DEADLOCK 1968: 1968 United States Presidential Election

The 1968 United States Presidential Election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 5th, 1968. The Republican ticket consisting of former Vice-President Richard Nixon and Governor of Maryland Spiro Agnew defeated the Democratic ticket consisting of Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and Maine Senator Edmund Muskie as well as the American Independent ticket of former Alabama Governor George Wallace and Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. The election concluded on January 19th, 1969 after Republican Richard Nixon won the contingent election.

Incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson had been the early front-runner for the Democratic Nomination. However, his narrow victory in the New Hampshire Primary resulted in President Johnson withdrawing from the race. Eugene McCarthy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey emerged as the main contenders for the nomination. With the support of the party and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Humphrey was nominated and selected Senator Muskie as his running mate. Nixon emerged as the front-runner in the Republican primaries and easily dispatched his challengers of liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan among other candidates. Alabama Governor George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party ticket, selecting Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. of Virginia. He ran on a platform of repealing the Civil Rights Act and restoring racial segregation as well as "States' Rights". The election was marked by 54 days of riots across the nation and was marked by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in early April as well as the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the anti war protests due to opposition of the Vietnam War.