The 1968 Presidential Election Quiz

Answer: False

McCarthy, a Senator from Minnesota who ran on an anti-Vietnam war platform, did not actually win the New Hampshire primary. But his 42% vote total was so high for someone challenging an incumbent from the same party, that Johnson was perceived as the loser. After that, most analysts believed LBJ could not win the general election.

Answer: Robert Kennedy

The New Hampshire primary was in early March, Kennedy threw his hat into the ring in mid-March, and Johnson dropped out on March 31.

Answer: He announced an end to U.S. bombing of North Vietnam

His gall bladder surgery was a couple years earlier, King was assassinated 4 days later, and it was Nixon who announced a wage and price freeze during his administration.

Answer: Spiro Agnew

Agnew was Nixon's Vice Presidential candidate but did not run for President. Reagan ran a late "favorite son" campaign in the hopes of deadlocking the nomination and becoming a "power broker."

Answer: Hubert Humphrey

Humphrey was Johnson's Vice President, so with his "boss" out of the race, he joined the race in mid-April.

Answer: California

At that time, California had a "winner take all" rule for it numerous delegates to the convention. After Kennedy won, he had the most committed delegates of any Democratic candidate. He was assassinated after making his victory speech the night of the California primary.

Answer: George Romney

Romney was governor of Michigan, and after he was re-elected to that post in a landslide in 1966, many considered him the favorite to win the Republican nomination in 1968. But he ran a lackluster campaign and dropped out in March. Rockefeller dropped out shortly thereafter, but then rejoined the race. Reagan entered late as a "favorite son" candidate.

Answer: Abraham Ribicoff

This intense shouting match between Daley and Ribicoff (D-Connecticut)was captured by television cameras and exemplified the deep divisions within the Democaratic party that existed at the convention.

Answer: Edmund Muskie

Muskie, a Senator from Maine, was chosen by Humphrey.

Answer: Spiro Agnew

Agnew, governor of Maryland and a relative unknown, was chosen because of his tough law and order ideology.

Answer: Curtis LeMay

LeMay was an air force general. The rest were segregationists like Wallace; Thurmond was a senator from South Carolina, Maddox was governor of Georgia, and Faubus was governor of Arkansas in the 1950s.

Answer: 5

Wallace won Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and his home state of Alabama.

Answer: False

Nixon narrowly defeated Humphrey in California. Nixon also narrowly won California in 1960 vs. John F. Kennedy, but ironically, he lost the California governor's race in 1962 by a large margin. Had Humphrey won California, the election would have been decided by the House of Representatives because no candidate would have won a majority of the electoral votes.

Answer: Eugene McCarthy

The Democrats were badly split into the pro-Vietnam war faction led by Humphrey, and the anti-war faction led by McCarthy. McCarthy's endorsement appeared to heal those divisions; many believe had it come sooner in the campaign, Humphrey would have won.

Answer: Just over 500,000

In terms of percentage of total votes cast, this was one of the closest elections in U.S. History. Nixon received 31.8 million votes, Humphrey 31.3 million, and Wallace 9.9 million.