# SDMB Retrospective US Presidential Elections 1968 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 14, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050 "2014-07-14T04:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/1 "2014-07-14T04:39:03Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_States\_presidential\_election,\_1968](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968) I would obviously have voted for Hubert H. Humphrey the last Democratic candidate to truly represent the legacy of the New Deal and beyond that was a genuinely decent and honest common man candidate in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln and Harry Truman. Furthermore, I believe that 1968 was probably the most influential election in recent American history, setting the stage for the New Right dominance of the Republican Party and through that vehicle American politics in general based on the politics of fear and selfish egoism while the Democratic Party would degenerate into a brief dominance by the New Left which alienated the white working class and then the neoliberals/Rockefeller Republicans which furthered this alienation. This realignment in turn would virtually stall any progress in the completion of the social welfare state in the United States for the next forty years. Of course, we must also note that this election featured a Vice Presidential election who was my original namesake. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/2 "2014-07-14T06:21:39Z")
If I had been old enough to vote back then, I would’ve held my nose and voted for Humphrey. Incidentally, my father, a nominal Democrat, voted for Nixon in 1968 in protest over Humphrey’s slowness to distance himself from LBJ’s policy in Vietnam. He later said that was the worst mistake he made in his life. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/3 "2014-07-14T13:30:12Z")
My father was in Vietnam during the '68 election. He voted for Nixon and talked my mother into doing the same on the grounds that Nixon would end the war. (She never forgave him.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/4 "2014-07-14T14:35:20Z")
I was a member of my local chapter of Youth for Nixon in 1968, and volunteered in his campaign. So if 14 year olds had been able to vote in 1968, I would have voted for Nixon. My politics have changed somewhat during the intervening decades. 🙂 Needless to say, if I could project my current self back to 1968, I’d not only vote for Humphrey, I’d work my ass off for him. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/5 "2014-07-14T14:42:10Z")
I wasn’t old enough to vote in 1968, but would have voted for Humphrey had I been able. I was at that tender age an enthusiastic Democrat. If I was sent back in time without any knowledge of history from 1968 on, I still would have voted for Humphrey. He’s one of the great men never to be president. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/6 "2014-07-14T15:00:32Z")
But this thread wouldn’t be complete without a link to the YouTube of Tom Lehrer’s “[Whatever Became of Hubert?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld7VVBztuVM)” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/7 "2014-07-14T22:32:20Z")
“JOHNSON SENDS HUMPHREY A BROAD” - fake headline by George Carlin I was too young to vote then, as well. I’d be for Humphrey, although I agree he didn’t (really couldn’t, as VP) distance himself from LBJ’s failed Vietnam policy quickly enough. Far better him than Tricky Dick or an out-and-out racist like George Wallace, though. And I’ve always liked Muskie. > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > …I would obviously have voted for Hubert H. Humphrey the last Democratic candidate to truly represent the legacy of the New Deal… Agreed as to Humphrey’s decency, but Walter Mondale his protege (1984) and Paul Simon (1988) were both very much in the Humphrey/New Deal mold. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/8 "2014-07-15T02:08:42Z")
I was for Clean Gene, but got over it enough by November to support the Hump except I couldn’t vote yet. Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party all the way! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/9 "2014-07-15T14:07:32Z")
Can’t get clean for Gene, well then hold your nose for Hubert. I was 9 years old in '68. It was the first election I’d ever paid attention to. Our Weekly Readers in school kept us informed about politics & stuff, in 4th grade. Sucks that RFK got assassinated ☹ or it would have been an absolute no-brainer. So after school on election day that year, we kids piled into the school bus to go home. The bus driver was black. We asked him who he voted for. He answered “Wallace,” and grinned, trusting we’d get the obvious joke. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/10 "2014-07-19T15:09:48Z")
Humphrey supported concentration camps for communist sympathizers. Hardly a decent person, but yes, well within the tradition of a New Deal Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/11 "2014-07-19T19:23:23Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Humphrey supported concentration camps for communist sympathizers. Not completely impossible to believe given the times that formed him, but, nevertheless, cite? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/12 "2014-07-19T19:24:37Z")
BTW, given the level of antiwar sentiment in '68, how was it that Humphrey beat McCarthy for the nomination? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/13 "2014-07-19T19:40:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > BTW, given the level of antiwar sentiment in '68, how was it that Humphrey beat McCarthy for the nomination? The primaries didn’t really matter much back then. The nomination was mostly decided by party leaders. McCarthy was the outsider and Humphrey (with Johnson’s help) was the insider. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/14 "2014-07-19T19:44:33Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Humphrey supported concentration camps for communist sympathizers. Hardly a decent person, but yes, well within the tradition of a New Deal Democrat. I will concede, certainly, that the [Smith Act Trials](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act_Trials) were among the most shameful disgraces in modern American history, and that Dems no less than Pubs were elbows-deep in them. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/15 "2014-07-20T22:58:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not completely impossible to believe given the times that formed him, but, nevertheless, cite? > **[McCarran Internal Security Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran_Internal_Security_Act)** > > The Internal Security Act of 1950, 64 Stat. 987 (Public Law 81-831), also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, the McCarran Act after its principal sponsor Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), or the Concentration Camp Law, is a United States federal law. Congress enacted it over President Harry Truman's veto. It required Communist organizations to register with the federal government. The 1965 U.S Supreme Court ruling in Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board saw much of It... ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/16 "2014-07-21T14:05:03Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > [McCarran Internal Security Act - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarran_Internal_Security_Act) Not fair to single out Humphrey – nor the Dems – for that. Congress overrode Truman’s veto with immense bipartisan support. > [@](#): > > President Harry Truman vetoed it on September 22, 1950, and sent Congress a lengthy veto message in which he criticized specific provisions as “the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798,” a “mockery of the Bill of Rights” and a “long step toward totalitarianism”.[7][8] > > The House overrode the veto without debate by a vote of 286-48 the same day. The Senate overrode his veto the next day after “a twenty-two hour continuous battle” by a vote of 57-10. Thirty-one Republicans and 26 Democrats voted in favor, while five members of each party opposed it.[9] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/17 "2014-07-21T14:07:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The primaries didn’t really matter much back then. The nomination was mostly decided by party leaders. McCarthy was the outsider and Humphrey (with Johnson’s help) was the insider. I guess that explains (partly) the riots in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/18 "2014-07-22T00:00:15Z")
It’s a big part. “The People” felt shut out of the process, and that led to our current primary system. Another part was Mayor Daley’s “The policeman is not here to create disorder. The policeman is here to preserve disorder,” and “Fuck you, you Jew son of a bitch,” (to Sen Ribicoff when he complained about police behavior) attitude. Then there was the War, which might also have had something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-retrospective-us-presidential-elections-1968/693050/19 "2014-08-05T00:47:14Z")
I was going to say I did vote for Humphrey, but I realized I couldn’t. The voting age was 21 back then so I couldn’t have voted. I certainly did support him over Nixon.