Tanned, Rested, Ready: A Nixon TL

1968 election
“Nah”

-Quote attributed to Nixon when asked about whether or not he will run in 1968


The Republican primaries in 1968 were interesting, no doubt. Reagan and Rockefeller (called “Reagafeller” by some people who think that they are so funny but are not) fought for every last vote and every last delegate. However, candidacies from Romney (who siphoned Rockefeller votes) and Rhodes (who siphoned Reagan votes) hurt both of the candidates.


The race was turned upside down when it was found out that Rockefeller had had an affair. This revelation hurt Rockefeller with Social Conservatives, and Reagan and Romney’s poll numbers began to rise. However, Romney’s support was shot in the arm when he said that the government “brainwashed” him into supporting the Vietnam war.


Reagan won most of the primaries, but Rockefeller stayed in the race, vowing to take it to the convention. Romney dropped out and gave his delegates to Rockefeller, saying that “We need to stop Reagan at all costs”, while Reagan was given support by Rhodes.


The convention became a two man race from there, but Reagan won easily, much to the dismay of the Rockefeller Republicans.


Reagan chose Senator Edwin Mechem of New Mexico as his running mate. This didn’t spark any outrage from Liberal Republicans. Then again, it didn’t make Reagan win them over.

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Ever since the Vietnam war escalated, the anti-war movement grew bigger and bigger. Reagan was a Goldwater style conservative, many thought that Reagan will nuke Hanoi if he becomes president. But it wasn’t like Humphrey was Mr. Smoke acid with hippies while performing abortions, as evidenced by the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention, also in Chicago.


With the anti-war movement seeing no candidate in support of their cause, some action needed to be took. This action was taken in the form of Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR), an anti-war Republican, who teamed up with Senator George McGovern (D-SD) to form an independent anti-war ticket. The ticket took as many Democrats from Humphrey as it took Republicans from Reagan, turning what should have been 1964 2.0 into a close race.


The 1968 election was the first one since 1960 to include presidential debates. Reagan was more charismatic than Humphrey, which gave him more support.


October 16th, 1968 and October 23rd, 1968 are two dates which every political history expert who has studied the 1968 election knows is significant. October 16th was when President Johnson announced that “Peace was at hand” in Vietnam, October 23rd was when the South Vietnamese walked out of the peace talks. Everyone was surprised, even Johnson himself. No one knows why the South Vietnamese walked out, though they are theories, such as Reagan’s campaign bribed them, or because they thought that Reagan would produce a peace more in their favor.


Whether or not the theories are true is up for debate, but either way Humphrey’s support collapsed dramatically. This turned into a close race again. Too close

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It was originally 254-220-64 Reagan, but faithless electors made 259-231-48 Reagan. Nevertheless, the election went to the house. The balloting at first showed a Reagan plurality, but House Democrats making deals with those who might vote Hatfield put Humphrey over the top. Mechem was put over the top with every Republican voting for him (except for Hatfield), along with some Southern Democratic senators which made it 51-49 Mechem.


An administration with both a Democrat and a Republican? It will be interesting, to say the least. The electoral college has become extremely unpopular following this election, and Birch Bayh, along with George Aiken has proposed the Bayh-Aiken amendment, which would abolish the Electoral college in favor of a two-round voting system where the threshold is 50%. It is yet to be seen how this amendment will be passed.
 
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1968 Senate Elections
If Harold Stassen was a segregationist, he would be George Perry Mahoney. Mahoney had made many attempts to run for a statewide office in Maryland, most notabley for governor in 1966. Much to the shock of many Democrats, Mahoney had successfully primaried incumbent Senator Daniel Brewster by 213 votes. Brewster, not willing to lose to a segregationist, announced an independent campaign, which was soon supported by many liberal Democrats. Mahoney did not have a chance

Until it was found out that Brewster was charged on Bribery. Brewster’s campaign was tarnished by this.

Mathias, on the other hand, hurt his campaign by endorsing Mark Hatfield. Hatfield endorsed him back. In response, conservative Marylanders began to flock to Mahoney’s campaign, and Mahoney began leading in the polls for a while.

But those must be flukes, right? He can’t win, right?

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He did win. While Reagan did not endorse him, voting Reagan/Mahoney was not uncommon, much to the dismay of the Mathias campaign. Due to Brewster’s corruption allegations, voting Humphrey/Mathias was also not uncommon.


If anything, the 1968 California senate election was like Maryland’s, but the losing incumbent didn’t launch an Independent campaign. Max Rafferty, a Conservative writer successfully primaried Thomas Kuchel, who called the Conservative wing of the GOP “fascists”.

Kuchel, beaten and bruised by someone who he would call a “fascist”, decided to spite Rafferty and endorsed Cranston. Kuchel then went with Cranston anytime he could.

The race was neck and neck from then on, until Reagan started during campaign appearances with Rafferty. Rafferty then inherited a small lead.

Rafferty won out in the end. The one most hurt by his victory was Kuchel, saying that “We have elected a dangerous demagogue into the senate!”. Kuchel later switched over to the Democratic party.

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The Peace & Freedom candidate, Paul Jacobs, got a surprising 3% of the vote. Some say that this was due to his campaign focusing on the more left-leaning areas of the state, such as San Francisco.

All in all, the 1968 Senate races showed an increase of 4 seats for the GOP, but the Democrats lost 5 seats. Why? Because George McGovern ran as an Independent during his Senate run, and because the Democrats couldn’t find a candidate, they endorsed McGovern, hence giving McGovern a narrow victory over his Republican opponent, Ben Reifel, by just 273 votes.


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After the disastrous 1968 election, some say that a “Republican Revolution” in 1970 is inevitable, and it might be so, with 8 GOP seats up for re-election in 1970, compared to 27 Democrats.
 
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