1968 United States presidential election

==Background==
In the [[1964 United States presidential election|election of 1964]], incumbent [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[President of the United States|U.S. president]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] won the largest popular vote landslide in [[United States presidential election|U.S. presidential election]] history over [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[Barry Goldwater]]. During the presidential term that followed, Johnson was able to achieve many political successes, including passage of his [[Great Society]] domestic programs (including "War on Poverty" legislation), landmark [[civil rights]] legislation, and the continued exploration of space. Despite these significant achievements, Johnson's popular support would be short-lived. Even as Johnson scored legislative victories, the country endured large-scale race riots in the streets of its larger cities, along with a generational revolt of young people and violent debates over foreign policy. The emergence of the [[hippie]] [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counter-culture]], the rise of [[New Left]] activism, and the emergence of the [[Black Power]] movement exacerbated social and cultural clashes between classes, generations, and races. Adding to the national crisis, on April 4, 1968, [[Civil rights movement|civil rights leader]] Rev. [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], was [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassinated]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], igniting riots of grief and anger across the country. In [[Washington, D.C.]], rioting took place within a few blocks of the White House, and the government stationed soldiers with machine guns on the Capitol steps to protect it.<ref>Thomas Adams Upchurch, ''Race relations in the United States, 1960–1980'' (2008) pp. 7–50.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/timeline-seismic-180967503/|title=A Timeline of 1968: The Year That Shattered America|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref>

The [[Vietnam War]] was the primary reason for the precipitous decline of President Johnson's popularity. He had escalated U.S. commitment so by late 1967 over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Draftees made up 42 percent of the military in Vietnam, but suffered 58% of the casualties, as nearly 1000 Americans a month were killed, and many more were injured.<ref>{{cite book|author=James Westheider|title=Fighting in Vietnam: The Experience of the US Soldier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M9jS16CZh0YC&pg=PA136|year=2011|publisher=Stackpole Books|pages=136–38|isbn=978-0-8117-0831-9}}</ref> But resistance to the war rose as success seemed ever out of reach. The national [[news media]] began to focus on the high costs and ambiguous results of escalation, despite Johnson's repeated efforts to downplay the seriousness of the situation.

In early January 1968, [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Robert McNamara]] said the war would be winding down, claiming that the North Vietnamese were losing their will to fight. But, shortly thereafter, the North Vietnamese launched the [[Tet Offensive]], in which they and Communist forces of [[Vietcong]] undertook simultaneous attacks on all government strongholds across South Vietnam. Though the uprising ended in a U.S. military victory, the scale of the Tet offensive led many Americans to question whether the war could be "won", or was worth the costs to the U.S. In addition, voters began to mistrust the government's assessment and reporting of the war effort. The Pentagon called for sending several hundred thousand more soldiers to Vietnam. Johnson's approval ratings fell below 35%. The [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] refused to let the president visit American colleges and universities, and prevented him from appearing at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention protest activity|1968 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Chicago]], because it could not guarantee his safety.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ben J. Wattenberg|title=Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0rGoksJR_jcC&pg=PA40|year=2008|publisher=Macmillan|page=40|isbn=978-1-4299-2463-4}}</ref>