selected through a series of primary elections, caucuses, and state party conventions. This was the last time that state primary elections formed a minority (12 states) of the selection process, as the McGovern–Fraser Commission, which issued its recommendations in time for the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries, would dramatically reform the nomination process to expand the use of popular primaries rather than caucuses.
After an inconclusive and tumultuous campaign focused on the Vietnam War and marred by the June assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated at the 1968 Democratic National Convention held from August 26 to August 29, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois.
The campaign for the nomination began with incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson expected to win re-nomination for a second consecutive election, despite low approval ratings following the Tet Offensive in January 1968. His only significant challenger was Eugene McCarthy, an anti-war Senator from Minnesota. After McCarthy nearly won the New Hampshire primary on March 12, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, another critic of the war and the brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, entered the race on March 16. On March 31, Johnson announced that he would not seek re-election. In April, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey joined the race as the establishment candidate; he did not criticize the administration's conduct of the war and avoided the popular contests for delegates.
McCarthy and Kennedy traded primary victories while Humphrey collected delegates through the closed caucus and convention systems in place in most states. Many other delegates were selected without a formal commitment to support any particular candidate. The race was upended on June 5, the night of the California and South Dakota primaries. Both races went for Kennedy, but he was assassinated after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel. At the moment of his assassination, Kennedy trailed Humphrey in the pledged delegate count with McCarthy third. Without any obligation to vote for any candidate, most Kennedy delegates backed Humphrey over McCarthy or fell behind Kennedy supporter George McGovern.
At the convention, Humphrey secured the nomination easily despite anti-war riots outside the convention center; he went on to lose the presidential election to Richard Nixon. Humphrey would be the last Democratic nominee to be nominated despite not actively campaigning in the primaries until Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election.
Background 1960 and 1964 presidential elections In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination over Lyndon B. Johnson. After he secured the nomination at the party convention, Kennedy offered Johnson the vice presidential nomination; the offer was a surprise, and some Kennedy supporters claimed that the nominee expected Johnson to decline. Robert F. Kennedy, the nominee's brother and campaign manager, reportedly went to Johnson's hotel suite to dissuade Johnson from accepting. Johnson accepted, and the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was narrowly elected, but the 1960 campaign intensified the personal enmity between Robert F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, which dated to as early as 1953. President Kennedy named his brother to his cabinet as United States Attorney General.
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963; Johnson succeeded him with tremendous national popularity amid a wave of mourning and sympathy. Robert Kennedy remained in the cabinet for several months, creating what Johnson staffers began to refer to as "the Bobby problem": despite the personal hatred between the two, Democratic voters overwhelmingly favored Kennedy as Johnson's running mate in the 1964 election. Kennedy began to plan for a nationwide campaign, and in the informal New Hampshire vice-presidential primary, Kennedy defeated Hubert H. Humphrey in a landslide.
In July 1964, Johnson issued an official statement ruling out any cabinet member for the vice presidency. In search of a way out of the dilemma, Kennedy asked speechwriter Milton Gwirtzman to write a memo comparing two offices: 1) governor of Massachusetts and 2) U.S. senator from New York, and "which would be a better place from which to make a run for the presidency in future years?" In September, Kennedy resigned as attorney general, and ran for and won election to the U.S. Senate. Johnson was elected in a landslide.
Vietnam War
United States involvement in the Vietnam War began shortly after the end of World War II. Beginning in 1964, President Johnson dramatically escalated American military presence after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. On the recommendation of General William C. Westmoreland, whom Johnson had appointed to command American troops in Vietnam, U.S. manpower in Southeast Asia expanded from 16,000 in 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969.
As U.S. involvement escalated throughout 1964 to 1966, protests against the war escalated in proportion. Several anti-war groups were founded or expanded during the period.
1966 midterms and "Dump Johnson" movement
Amid criticism of U.S. handling of the war from both parties, President Johnson's approval rating sank from a high above 70 percent to below 40 percent by the 1966 midterm elections. The Democratic Party had already begun to split between anti-war "doves" and pro-war "hawks," and the Republican Party gained dozens of seats in Congress.
As opposition grew in 1967, anti-war Democrats led by Allard Lowenstein and Curtis Gans formed the Dump Johnson movement, which sought to challenge the President's re-election. Their first choice was Robert Kennedy, who had sufficiently established himself as a critic of the war and an effective popular campaigner. He declined, as did a series of lesser-known candidates, including Senator George McGovern. Lowenstein finally found a candidate in October 1967, when Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy agreed to challenge the President. At first, McCarthy merely expressed his interest, telling Lowenstein, "Somebody has to raise the flag."Gould, Lewis L. 1968: The Election That Changed America (Chicago 1993), pp. 20–21. On November 30, 1967, McCarthy publicly announced his campaign for the nomination.
Kennedy continued to demur, despite pressure from his aides to enter the race and worry that anti-war allies, like George McGovern, would begin to make commitments to McCarthy. On January 30, he again indicated to the press that he had no plans to campaign against Johnson.
In early February 1968, after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Kennedy received an anguished letter from writer Pete Hamill, noting that poor people in the Watts area of Los Angeles had hung pictures of Kennedy's brother, President John F. Kennedy, in their homes. Hamill's letter reminded Robert Kennedy that he had an "obligation of staying true to whatever it was that put those pictures on those walls."Thomas, p. 357. There were other factors that influenced Kennedy's decision to enter the presidential primary race. On February 29, 1968, the Kerner Commission issued a report on the racial unrest that had affected American cities during the previous summer. The Kerner Commission blamed "white racism" for the violence, but its findings were largely dismissed by the Johnson administration.
On March 10, Kennedy told his aide, Peter Edelman, that he had decided to run and had to "figure out how to get McCarthy out of it." Excerpt from The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and the 82 Days that Inspired America (New York, Henry Holt, 2008) by Thurston Clark. Nevertheless, Kennedy hesitated to publicly enter the race with McCarthy still in and agreed to McCarthy's request to delay an announcement of his intentions until after the New Hampshire primary. However, a phone conversation between President Johnson and Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley on January 27, 1968 revealed that Daley had knowledge of Kennedy's intentions to run for President by that time, with Daley telling Johnson that Kennedy met with him and sought his support, which he declined.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Candidates The following political leaders were candidates for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination:
Nominee Candidate BornMost recent officeHome stateCampaignWithdrawal date Popularvote Contestswon Delegateswon Running mateHubert Humphrey May 27, 1911(age 57)Wallace, South DakotaVice President of the United States(1965–1969)(Campaign)Declared: April 27, 1968Secured nomination: August 29, 1968166,463(2.2%)01759.25(67.4%) Edmund Muskie
Eliminated at convention Candidate BornMost recent officeHome stateCampaignWithdrawal date Popular vote Contests won Delegates won Running mateEugene McCarthy March 29, 1916(age 52)Watkins, MinnesotaU.S. Senatorfrom Minnesota(1959–1971)(Campaign)Declared: November 30, 1967Defeated at convention: August 29, 19682,914,933(38.7%)6601(23.0%) NoneGeorge McGovern July 19, 1922(age 45)Avon, South Dakota U.S. Senatorfrom South Dakota(1963–1981) (Campaign)Announced: July 23, 1968Defeated at convention: August 29, 19680(0%)0146.5(5.6%) None
Other major candidates These candidates participated in multiple state primaries or were included in multiple major national polls.
Candidate BornMost recent officeHome stateCampaignWithdrawal date Popular vote Contests won Running mateLyndon B. Johnson August 27, 1908(age 59)Stonewall, Texas President of the United States(1963–1969) (Campaign)Withdrew: March 31, 1968(endorsed Humphrey)383,590(5.10%) 1 Hubert HumphreyRobert F. Kennedy November 20, 1925(age 42)Brookline, MassachusettsU.S. Senatorfrom New York(1965–1968)(Campaign)Declared: March 16, 1968Assassinated: June 5, 19682,305,148(30.6%) 5None
Favorite sons
The following candidates ran only in their home state or district's primary or caucuses for the purpose of controlling its delegate slate at the convention and did not appear to be considered national candidates by the media.
Governor Roger D. Branigin of Indiana (endorsed Humphrey) Governor Richard J. Hughes of New Jersey (endorsed Humphrey) State Attorney General Thomas C. Lynch of California (endorsed Humphrey) Governor Robert Evander McNair of South Carolina Governor Dan Moore of North Carolina Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine Representative Joseph Resnick of Westchester County, New York Senator George Smathers of Florida (endorsed Humphrey) Senator Stephen M. Young of Ohio (endorsed Humphrey)
Declined to run The following persons were listed in two or more major national polls or were the subject of media speculation surrounding their potential candidacy, but declined to actively seek the nomination.
Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts Former Governor George Wallace of Alabama (ran third-party campaign)
Polling
Nationwide polling