# Another historical "What If?" topic: Hubert Humphrey defeats Nixon in 1968.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-historical-what-if-topic-hubert-humphrey-defeats-nixon-in-1968/443327>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 31, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-historical-what-if-topic-hubert-humphrey-defeats-nixon-in-1968/443327 "2008-03-31T00:00:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-historical-what-if-topic-hubert-humphrey-defeats-nixon-in-1968/443327/21 "2008-04-02T02:23:41Z")

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[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]  
And you had a poll in October of 1969, saying that about 70% of the public supported Nixon’s Vietnam policy. So while there certainly was opposition to the war, I don’t know if you can say that public opinion had mostly turned against it.  
[/QUOTE]

I think you can say that public opinion had turned against the war, _as it was being then waged_. But remember, Nixon’s election campaign theme was “peace with honor,” which of course implied an end to the war. His policy of Vietnamization – build up the South Vietnamese while gradually withdrawing US troops – gave the public the hope of an end to the war without a precipitous US pull out.

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