The 1968 Republican National Convention began with little trouble, there were a few protests, a few incidents, but by and large it was going well. A host of speakers had addressed the crowd in the lead up to the official vote and likely nomination of former Vice-President Richard Nixon as the GOP candidate for president of the United States of America. The crowds had already began to fill the Miami Beach Convention Center long before Nixon himself arrived. All seemed as it would go well, however on the way to the convention a slight bit of trouble broke out. As Nixon's motorcade approached the convention center its path was blocked off when a group of protesters stormed onto the road. As police struggled to disperse them, Nixon, trying to see what was going on, leaned out of his limousine. At this point a shot rang out, Nixon was hit. He died almost instantly with a bullet wound to the back of the head.
Many of the speakers had already arrived at the RNC prior to Nixon's shooting. Despite Nixon's absence, for, at the time unknown reasons, Ford decided to deliver his speech as the opening speaker of the day. However, about half way through a nation watched in stunned amazement as California Governor Ronald Reagan came running onto the stage. Pulling Ford aside Reagan delivered the news to the House Minority leader who, visibly upset, stepped away from the microphone and went back stage. Reagan then, amidst the silence, walked up to the microphone saying, simply, "Richard Nixon is dead." However, after pausing for several seconds, Reagan went on to deliver his most famous speech ever, promising that the "American People" could not be intimidated by extremist communists and socialists and that the Republican Party would not back down. Reagan went on with his powerful oratory calling for the GOP to nominate a candidate not only that day, as planned, but that minute. Moved by his speech and binded by law and party rule to nominate their candidate that day, the delegates agreed to a vote. Although Nelson Rockefeller tried his hardest to stump up enough votes to overcome Reagan, the crowds reactionary mood greatly favored a radical-right wing orator over a mild mannered centrist. And so, with a majority of 72 delegates, Reagan became the 1968 Republican nominee for the White House.
Mass rioting at the Democratic National Convention did little to help the Democratic cause. Following the riots Reagan talked to several news sources, echoing American Independent Party candidate George Wallace's words when he said the United States was in need of a little "law and order." He went on, in several interviews, to criticize the Hippie movement calling them "anti-American socialists" and, though the culprit had never been caught, blamed Hippies for the assassination of Nixon. Through his stinging and harsh criticism of the movement Reagan was hoping to paint a picture for the American voters and put them in an "us vs. them" mentality, frequently referring to Humphrey as the "Hippie candidate" rather then the Democratic one. In many ways Reagan was successful in this, middle class, suburban America was terrified by the Hippie movement that railed against everything they cherished and loved. In particular it soon became apparent that Reagan had the mass support of parents, who were scared that their children would be "corrupted" by the Hippie movement. Reagan focused many of his campaign promises on broad consensus issues, such as criminalizing and prosecuting possession or use of LSD, eliminating welfare for those who refused to work (although this was already essentially law), increasing penalization of Marijuana use, and taking many other measures which he claimed would damage the Hippie movement.
During this entire period Reagan also made a concentrated attempt to reach out to Wallace voters. His promises of law and order and his strongly conservative and authoritarian stance on almost every issue placed him very close to Wallace in the political spectrum and the New York Times famously described him as a "Wallace-light" in an editorial against Reagan. George Wallace found his polling number rapidly decreasing and some began to question whether he could win a single state. Reagan continued his courting and brought it to a new level when he declared his opposition to "federally mandated integration," seen by many as a cloaked endorsement of Wallace's on famous statement "segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Finally, on October 14th, Reagan held a rally outside the Alabama capital building, Wallace being, himself, the former governor of Alabama. In the speech Reagan called for a "law and order" coalition, urging Wallace to endorse his campaign. Reagan went on to say that the Untied States could not afford a "Hippie President" whom, Reagan claimed, would "force socialism upon us." The California governor even went on to offer Wallace the position of Secretary of the Interior where he could ensure that the federal government would not "improperly mandate a state's handling of race," in other words Reagen promised Wallace the ability to ensure that segregation would at least continue for today and tomorrow, if not perhaps forever. Two days later Wallace announced that he would accept Reagan's offer, endorse the Republican campaign, and take up the role of Secretary of the Interior following the election.
Humphrey struggled to make up any ground against the popular populist Reagan and as November 5th approached Reagan held an enormous lead. At the urging of his party Humphrey engaged in a desperate campaign to overturn Reagan for the final week. Humphrey claimed that Reagan was a "closet fascist" and called upon former-president Eisenhower to condemn the man or risk America becoming "everything you spent a half a decade and 10's of thousands of men fighting against. He called Reagan a traitor to the American dream, a corporate pawn, and a threat to everything that was American. While this tirade succeeded at motivating his base, it pushed away many independents and moderates who remained in the party. When the election day finally came it was clear Reagan would be victorious and indeed he was, topping Lydon Johnson's massive landslide 4 years earlier. Reagan won 63% of the vote and every state except Minnesota, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and DC leaving the electoral college at 510-28 in favor of Reagan. Reagan had a mandate to rule, that was for sure, the only question now was what he and his Vice-President James Rhodes would do with it.