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"It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." - HUBERT HUMPHREY


ELECTION '68:

VICTORY FOR THE HAPPY WARRIOR


Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie would celebrate the night of November 5th as many things. The first, would be a victory. The campaign had started out with Humphrey in a huge hole that he began making up when he broke with President Johnson's Vietnam policy. Johnson had threatened to make trouble for Humphrey during the campaign if he took a step away from the policy, but feeling nothing left to lose, he asserted his independence from the President early on and began gaining momentum quickly. Nixon had run a safe campaign. Unwilling to debate Humphrey or Wallace in any format, Nixon found out too late that his Dewey-like strategy would fail. Nixon also erred badly in choosing his running mate, Spiro Agnew. A distinctly unlikable and rather hateful man who appeared at a disadvantage when contrasted with Edmund Muskie. In the end, Humphrey made a remarkable comeback to edge past Nixon to become just the 37th individual to be President of the United States.



The 1968 Electoral Map

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