1968 United States presidential election

===Contest===

[[File:1968DemocraticPresidentialPrimaries.png|thumb|400px|Statewide contest by winner: Red = Kennedy, Orange = Smathers, Yellow = Young, Green = Johnson, Blue = McCarthy, Grey = No primary
{{legend|Red|[[Robert Kennedy]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|Orange|[[George Smathers]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|Yellow|[[Stephen M. Young|Stephen Young]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|Lime|[[Lyndon Johnson]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|Blue|[[Eugene McCarthy]]|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}
{{legend|Grey|No primary|border=1px #AAAAAA solid}}]]
After Johnson's withdrawal, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy. Kennedy was successful in four state primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California), and McCarthy won six (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, and Illinois). However, in primaries where they campaigned directly against one another, Kennedy won four primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California), and McCarthy won only one (Oregon).<ref>{{cite book |last= Cook |first= Rhodes |title=United States Presidential Primary Elections 1968–1996: A Handbook of Election Statistics |publisher=CQ Press |year=2000 |location= Washington, D. C. |pages=12–13 |isbn= 978-1-56802-451-6}}</ref> Humphrey did not compete in the primaries, leaving that job to [[favorite son]]s who were his surrogates, notably [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[George A. Smathers]] from [[Florida]], [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Stephen M. Young]] from [[Ohio]], and [[Governor of Indiana|Governor]] [[Roger D. Branigin]] of [[Indiana]]. Instead, Humphrey concentrated on winning the delegates in non-primary states, where party leaders such as [[Mayor of Chicago|Chicago Mayor]] [[Richard J. Daley]] controlled the delegate votes in their states. Kennedy defeated Branigin and McCarthy in the Indiana primary on May 7, and then defeated McCarthy in the Nebraska primary on May 14. However, McCarthy upset Kennedy in the Oregon primary on May 28.

After Kennedy's defeat in Oregon, the California primary was seen as crucial to both Kennedy and McCarthy. 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 [[ghetto]]s and [[barrio]]s of the state's larger cities, where he was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters. Kennedy and McCarthy engaged in a television debate a few days before the primary; it was generally considered a draw. On June 4, Kennedy narrowly defeated McCarthy in California, 46%–42%. However, McCarthy refused to withdraw from the race, and made it clear that he would contest Kennedy in the upcoming New York primary on June 18, where McCarthy had much support from anti-war activists. After giving his victory speech at the [[Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel]] in Los Angeles, [[Robert F. Kennedy assassination|Kennedy was assassinated]] in the kitchen service pantry in the early morning of June 5. [[Sirhan Sirhan]], a 24-year-old [[Palestinians in Jordan|Palestinian-born Jordanian]], was arrested. Kennedy died 26 hours later at [[Good Samaritan Hospital (Los Angeles)|Good Samaritan Hospital]]. Sirhan admitted his guilt, was convicted of murder, and is still in prison.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Abbe A. Debolt|author2=James S. Baugess|title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4WFjKG6vmUC&pg=PA607|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=607|isbn=978-1-4408-0102-0}}</ref> In recent years some have cast doubt on Sirhan's guilt, including Sirhan himself, who said he was "brainwashed" into killing Kennedy and was a [[patsy]].<ref>{{cite web |date=November 27, 2011 |title=Sirhan Sirhan Seeks Release Or New Trial – TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime |url=http://www.talkleft.com/story/2011/11/27/0264/0835 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |publisher=TalkLeft}}<br />{{cite web |date=August 2, 2015 |title=Top stories from Canada and around the world &#124;MSN Headlines |url=http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/msnbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=27840480 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502033712/http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/msnbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=27840480 |archive-date=May 2, 2014 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |publisher=News.ca.msn.com}}<br />{{cite web |last=Greenhill |first=Abby |date=November 28, 2011 |title=Sirhan Sirhan Says He Didn't Kill Bobby Kennedy in 1968 – Gather.com : Gather.com |url=http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980828676 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |publisher=News.gather.com}}<br />[http://www.phillyimc.org/en/sirhan-sirhan-his-own-words] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502022206/http://www.phillyimc.org/en/sirhan-sirhan-his-own-words|date=May 2, 2014}}</ref>
[[File:SWPC-RFK-C004-003.jpg|thumb|200px|Kennedy campaigning in Los Angeles (photo courtesy of ''John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum'', Boston)]]

Political historians still debate whether Kennedy could have won the Democratic nomination, had he lived. Some historians, such as [[Theodore H. White]] and [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]], have argued that Kennedy's broad appeal and famed charisma would have convinced the party bosses at the Democratic Convention to give him the nomination.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schlesinger Jr. |first1=Arthur M. |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |date=1978 |page=xvi}}</ref> Jack Newfield, author of ''RFK: A Memoir'', stated in a 1998 interview that on the night he was assassinated, "[Kennedy] had a phone conversation with Mayor Daley of Chicago, and Mayor Daley all but promised to throw the Illinois delegates to Bobby at the convention in August 1968. I think he said to me, and [[Pete Hamill]]: 'Daley is the ball game, and I think we have Daley.{{'"}}<ref>Jack Newfield, interview with Terry Gross, ''[[Fresh Air]] from WHYY'', National Public Radio, WHYY, Philadelphia, June 4, 1998. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91151292 Excerpt] rebroadcast on June 4, 2008.</ref> However, other writers such as [[Tom Wicker]], who covered the Kennedy campaign for ''[[The New York Times]]'', believe that Humphrey's large lead in delegate votes from non-primary states, combined with Senator McCarthy's refusal to quit the race, would have prevented Kennedy from ever winning a majority at the Democratic Convention, and that Humphrey would have been the Democratic nominee, even if Kennedy had lived.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wicker |first1=Tom |title=In The Nation; Go Slow, Mike Mansfield |agency=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1968}}</ref> The journalist [[Richard Reeves (American writer)|Richard Reeves]] and historian [[Michael Beschloss]] have both written that Humphrey was the likely nominee,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael |title=Opinion: Let's Have Conventions With Cliffhangers |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/11/opinion/let-s-have-conventions-with-cliffhangers.html |agency=The New York Times |date=August 11, 1996}}</ref> and future Democratic National Committee chairman [[Larry O'Brien]] wrote in his memoirs that Kennedy's chances of winning the nomination had been slim, even after his win in California.<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Lawrence F. |title=No Final Victories: A Life in Politics - from John F. Kennedy to Watergate |date=1974 |publisher=Doubleday}}</ref>

At the moment of RFK's death, the delegate totals were:
* Hubert Humphrey – 561
* Robert F. Kennedy – 393
* Eugene McCarthy – 258

Total popular vote:<ref>{{Cite book |title=Guide to U.S. Elections |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-60426-536-1 |editor-last=Kalb |editor-first=Deborah |location=Washington, DC |pages=411}}</ref>
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break|width=50%}}
* [[Eugene McCarthy]]: 2,914,933 (38.7%)
* [[Robert F. Kennedy]]: 2,304,542 (30.6%)
* [[Stephen M. Young]]: 549,140 (7.3%)
* [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]: 383,048 (5.1%)
* [[Roger D. Branigin]]: 238,700 (3.2%)
* [[George Smathers]]: 236,242 (3.1%)
* [[Hubert Humphrey]]: 166,463 (2.2%)
{{col-break}}
* Unpledged: 670,328 (8.9%)
* [[George Wallace]]: 33,520 (0.4%)
* [[Richard Nixon]] (write-in): 13,035 (0.2%)
* [[Nelson A. Rockefeller]]: 5,116 (0.1%)
* [[Ronald Reagan]] (write-in): 4,987 (0.1%)
* [[Ted Kennedy]]: 4,052 (0.1%)
* Others: 10,963 (0.1%){{col-end}}