1970 Union State presidential election (Finanzamt)

The 1970 Union State presidential election was the 25th quadrennial presidential election, held on Monday, August 10 1970. Incumbent New Union President Richard Nixon defeated Progressive challenger and US Senator for New England Edmund Muskie as well as US Senator for Trinity Lyndon Johnson of the newly established New People's Party in the first round, the first ever candidate to do so since 1958. Though they were able to avoid a debacle akin to their 1966 convention, the Progressives remained divided as ever between more radical elements spearheaded by the Young Progressives and a more moderate faction loyal to the Progressive National Committee. While the presumptive nominee Muskie was firmly in the latter camp, many anti-communist hardliners feared he would be too lenient in his treatment of socialists and other radicals in the YPs and the broader party, a concern not remedied by the proposed nomination of Senator Scoop Jackson as Muskie's running mate. By the beginning of 1970, negotiations between Muskie and his opponents had broken down, resulting in Senate Majority Leader Johnson and his allies breaking away from the Progressives to found the New People's Party, which subsequently nominated Johnson and formerly Progressive Representative Emanuel Celler for President and Vice-President.