1968 United States presidential election

===Campaign themes===
Nixon campaigned on a theme to restore "[[Law and order (politics)|law and order]]",<ref name="hnn greenberg">{{cite news |title= Civil Rights: Let 'Em Wiretap!|last= Greenberg|first= David|author-link= David Greenberg (historian)|date=October 22, 2001|publisher= History News Network|url= http://hnn.us/articles/366.html}}</ref> which appealed to many voters angry with the hundreds of violent riots that had taken place across the country in the previous few years. Following the murder of [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King]] in April 1968, there was [[King-assassination riots|massive rioting in inner city areas]]. The police were overwhelmed and President Johnson decided to call out the U.S. Army. Nixon also opposed [[Desegregation busing|forced busing to desegregate schools]].<ref name="'70s 265">{{cite book|title= How We Got Here: The '70s|last= Frum|first= David|author-link= David Frum|year= 2000|publisher= Basic Books|location= New York, New York|isbn= 978-0-465-04195-4|page= [https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/265 265]|url= https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/265}}</ref> Proclaiming himself a supporter of civil rights, he recommended education as the solution rather than militancy. During the campaign, Nixon proposed government tax incentives to African Americans for small businesses and home improvements in their existing neighborhoods.<ref>Conrad Black, (2007), p. 525.</ref>

During the campaign, Nixon also used as a theme his opposition to the decisions of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], pledging to "remake the Supreme Court."<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Hindley| first=Meredith| title=Supremely Contentious: The Transformation of "Advice and Consent"| magazine=Humanities| publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities| date=October 2009| volume=30| issue=5| url=https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/septemberoctober/feature/supremely-contentious| access-date=February 22, 2022}}</ref> Many conservatives were critical of Chief Justice Warren for using the Supreme Court to promote liberal policies in the fields of [[civil rights]], [[civil liberties]], and the [[separation of church and state]]. Nixon promised that if he were elected president, he would appoint justices who would take a less-active role in creating social policy.<ref name="abe fortas">{{cite book| title = Abe Fortas | author = Laura Kalman| publisher = [[Yale University Press]]| year = 1990 | url = https://archive.org/details/abefortasbiograp00kalm | url-access = registration | access-date = October 20, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-300-04669-4 }}</ref> In another campaign promise, he pledged to end the [[Conscription in the United States|draft]].<ref name="evans">{{cite web | url=http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/VolArm.html | title=The All-Volunteer Army After Twenty Years: Recruiting in the Modern Era | author=Thomas W. Evans | publisher=[[Sam Houston State University]] | date=Summer 1993 | access-date=December 31, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808222147/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/VolArm.html | archive-date=August 8, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> During the 1960s, Nixon had been impressed by a paper he had read by Professor [[Martin Anderson (economist)|Martin Anderson]] of [[Columbia University]]. Anderson had argued in the paper for an end to the draft and the creation of an all-volunteer army.<ref name="aitken">{{cite book | last=Aitken | first=Jonathan | title=Nixon: A Life | publisher=[[Regnery Publishing]] | year=1996 | isbn=978-0-89526-720-7}} pp. 396–397.</ref> Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the [[Opposition to the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam war movement]], since he believed affluent college-age youths would stop protesting the war once their own possibility of having to fight in it was gone.<ref>{{cite book | last=Ambrose | first=Stephen | author-link=Stephen Ambrose | title=Nixon, Volume Two: The Triumph of a Politician 1962–1972 | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=1989}} pp. 264–266.</ref>

Humphrey, meanwhile, promised to continue and expand the [[Great Society]] welfare programs started by President Johnson, and to continue the Johnson Administration's "[[War on poverty|War on Poverty]]". He also promised to continue the efforts of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the Supreme Court, in promoting the expansion of civil rights and civil liberties for minority groups. However, Humphrey also felt constrained for most of his campaign in voicing any opposition to the Vietnam War policies of President Johnson, due to his fear that Johnson would reject any peace proposals he made and undermine his campaign. As a result, early in his campaign Humphrey often found himself the target of anti-war protestors, some of whom heckled and disrupted his campaign rallies.