Eleição presidencial dos Estados Unidos do governo de 1968

Eleição presidencial dos Estados Unidos de 1968, eleição presidencial americana realizada em 5 de novembro de 1968, na qual o republicano Richard M. Nixon derrotou o democrata Hubert H. Humphrey.

fundo

A corrida para a eleição de 1968 foi transformada em 1967, quando o senador democrata de Minnesota, Eugene J. McCarthy, desafiou o Democratic Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson sobre suas políticas da Guerra do Vietnã. Johnson sucedeu à presidência em 1963, após o assassinato de John F. Kennedy, e foi reeleito esmagadoramente em 1964. No início de seu mandato, ele era imensamente popular, mas o envolvimento dos EUA no Vietnã, que aumentou de forma invisível durante as administrações presidenciais de tanto Dwight D. Eisenhower quanto Kennedy, tornaram-se altamente visíveis com o rápido aumento do número de mortos nos EUA e, à medida que a impopularidade da guerra aumentou, o mesmo aconteceu com o de Johnson.

As eleições de 1966 restabeleceram os republicanos como uma grande minoria no Congresso, e a legislação social diminuiu, competindo com a Guerra do Vietnã pelo dinheiro disponível. Apesar da Lei dos Direitos Civis (1964) e da Lei dos Direitos de Voto (1965), muitos afro-americanos ficaram desencantados com o progresso nos direitos civis. Assim, um movimento de "poder negro" surgiu, atingindo a popularidade de Johnson, mesmo entre os afro-americanos. O aumento da criminalidade geral e a violência esporádica nas cidades suscitaram apreensão nas comunidades brancas. Um pedido de "lei e ordem" foi a resposta, e tornou-se não apenas uma questão, mas, muitos acreditavam, uma palavra de código para a repressão afro-americana.

No início de 1968, o governador republicano do Michigan, George Romney, anunciou sua candidatura à presidência. Muitos acreditavam que o governador de Nova York, Nelson Rockefeller, também poderia ser um desafiante, e George Wallace, ex-governador democrata do Alabama e um segregacionista durante seu mandato, começou a sugerir seu interesse no cargo. As facções da paz e os militantes negros falavam em nomear seus próprios candidatos, e uma reprise da corrida de quatro vias de 1948 parecia possível.

Primárias

In this setting, McCarthy, whose criticism of the administration on its Vietnam policies had become increasingly caustic, announced his candidacy for president and entered the New Hampshire primary—the first of the presidential primaries. Rockefeller denied that he was a candidate but said that he would accept a draft; 30 Republican leaders endorsed him. At this time Nixon, who had been Eisenhower’s vice president and who had narrowly lost to Kennedy in 1960, declared that new leadership could end the war; he announced his candidacy and entered the New Hampshire primary.

McCarthy was the only major Democrat on the New Hampshire ballot, but, shortly before the March 12 voting, Democratic regulars, alarmed by the effectiveness of McCarthy’s legion of young amateur campaign workers, mounted a desperate write-in campaign for the president. Johnson won 48 percent of the vote, but McCarthy, with 42 percent, won 20 of the 24 delegates. Nixon won the Republican primary; Romney, with polls indicating that he had little hope of winning, had withdrawn from the primary and the presidential race.

A few days later Robert F. Kennedy announced that he would enter the race on the Democratic side. On March 31 President Johnson stunned the country by announcing an end to the bombing of most of North Vietnam—and his decision not to seek reelection. Two days later McCarthy won a somewhat diluted triumph over the president in the Wisconsin primary.

The following Thursday, April 4, African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Grief and shock among African Americans turned to anger, which found expression in rioting and violence in more than 100 cities, leading many white voters to look more closely at Wallace, who was stressing “law and order” and promising to be on the ballot in 50 states.

After King’s funeral, McCarthy, unopposed, won a preferential primary but no delegates in Pennsylvania. However, he took all the delegates in the Massachusetts primary. The upset Republican winner in Massachusetts was Rockefeller, for whom a hasty write-in campaign had been contrived. Rockefeller beat Gov. John Volpe, who was on the ballot, and Richard Nixon, who was not, and reversed his decision not to run.

Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, took four weeks to assess his chances after Johnson’s withdrawal. Humphrey then declared his candidacy and hurriedly assembled an organization to hunt delegates. In the Indiana primary Kennedy defeated both McCarthy and Indiana Gov. Roger Branigan. He also won in Washington, D.C., and trounced McCarthy in Nebraska. In Oregon McCarthy won his only primary victory over an active opponent who was on the ballot, handing Kennedy his first election defeat and winning 45 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 39 percent. The next week, on June 4, Kennedy scored a solid victory over McCarthy in California, but shortly after midnight, as the votes were still being counted, Kennedy was fatally shot.

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Nixon, meanwhile, won every Republican primary he entered; the Massachusetts write-in effort for Rockefeller was his only reverse. Rockefeller intensified his efforts and in mid-July finished a 44-state tour as his $3 million advertising campaign reached a peak.

Humphrey entered no primaries, but he was able to gain enough delegates in those states without primaries to give him apparent control over the convention. However, dissenters were taking an increasingly hard line against him and the administration. To ardent liberals, Humphrey—until recently denounced by rightists as a dangerous radical—was becoming the very image of the establishment.