1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries

1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries

March 12 to June 11, 1968
2,607 delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention 1,304 (majority) votes needed to win
Candidate Eugene McCarthy Robert F. Kennedy† Hubert Humphrey Home state Minnesota New York Minnesota Contests won 6 5 0 Popular vote 2,914,933 2,305,148 166,463 Percentage 38.7% 30.6% 2.2%
Humphrey      McCarthy      Kennedy†      Johnson      McGovern      Phillips      Favorite Sons      Uncommitted
Previous Democratic nominee Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey

From March to July 1968, Democratic Party voters elected delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention for the purpose of selecting the party's nominee for president in the upcoming election. Delegates, and the nominee they were to support at the convention, were selected through a series of primary elections, caucuses, and state party conventions. This was the last time that state primary elections formed a minority (12 states) of the selection process, as the McGovern–Fraser Commission, which issued its recommendations in time for the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries, would dramatically reform the nomination process to expand the use of popular primaries rather than caucuses.

After an inconclusive and tumultuous campaign focused on the Vietnam War and marred by the June assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey was nominated at the 1968 Democratic National Convention held from August 26 to August 29, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois.

The campaign for the nomination began with incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson expected to win re-nomination for a second consecutive election, despite low approval ratings following the Tet Offensive in January 1968. His only significant challenger was Eugene McCarthy, an anti-war Senator from Minnesota. After McCarthy nearly won the New Hampshire primary on March 12, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, another critic of the war and the brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, entered the race on March 16. On March 31, Johnson announced that he would not seek re-election. In April, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey joined the race as the establishment candidate; he did not criticize the administration's conduct of the war and avoided the popular contests for delegates.

McCarthy and Kennedy traded primary victories while Humphrey collected delegates through the closed caucus and convention systems in place in most states. Many other delegates were selected without a formal commitment to support any particular candidate. The race was upended on June 5, the night of the California and South Dakota primaries. Both races went for Kennedy, but he was assassinated after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel. At the moment of his assassination, Kennedy trailed Humphrey in the pledged delegate count with McCarthy third. Without any obligation to vote for any candidate, most Kennedy delegates backed Humphrey over McCarthy or fell behind Kennedy supporter George McGovern.

At the convention, Humphrey secured the nomination easily despite anti-war riots outside the convention center; he went on to lose the presidential election narrowly to Richard Nixon.

Background

1960 and 1964 presidential elections

In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination over Lyndon B. Johnson. After he secured the nomination at the party convention, Kennedy offered Johnson the vice presidential nomination; the offer was a surprise, and some Kennedy supporters claimed that the nominee expected Johnson to decline. Robert F. Kennedy, the nominee's brother and campaign manager, reportedly went to Johnson's hotel suite to dissuade Johnson from accepting. Johnson accepted, and the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was narrowly elected, but the 1960 campaign intensified the personal enmity between Robert F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, which dated to as early as 1953. President Kennedy named his brother to his cabinet as United States Attorney General.

President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963; Johnson succeeded him with tremendous national popularity amid a wave of mourning and sympathy. Robert Kennedy remained in the cabinet for several months, creating what Johnson staffers began to refer to as "the Bobby problem": despite the personal hatred between the two, Democratic voters overwhelmingly favored Kennedy as Johnson's running mate in the 1964 election. Kennedy began to plan for a nationwide campaign, and in the informal New Hampshire vice-presidential primary, Kennedy defeated Hubert H. Humphrey in a landslide.

In July 1964, Johnson issued an official statement ruling out any cabinet member for the vice presidency. In search of a way out of the dilemma, Kennedy asked speechwriter Milton Gwirtzman to write a memo comparing two offices: 1) governor of Massachusetts and 2) U.S. senator from New York, and "which would be a better place from which to make a run for the presidency in future years?" In September, Kennedy resigned as attorney general, and ran for and won election to the U.S. Senate. Johnson was elected in a landslide.

Vietnam War

See also: United States in the Vietnam War and List of protests against the Vietnam War

United States involvement in the Vietnam War began shortly after the end of World War II. Beginning in 1964, President Johnson dramatically escalated American military presence after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. On the recommendation of General William C. Westmoreland, whom Johnson had appointed to command American troops in Vietnam, U.S. manpower in Southeast Asia expanded from 16,000 in 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969.

As U.S. involvement escalated throughout 1964 to 1966, protests against the war escalated in proportion. Several anti-war groups were founded or expanded during the period.

1966 midterms and "Dump Johnson" movement

Anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy agreed to challenge President Johnson in October 1967, after several better-known candidates (including Robert Kennedy) declined to run.

Amid criticism of U.S. handling of the war from both parties, President Johnson's approval rating sank from a high above 70 percent to below 40 percent by the 1966 midterm elections. The Democratic Party had already begun to split between anti-war "doves" and pro-war "hawks," and the Republican Party gained dozens of seats in Congress.

As opposition grew in 1967, anti-war Democrats led by Allard Lowenstein and Curtis Gans formed the Dump Johnson movement, which sought to challenge the President's re-election. Their first choice was Robert Kennedy, who had sufficiently established himself as a critic of the war and an effective popular campaigner. He declined, as did a series of lesser-known candidates, including Senator George McGovern. Lowenstein finally found a candidate in October 1967, when Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy agreed to challenge the President. At first, McCarthy merely expressed his interest, telling Lowenstein, "Somebody has to raise the flag." On November 30, 1967, McCarthy publicly announced his campaign for the nomination.

Kennedy continued to demur, despite pressure from his aides to enter the race and worry that anti-war allies, like George McGovern, would begin to make commitments to McCarthy. On January 30, he again indicated to the press that he had no plans to campaign against Johnson.

In early February 1968, after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Kennedy received an anguished letter from writer Pete Hamill, noting that poor people in the Watts area of Los Angeles had hung pictures of Kennedy's brother, President John F. Kennedy, in their homes. Hamill's letter reminded Robert Kennedy that he had an "obligation of staying true to whatever it was that put those pictures on those walls." There were other factors that influenced Kennedy's decision to enter the presidential primary race. On February 29, 1968, the Kerner Commission issued a report on the racial unrest that had affected American cities during the previous summer. The Kerner Commission blamed "white racism" for the violence, but its findings were largely dismissed by the Johnson administration.

On March 10, Kennedy told his aide, Peter Edelman, that he had decided to run and had to "figure out how to get McCarthy out of it." However, Kennedy hesitated to enter the race with McCarthy still in and agreed to McCarthy's request to delay an announcement of his intentions until after the New Hampshire primary.

Candidates

The following political leaders were candidates for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination:

Nominee

Candidate			Born	Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Hubert Humphrey			May 27, 1911 (age 57) Wallace, South Dakota	Vice President of the United States (1965–1969)	Minnesota	(Campaign) Secured nomination: August 29, 1968	166,463 (2.2%)	0	Edmund Muskie

Other major candidates

These candidates participated in multiple state primaries or were included in multiple major national polls.

Candidate			Born	Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Running mate
Lyndon B. Johnson			August 27, 1908 (age 59) Stonewall, Texas	President of the United States (1963–1969)	Texas	(Campaign) Declined: March 31, 1968	Hubert Humphrey
Robert F. Kennedy			November 20, 1925 (age 42) Brookline, Massachusetts	U.S. Senator from New York (1965–1968)	New York	(Campaign) Declared: March 16, 1968 Assassinated: June 5, 1968	None
Eugene McCarthy			March 29, 1916 (age 52) Watkins, Minnesota	U.S. Senator from Minnesota (1959–1971)	Minnesota	(Campaign) Declared: November 30, 1967 Defeated at convention: August 29, 1968	None
George McGovern			July 19, 1922 (age 45) Avon, South Dakota	U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1963–1981)	South Dakota	(Campaign) Announced: July 23, 1968 Defeated at convention: August 29, 1968	None

Favorite sons

Further information: Favorite son

The following candidates ran only in their home state or district's primary or caucuses for the purpose of controlling its delegate slate at the convention and did not appear to be considered national candidates by the media.

• Governor Roger D. Branigin of Indiana (endorsed Humphrey)
• Governor Richard J. Hughes of New Jersey (endorsed Humphrey)
• State Attorney General Thomas C. Lynch of California (endorsed Humphrey)
• Governor Robert Evander McNair of South Carolina
• Governor Dan Moore of North Carolina
• Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine
• Representative Joseph Resnick of Westchester County, New York
• Senator George Smathers of Florida (endorsed Humphrey)
• Senator Stephen M. Young of Ohio (endorsed Humphrey)

Declined to run

The following persons were listed in two or more major national polls or were the subject of media speculation surrounding their potential candidacy, but declined to actively seek the nomination.

• Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts
• Former Governor George Wallace of Alabama (ran third-party campaign)

Polling

Nationwide polling

Poll source	Publication	Hubert Humphrey	Lyndon B. Johnson	Robert F. Kennedy	Eugene McCarthy
Gallup	Feb. 1966	5%	52%	27%	–
Gallup	Aug. 1966	6%	38%	40%	–
Gallup	Jan. 1967	8%	34%	43%	–
Gallup	Sep. 1967	6%	37%	39%	–
Newsweek	Jan. 7, 1968	–	74.3%	–	16.7%
Theodore H. White	Jan. 10, 1968	–	79%	–	12%
Newsweek	Jan. 21, 1968	–	73%	–	18%
U.S. News & World Report	Jan. 22, 1968	–	66.7%	–	24.3%
Newsweek	Jan. 28, 1968	–	80%	–	11%
New York Times/CBS	Feb. 1, 1968	–	71%	–	20%
Theodore H. White	Feb. 10, 1968	–	73%	–	18%
Newsweek	Feb. 25, 1968	–	76.7%	–	14.3%
U.S. News & World Report	Feb. 26, 1968	–	76.2%	–	14.8%
New York Times/CBS	Feb. 29, 1968	–	77%	–	14%
Newsweek	Mar. 3, 1968	–	69%	–	20%
U.S. News & World Report	Mar. 5, 1968	–	65%	–	30%
Theodore H. White	Mar. 10, 1968	–	65.5%	–	26.5%
March 12: New Hampshire primary
March 16: Robert F. Kennedy enters the race
New York Times/CBS	Mar. 21, 1968	–	50%	–	41%
U.S. News & World Report	Mar. 24, 1968	–	39%	–	52%
March 31: Johnson withdraws
New York Times/CBS	Apr. 4, 1968	–	12%	–	79%
Gallup	Apr. 9, 1968	31%	–	35%	23%
Gallup	Apr. 23, 1968	25%	–	28%	33%
April 27: Hubert Humphrey enters the race
Gallup	May 7, 1968	40%	–	31%	19%
June 5: Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated
Gallup	July 23, 1968	53%	–	–	39%

Campaign

March: New Hampshire, Kennedy enters, Johnson declines

Running as an antiwar candidate in the New Hampshire presidential primary, McCarthy hoped to pressure the Democrats into publicly opposing the Vietnam War. Trailing badly in national polls and with little chance to influence delegate selection absent primary wins, McCarthy decided to pour most of his resources into New Hampshire, the first state to hold a primary election. He was boosted by thousands of young college students who volunteered throughout the state, who shaved their beards and cut their hair to "Get Clean for Gene."

On March 12, McCarthy was the only person on the ballot, as Johnson had not filed, and was only a write in candidate. McCarthy won 42% of the primary vote to Johnson's 50%, an extremely strong showing for such a challenger which gave McCarthy's campaign legitimacy and momentum. In addition, McCarthy's superior coordination led to a near sweep of the state's twenty-four pledged delegates; since Johnson had no formal campaign organization in the state, a number of competing pro-Johnson delegate candidates split his vote, allowing McCarthy to take twenty delegates.

Despite his desire to oppose Johnson directly and the fear that McCarthy would split the anti-war vote, Kennedy pushed forward with his planned campaign. On March 16, Kennedy declared, "I am today announcing my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I'm obliged to do all I can." However, due to his late entry, Kennedy's name would not appear on a state ballot until the Indiana primary on May 7.

President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers a speech announcing he will not run for re-election on March 31.

Johnson now had two strong challengers, sitting members of the Senate with demonstrated popularity. To make matters worse, polling in Wisconsin showed McCarthy beating Johnson badly, with the latter getting only 12% of the vote. Facing declining health and bleak political forecasts in the upcoming primaries, Johnson concluded that he could not win the nomination without a major political and personal struggle. On March 31, 1968, at the end of a televised address on Vietnam, he shocked the nation by announcing that he would not seek re-election. By withdrawing, he could avoid the stigma of defeat and could keep control of the party machinery to support Vice President Hubert Humphrey. As the year developed, it also became clear that Johnson believed he could secure his place in the history books by ending the war before the election in November, which would give Humphrey the boost he would need to win.

April: McCarthy triumphant, Humphrey enters

After Johnson's withdrawal, Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy on April 27. Humphrey's campaign concentrated on winning the delegates in non-primary states, where party leaders controlled the delegate votes. Humphrey did not compete in the primaries, leaving favorite sons to win delegates as surrogates, notably Senator George A. Smathers from Florida, Senator Stephen M. Young from Ohio, and Indiana Governor Roger D. Branigin.

The Wisconsin primary on April 2 was effectively uncontested. McCarthy received 56% of the vote. Kennedy received 6% as a write-in candidate. Kennedy was ineligible for the ballot because he entered the race following the filing deadline. The Pennsylvania primary on April 23 was similarly a rout for McCarthy, who took 71% of the vote.

• Humphrey gained the support of labor unions and big-city bosses, such as Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
• McCarthy rallied students and intellectuals, who had been the early activists against the war in Vietnam.
• Kennedy gained support from the poor, Catholics, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and other racial and ethnic minorities.
• Conservative "Dixiecrats" tended to support either Humphrey or former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, who was running in a third-party campaign for the general election.

In the Massachusetts primary on April 30 neither Humphrey nor Kennedy were formally listed on the ballot. As a result, McCarthy won the popular vote easily, and by the rules in place at the time, all 72 of the commonwealth's delegates were pledged to him on the first ballot. Some analysts viewed Humphrey's unexpectedly strong showing (44,156 write-in votes, or 18% of the total) as a clear victory over Kennedy, a Brookline, Massachusetts native, who polled a meager 28% write-in vote in his family's home state.

May: Kennedy momentum, McCarthy in Oregon

On March 27, 1968, Kennedy announced his intention to run against McCarthy in the Indiana primary, although aides told him that a race in Indiana would be extremely tight and advised him against it. At the Indiana Statehouse, Kennedy told a cheering crowd that the state was important to his campaign: "If we can win in Indiana, we can win in every other state, and win when we go to the convention in August." The Indiana primary thus marked the first open entry of Kennedy into the field and pitted him against McCarthy and Governor Roger Branigin, a favorite son who had backed Johnson and now impliedly supported Humphrey.

During his first campaign stop in Indiana, Kennedy delivered two of a trio notable speeches. First, on April 4, he spoke at Ball State University in Muncie. In this speech, Kennedy suggested the election would "determine the direction that the United States is going to move" and that the American people should "examine everything. Not take anything for granted." Kennedy expressed concerns about poverty and hunger, lawlessness and violence, jobs and economic development, and foreign policy. He emphasized that Americans had a "moral obligation" and should "make an honest effort to understand one another and move forward together." After leaving the stage at Ball State, Kennedy boarded a plane for Indianapolis. When he arrived, he was informed of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Addressing a crowd gathered for a political rally on the black north side of the city, Kennedy gave a heartfelt impromptu speech to the crowd, calling for peace and compassion. The next day in Cleveland, he delivered prepared remarks entitled "On the Mindless Menace of Violence," elaborating the themes he had addressed in Indianapolis. After attending King's funeral in Atlanta, Kennedy resumed campaigning in Indiana on April 10.

Branigin campaigned in nearly all of the state's 92 counties, while McCarthy's campaign strategy concentrated on Indiana's rural areas and small towns. According to Kennedy's campaign advisor, John Bartlow Martin, the campaign gained momentum with Kennedy's visits to central and southern Indiana on April 22 and 23, which included a memorable whistle-stop railroad trip aboard the Wabash Cannonball. Martin urged the candidate to speak out against violence and rioting, emphasize his "law enforcement experience" as former U.S. Attorney General, and promote coordination between the government and private sector to solve domestic issues. Kennedy continued to speak out against the war and in support of the cessation of hostilities and reallocating war funds to domestic programs. To appeal to conservative voters, Kennedy "toned down his rhetoric" as well. McCarthy, meanwhile, contrasted his approach to conflict of "call[ing] upon everyone ... to be as fully responsible as [they] can be" against Humphrey's ("run[ning] things together indiscriminately") and Kennedy's (a "combination of separate interests ... or groups").

On May 7, Kennedy won with 42 percent of the vote; Branigan was second with 31 percent of the vote; and McCarthy, earning 27 percent, came in third. In response to the defeat, McCarthy remarked, "We've tested the enemy now, and we know his techniques ... we know his weaknesses."

Campaigning vigorously in the Nebraska primary, Kennedy hoped for a major win to give him momentum going into the crucial California primary in June. While McCarthy made only one visit to Nebraska, Kennedy made numerous appearances. Though Kennedy's advisors had been worried about his chances in Nebraska, given his lack of credibility on ranching and agriculture policy and the short amount of time to campaign in the state after the Indiana primary, Kennedy won on May 14 with 51.4 percent of the vote to McCarthy's 31 percent. Kennedy won 24 of the 25 counties that he visited ahead of the vote; of those, the sole county he lost by two votes was home to the University of Nebraska, where a plurality of students favored McCarthy. Kennedy declared that the results, where two anti-war candidates collectively earned over 80 percent of the vote, were "a smashing repudiation" of the Johnson-Humphrey administration.

A Newsweek delegate survey, taken after the Nebraska primary, showed 1,280 delegates (1,312 delegates needed to win the nomination) solid or leaning toward Humphrey, 714 leaning to Kennedy, and 280 favoring McCarthy.

In contrast to Nebraska, the Oregon primary posed several challenges to Kennedy's campaign. His campaign organization, run by U.S. Congresswoman Edith Green, was not strong and his platform emphasizing poverty, hunger, and minority issues did not resonate with Oregon voters. About Kennedy's calls for unity amongst Americans, Mills wrote that "As far as Oregonians were concerned, America had not fallen apart." The Kennedy campaign circulated material on McCarthy's record; McCarthy had voted against a minimum wage law and repeal of the poll tax in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The McCarthy campaign responded with charges that Kennedy illegally taped Martin Luther King Jr. as United States Attorney General. Ten days ahead of the vote, Kennedy admitted his message did not appeal well to Oregonians: "This state is like one giant suburb. I appeal best to people who have problems." During a speech he gave in California, Kennedy also admitted, "I think that if I get beaten in any primary, I am not a very viable candidate," further raising the stakes in Oregon. Following that comment, Kennedy campaigned for sixteen hours a day; in the weeks before the election, his campaign canvased 50,000 homes.

On May 28, McCarthy won the Oregon primary with 44.7 percent; Kennedy received 38.8 percent of votes. After Kennedy's loss was confirmed, he sent a terse congratulatory message to McCarthy but asserted that he would remain in the race. According to Kennedy biographer Larry Tye, the defeat in Oregon proved to Kennedy that he needed to take risks and convinced voters that Kennedy was vulnerable to electoral defeat. Observers remarked that McCarthy was "back in the race as a real contender."

Meanwhile, in the Florida primary (also on May 28), a slate of Humphrey delegates led by favorite son George A. Smathers easily swept aside McCarthy, who managed only four delegates from two Miami congressional districts. Humphrey also picked up 83 of the 125 delegates from Pennsylvania, following an endorsement from Philadelphia Mayor James Tate, and collected delegates from non-primary party caucuses and state conventions. In April and May, Humphrey won the majority of delegates in Delaware, Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming, Arizona, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Missouri, Maine, and Vermont. The other candidates criticized this tactic, and accused Humphrey of organizing a "bossed convention" against the wishes of the people.

June 4: California, South Dakota, and New Jersey; Kennedy assassinated

Kennedy campaigning in Los Angeles (photo courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, Boston)

McCarthy and Kennedy vigorously campaigned throughout California in the beginning of June, with the latter announcing he would exit the race if he lost the state's primary. California's winner-take-all primary became crucial to both Kennedy and McCarthy's campaigns. McCarthy stumped the state's many colleges and universities, where he was treated as a hero for being the first presidential candidate to oppose the war. Kennedy campaigned in the ghettos and barrios of the state's larger cities, where he was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters. In the South Dakota primary, Kennedy also hoped to simultaneously pull off an upset victory over McCarthy and Humphrey, both from neighboring Minnesota (Humphrey was also a native of Wallace, South Dakota).

On June 1, Kennedy and McCarthy met in a televised debate on ABC's Issues and Answers, which observers generally considered a draw. "It was a conversation rather than a debate," said The New York Times, "and it demonstrated that the two rivals are in substantial agreement on every major issue." Though Kennedy considered the debate "indecisive and disappointing," subsequent polling showed that undecided voters favored his performance by a margin of two-to-one.

On June 3, Kennedy made a "final dash" through the state's major urban centers, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego; along with suburban Long Beach, in a single day. As his motorcade moved slowly through cheering crowds in San Francisco's Chinatown, gun shots appeared to ring out. However, it was just the sound of celebratory firecrackers. The campaign entourage and traveling press were all "scared to death," recalled Bill Eppridge, a Life magazine photographer in the car just ahead of the Kennedys.

On June 4, Kennedy privately expressed his hope to Theodore H. White that victories in the California and South Dakota primaries could persuade party insiders that he was more electable than Humphrey and thus win him crucial support from unpledged delegates. Kennedy won the California primary with 46 percent of the vote to McCarthy's 42 percent. Author Joseph Palermo referred to the victory as Kennedy's "greatest." Kennedy also won the South Dakota primary, winning approximately 50 percent of the vote.

McCarthy, who that same night defeated Kennedy in the New Jersey primary (with 36% of the write-in vote), made it clear that he would contest the upcoming New York primary on June 18 in Kennedy's adopted state.

Kennedy assassination

Main article: Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

After giving his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy was assassinated in the kitchen service pantry in the early morning of June 5. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian-born Jordanian, was arrested. Kennedy died 26 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital.

At the moment of Kennedy's death, the delegate totals were estimated to be:

• Hubert Humphrey – 561
• Robert F. Kennedy – 393
• Eugene McCarthy – 258

Kennedy's death threw the Democratic Party into disarray. Shaken by the event, Humphrey took off two weeks from campaigning. He met with President Johnson, and the two talked about "everything" during a three-hour meeting. The assassination all but guaranteed Humphrey the nomination. He commented that he "was doing everything I could to win the nomination ... but God knows I didn't want it that way." A large number of Kennedy delegates switched to Humphrey, but he lost money from Republican donors concerned about a Kennedy nomination, and popular opinion polls shifted in favor of Senator McCarthy. In fact, Humphrey was booed before 50,000 people on June 19 at the Lincoln Memorial as he was introduced at a Solidarity March for civil rights. He tried to defend his record against the liberal detractors, but often encountered anti-war protesters and hostile crowds while campaigning. At the end of June, Republican Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon assessed the race, arguing that Humphrey would be the party's nominee for president but criticized him for being too closely aligned with Johnson's policies.

Schedule and results

Statewide results by winner

Tablemaker's Note:

Date	Total pledged delegates	Contest and total popular vote	Delegates won and popular vote
			Hubert Humphrey	Eugene McCarthy	Robert Kennedy	Lyndon Johnson	Favorite Son(s)	Uncommitted	Other(s)
March 12	0 (of 24)	New Hampshire Pres. Primary 55,464	-	23,263 (41.94%)	606 WI (1.09%)	27,520 WI (49.62%)	-	-	4,075 (7.35%)
	24 (of 24)	New Hampshire Del. Primary ?	-	20 Del. 16,315	-	4 Del. 17,444	-	-	-
March 16	22 (of 22)	Nevada State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	22 Del.	-
March 28	28 (of 28)	South Carolina State Convention	-	-	-	-	28 Del.	-	-
March 30	38 (of 38)	Kansas State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	38 Del.	-
April 2	60 (of 60)	Wisconsin Primary 733,002	3,605 WI (0.49%)	52 Del. 412,160 (56.23%)	46,507 WI (6.35%)	8 Del. 253,696 (34.61%)	-	11,861 (1.62%)	5,173 WI (0.71%)
April 8	22 (of 22)	Alaska State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	22 Del.	-
April 20	19 (of 19)	Arizona State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	19 Del.	-
April 23	0 (of 130)	Pennsylvania Pres. Primary 599,966	51,998 WI (8.67%)	428,891 (71.49%)	65,430 WI (10.91%)	21,265 WI (3.54%)	-	-	32,382 (5.40%)
	130 (of 130)	Pennsylvania Del. Primary	-	18 Del.	1.5 Del.	-	-	110.5 Del.	-
April 29	49 (of 49)	Maryland State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	49 Del.	-
April 30	72 (of 72)	Massachusetts Primary 248,903	44,156 WI (17.74%)	72 Del. 122,697 (49.30%)	68,604 WI (27.56%)	6,890 WI (2.77%)	-	-	6,556 (2.63%)
May 7	32 (of 32)	Alabama Del. Primary	-	-	-	-	-	32 Del.	0 Del.
	63 (of 63)	Indiana Primary 776,513	-	209,695 (27.01%)	59 Del. 328,118 (42.26%)	-	4 Del. 238,700 (30.74%)	-	-
	115 (of 115)	Ohio Primary 549,140	-	3 Del.	-	-	112 Del. 549,140 (100.00%)	-	-
	23 (of 23)	Washington D.C. Primary 92,114	34,559 (37.52%)	-	23 Del. 57,555 (62.48%)	-	-	-	-
May 11	22 (of 22)	Delaware State Convention	16 Del.	-	6 Del.	-	-	-	-
	9 (of 52)	Minnesota 7th and 8th District Conventions	9 Del.	-	-	-	-	-	-
	22 (of 22)	Wyoming State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	22 Del.	-
May 12	26 (of 26)	Hawaii State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	26 Del.	-
May 14	0 (of 30)	Nebraska Pres. Primary 162,611	12,087 WI (7.43%)	50,655 (31.15%)	84,102 (51.72%)	9,187 (5.65%)	-	-	6,580 WI (4.04%)
	28 (of 30)	Nebraska Del. Primary	1 Del.	3 Del.	20 Del.	-	-	4 Del.	-
	36 (of 38)	West Virginia Del. Primary	-	-	-	-	-	36 Del.	-
May 16	43 (of 43)	Georgia State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	43 Del.	-
May 18	27 (of 27)	Maine State Convention	-	-	-	-	27 Del.	-	-
May 25	6 (of 35)	Colorado 1st District Convention	-	3 Del.	3 Del.	-	-	-	-
	46 (of 46)	Iowa State Convention	9.5 Del.	5 Del.	25 Del.	-	-	6.5 Del.	-
	13.5 (of 52)	Minnesota 3rd, 4th and 5th District Conventions	-	13.5 Del.	-	-	-	-	-
	22 (of 22)	Vermont State Convention 996	10 Del. 399 (40.06%)	5 Del. 270 (27.11%)	7 Del. 327 (32.83%)	-	-	-	-
May 26	13.5 (of 52)	Minnesota 1st, 2nd and 6th District Conventions	13.5 Del.	-	-	-	-	-	-
May 28	61 (of 63)	Florida Primary 512,357	-	4 Del. 147,216 (28.73%)	-	-	57 Del. 236,242 (46.11%)	128,899 (25.16%)	-
	35 (of 35)	Oregon Primary 373,070	12,421 WI (3.33%)	35 Del. 163,990 (43.96%)	141,631 (37.96%)	45,174 (12.11%)	-	-	9,854 WI (2.64%)
	27 (of 27)	Rhode Island State Committee	-	-	-	-	-	27 Del.	-
June 1	60 (of 60)	Missouri State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	60 Del.	-
June 2	96 (of 96)	Michigan State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	96 Del.	-
June 4	172 (of 174)	California Primary 3,181,753	-	1,329,301 (41.78%)	172 Del. 1,472,166 (46.27%)	-	-	380,286 (11.95%)	-
	0 (of 82)	New Jersey Pres. Primary 27,446	5,578 WI (20.32%)	9,906 WI (36.09%)	8,603 WI (31.35%)	380 WI (1.39%)	-	-	2,979 (10.85%)
	80 (of 82)	New Jersey Del. Primary	-	20 Del.	-	-	60 Del.	-	-
	24 (of 24)	South Dakota Primary 64,287	-	13,145 (20.45%)	24 Del. 31,826 (49.51%)	19,316 (30.05%)	-	-	-
June 6	59 (of 59)	North Carolina State Convention	-	-	-	-	59 Del.	-	-
June 11	0 (of 118)	Illinois Pres. Primary 12,038	2,059 WI (17.10%)	4,646 WI (38.59%)	-	162 WI (1.35%)	-	-	5,171 (42.96%)
	48 (of 118)	Illinois Del. Primary	-	2 Del.	-	-	-	46 Del.	-
	104 (of 104)	Texas State Convention	-	-	-	-	104 Del.	-	-
June 12	5 (of 5)	Panama Canal Zone Territorial Convention	-	-	-	-	-	5 Del.	-
June 14	36 (of 36)	Louisiana State Convention	-	-	-	-	36 Del.	-	-
June 15	25 (of 25)	Idaho State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	25 Del.	-
	26 (of 26)	Montana State Convention	24 Del.	2 Del.	-	-	-	-	-
June 17	6 (of 35)	Colorado 2nd District Convention	-	5 Del.	-	-	-	1 Del.	-
June 18	123 (of 190)	New York Del. Primary	19 Del.	62 Del.	-	-	-	42 Del.	-
June 22	44 (of 44)	Connecticut State Convention	-	0 Del.	-	-	-	44 Del.	-
	13.5 (of 52)	Minnesota State Convention	14 Del.	-	-	-	-	-	-
June 27	33 (of 33)	Arkansas State Committee	-	-	-	-	-	33 Del.	-
June 28	68 (of 118)	Illinois State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	68 Del.	-
	65 (of 190)	New York State Committee	-	15.5 Del.	-	-	-	49.5 Del.	-
	51 (of 51)	Tennessee State Convention	-	-	-	-	51 Del.	-	-
June 29	26 (of 26)	New Mexico State Convention	15 Del.	11 Del.	-	-	-	-	-
	25 (of 25)	North Dakota State Convention	17 Del.	7 Del.	-	-	-	1 Del.	-
	41 (of 41)	Oklahoma State Convention	37 Del.	2.7 Del.	-	-	-	1.3 Del.	-
July 2	24 (of 24)	Mississippi State Convention	-	-	-	-	-	24 Del.	-
July 6	6 (of 35)	Colorado 3rd District Convention	3 Del.	2 Del.	-	-	-	1 Del.	-
July 13	6 (of 35)	Colorado State Convention	-	2 Del.	-	-	-	4 Del.	-
	6 (of 35)	Colorado 4th District Convention	6 Del.	-	-	-	-	-	-
	47 (of 47)	Washington State Convention	32.5 Del.	9.5 Del.	-	-	-	5 Del.	-
July 27	46 (of 46)	Kentucky State Convention	41 Del.	5 Del.	-	-	-	-	-
	26 (of 26)	Utah State Convention	20 Del.	-	-	-	-	6 Del.	-
	63 (of 63)	Virginia State Convention	-	-	-	-	63 Del.	-	-
Total 2,622 pledged delegates 7,356,838 votes			258 166,463 (2.26%)	379.2 2,915,565 (39.63%)	340.5 2,273,322 (30.90%)	12 383,590 (5.21%)	601 1,024,082 (13.92%)	968.8 521,046 (7.08%)	0 72,770 (0.99%)
Suspected Delegate Count June 5, 1968			561.5 (21.41%)	255 (9.73%)	393.5 (15.01%)	-	310 (11.82%)	99 (3.78%)	2 (0.08%)
Suspected Delegate Count August 27, 1968			1,159.5 (44.22%)	487.5 (18.59%)	-	-	179.5 (6.85%)	727 (27.73%)	51.5 (1.96%)

Total popular vote:

• Eugene McCarthy – 2,914,933 (38.73%)
• Robert F. Kennedy – 2,305,148 (30.63%)
• Lyndon B. Johnson – 383,590 (5.10%)
• Hubert Humphrey – 166,463 (2.21%)
• Unpledged – 161,143 (2.14%)

Johnson/Humphrey surrogates:

• Stephen M. Young – 549,140 (7.30%)
• Thomas C. Lynch – 380,286 (5.05%)
• Roger D. Branigin – 238,700 (3.17%)
• George Smathers – 236,242 (3.14%)
• Scott Kelly – 128,899 (1.71%)

Minor candidates and write-ins:

• George Wallace – 34,489 (0.46%)
• Richard Nixon – 13,610 (0.18%)
• Ronald Reagan – 5,309 (0.07%)
• Ted Kennedy – 4,052 (0.05%)
• Paul C. Fisher – 506 (0.01%)
• John G. Crommelin – 186 (0.00%)

Primary Map By County (Massachusetts not Included) Hubert Humphrey – Red Lyndon B. Johnson – Yellow (outside of Florida) Robert F. Kennedy – Purple Eugene McCarthy – Green George Wallace – Lime Green Roger D. Branigin – Orange George Smathers – Yellow (Florida Only) Stephen Young – Brown

Democratic Convention and antiwar protests

When the 1968 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, thousands of young antiwar activists from around the nation gathered in the city to protest the Vietnam War. In a clash covered on live television, Americans were shocked to see Chicago Police officers brutally beating antiwar protesters. While the protesters chanted "the whole world is watching," the police used clubs and tear gas to beat back the protesters, leaving many of them bloody and dazed. The tear gas even wafted into numerous hotel suites. In one of them, Humphrey was watching the proceedings on television. Meanwhile, the convention itself was marred by the strong-armed tactics of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was seen on television angrily cursing Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff, who had made a speech at the convention denouncing the excesses of the Chicago police in the riots.

In the end, the nomination itself was anticlimactic, with Humphrey handily beating McCarthy and McGovern on the first ballot. The convention then chose Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine as Humphrey's running mate. However, the tragedy of the antiwar riots crippled the Humphrey campaign from the start, and it never fully recovered. (White, pp. 377–378;)

The Final Ballot

Presidential tally		Vice Presidential tally:
Hubert Humphrey	1759.25	Edmund S. Muskie	1942.5
Eugene McCarthy	601	Not Voting	604.25
George S. McGovern	146.5	Julian Bond	48.5
Channing Phillips	67.5	David Hoeh	4
Daniel K. Moore	17.5	Edward M. Kennedy	3.5
Edward M. Kennedy	12.75	Eugene McCarthy	3.0
Paul E. "Bear" Bryant	1.5	Others	16.25
James H. Gray	0.5
George Wallace	0.5

Source: Keating Holland, "All the Votes... Really," CNN

Endorsements

Hubert Humphrey
Presidents President Johnson Former President Harry S. Truman of Missouri U.S. Senators Senator Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota Municipal Officials Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago Individuals Entertainer Frank Sinatra

Robert F. Kennedy
U.S. Senators Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut Senator George McGovern of South Dakota Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the candidate's brother Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana Former Senator Pierre Salinger of California House of Representatives John V. Tunney of California Governors Governor Harold E. Hughes of Iowa State Officials California Speaker of the Assembly Jesse Unruh Individuals Cesar Chavez, President of the United Farm Workers Labor Leader Dolores Huerta Anti-war Activist Tom Hayden Writer Norman Mailer Actress Shirley MacLaine Actress Angie Dickinson Actress Stefanie Powers Actor Peter Lawford, the candidate's brother-in-law Actor Bill Cosby Musician Sammy Davis Jr. Musician Andy Williams Musician and actress Claudine Longet Musicians Sonny & Cher Musicians The Byrds Musician Bobby Darin Artist Andy Warhol Astronaut John Glenn NFL football player Lamar Lundy NFL football player Rosey Grier NFL football player Deacon Jones Film and television director John Frankenheimer Documentary film director Charles Guggenheim Actor Warren Beatty Actor Tony Curtis Actor Jack Lemmon Actor Gregory Peck Actor Robert Vaughn

Eugene McCarthy
House of Representatives Representative Don Edwards of California Individuals Actor Paul Newman Actor Gene Wilder Musicians Simon & Garfunkel Singer Barbra Streisand Actor Walter Matthau Actor Dustin Hoffman Baritone Singer Gilbert Price Film Director Mike Nichols Screenwriter Neil Simon Composer Leonard Bernstein Actress Joanne Woodward Actress Phyllis Newman Tom Carper, future U.S. Senator from Delaware

George McGovern (during convention)
Governors Governor Harold E. Hughes of Iowa U.S. Senators Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut Senator Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania

See also

• Republican Party presidential primaries, 1968

References

Sources cited

• Boomhower, Ray E. (2008). Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253350893.
• Clarke, Thurston (2008). The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America. Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0805077926.
• Dallek, Robert (16 April 1998). Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-982670-4.
• Gould, Lewis L. (1993). 1968: The Election that Changed America. Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 978-1-56663-010-8.
• Mills, Judie (1998). Robert Kennedy. Millbrook Press. ISBN 978-1562942502.
• Schlesinger, Arthur M. (1978). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Vol. 2 (book club ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Thomas, Evan (2000). Robert F. Kennedy: His Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0684834801.
• Woods, Randall (1 August 2006). LBJ: Architect of American Ambition. Free Press. ISBN 978-0-684-83458-0.

Further reading

• Alterman, Eric. The Cause: The Fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama (Penguin, 2013).
• Boomhower, Ray E. (2020). "Fighting the Good Fight: John Bartlow Martin and Hubert Humphrey's 1968 Presidential Campaign". Indiana Magazine of History. Vol. 116, no. 1. pp. 1–29.
• Chester, Lewis, Hodgson, Godfrey, Page, Bruce. An American Melodrama: The Presidential Campaign of 1968. (The Viking Press, 1969).
• Johns, Andrew L. The Price of Loyalty: Hubert Humphrey's Vietnam Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).
• Nelson, Justin A. "Drafting Lyndon Johnson: The President's Secret Role in the 1968 Democratic Convention." Presidential Studies Quarterly 30.4 (2000): 688–713.
• Nelson, Michael. "The Historical Presidency: Lost Confidence: The Democratic Party, the Vietnam War, and the 1968 Election." Presidential Studies Quarterly 48.3 (2018): 570–585.
• Sandbrook, Dominic (2007). Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism. ISBN 9780307425775.
• Small, Melvin. "The Doves Ascendant: The American Antiwar Movement in 1968." South Central Review 16 (1999): 43-52 online.
• Solberg, Carl. Hubert Humphrey: A Biography. (Norton, 1984).
• White, Theodore H. The Making of the President 1968. (1969)