1968 United States Presidential Election (The Kennedy Legacy)

The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 5, 1968. The Democratic nominee, Robert F. Kennedy, defeated the Republican nominee, Richard Nixon, and the American Independent nominee, George Wallace.

The incumbent president, Lyndon B. Johnson, initially entered the race for the Democratic Party's nomination, but withdrew following his poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Afterwards, Robert F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and Hupert Humphrey competed for the nomination before Kennedy managed to narrowly win at the Democratic National Convention. After the event, Kennedy choose |North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford as his running mate. Nixon entered the race for the Republican Party's nominee, defeating Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan for the nomination. Former |Alabama Governor George Wallace ran with Curtis LeMay as the candidates for the American Independent Party, campaigning mainly on the issue of racial segregation.

The election year was plagued by turmoil across the country, marked by events such as the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the riots following the event, and the nationwide protests against the Vietnam War. Robert F. Kennedy ran on an anti-war campaign and pledged his support to continue Johnson's social policies. As a result, Democrat George Wallace, opposed to the civil rights movement, ran on a third-party campaign gaining significant support in the South. Nixon, formerly the vice president under Dwight D. Eisenhower, ran on a campaign of law and order attempting to attract more moderate voters whom he referred to as the "silent majority". Nixon held a slight lead in polls at the beginning, but his lead quickly diminished and Kennedy took a narrow lead for the rest of the election cycle.

On election day, Kennedy managed to win 318 electoral votes compared to Nixon's 163 electoral votes and Wallace's 57 electoral votes. Kennedy won 43.9% of the popular vote, a 2.2% margin over Nixon's 41.7% of the popular vote and far more than Wallace's 14.0% of the popular vote. Even though Wallace underperformed the other candidates, he had the best performance by a third-party candidate since the 1912 presidential election. This election was the second time Nixon was defeated by a Kennedy in a presidential election, the previous time being his loss to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. This election also marked the first presidential election since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing many minorities to regain their right to vote.