Explanation: In the 1972 US presidential elections, the Republican Party candidate for president was Richard Nixon - at the time battling (and denying) accusations that he illegally spied on domestic political enemies. The Democratic Party candidate was George McGovern, a New Deal liberal who believed in relief for the working class and was against US involvement in the Vietnam War.
The ‘American Independent Party’, a pro-segregationist party, ran an extreme antisemite by the name of John G. Schmitz, who would later be expelled from the far-right John Birch society for… being too far-right. Y I K E S.
Nixon would go on to win the election. More evidence about his involvement in domestic spying would later come out, and he would be forced to resign.
G-good choice, America…?
The fact that the US failed to elect a man named McGovern to be their president is almost the most disappointing failing of the American electorate in history.
Nixon would go on to win the election
That’s underselling it, it was a blowout. He won every state except Massachusetts and won the popular vote by 27%.
Hmmm, so I’ve been in the smart state forever? 😉
Nah, mass. Wasn’t one of the 6 states that voted against Reagan in his first term, and was not the one state that voted against him in 88, shout out to Minnesota.
not the one state that voted against him in 88, shout out to Minnesota.
“Oh yah, ya gotta vote for the Mondale boy, he’s from Minnesoota dontcha know?”
Ok, MN.
Gotta show them commies, right?
The far right racists made Nixon’s attempts at election rigging look downright folksy by comparison, I guess.
The 60’s were a rough time for the US. A few really good things happened domestically (Civil Rights Act, creation of Medicare) but those were sandwiched in between a whole lot of other bad shit.
LBJ sacrificed the Democratic party on the alter of principal above politics – which he should have – to get the Civil Rights Act passed and then quickly squandered whatever political capital he still had on Vietnam.
Nixon’s campaign was fueled mostly by frustrations over Vietnam and racist southern Democrats who had an axe to grind over the Civil Rights Act.
Strangely enough, The Johnson administration knew, prior to 1968, that Nixon was backdooring the NVC in an attempt to stall any negotiations until after he [presumably] won the election. That becoming public probably would have ended Nixon’s campaign right then and there but for whatever reason they sat on the intel and did nothing with it.
Without even bothering to look into it yet, I am willing to bet that someone connected to Joseph McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover advised against acting on it.
Everything shitty in our country can be traced to those two jackasses. Even Trump himself.
And guy number 3 was the last third party candidate to win electoral votes, carrying 5 states in '68.
From his inaugural speech when he was elected governor of Alabama:
In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this Earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.
-George Wallace
Edit: That is not Wallace, he ran in the Democratic primary in 72
Wrong guy - John G. Schmitz ran in the same party (and the same general idea) as Wallace (American Independence Party), but was not, himself, George Wallace.
My mistake. WIkipedia has George Wallace pictured under the third party section of the 1972 election article and I just assumed that it was Wallace that ran. Apparently he ran for the Democratic primary in 72, so I don’t know why he’s pictured in the section on third parties.
Depends on who had the largest marketing and advertising budget and the overall support of corporate America, who coincidentally also control the private media and basically regulate the messaging of everyone’s political campaign.
Corporate influence over American politics pre-1980s was in the backrooms more than the airwaves. Otherwise Goldwater would’ve won in a landslide in '64.
