Eugene McCarthy and the 1968 Election

Gene McCarthy was just another senator until he chose to run for president. When he choose to ran he inherited a network of activists put together throughout 1967 ready to do anything they could to dump Johnson. As a result, his campaign would change the course of American history. McCarthy 's campaign primarily challenged Johnson on his war and the military, something that had not been done by establishment politicians at that point. A little over three months after McCarthy announced his candidacy for his party 's nomination, Johnson, the incumbent president, announced he would not seek nor accept his party 's nomination for president. McCarthy continued his anti-war candidacy against opponent Robert F. Kennedy in the primaries until Kennedy 's death after the California primary. At the Democratic convention, Eugene McCarthy did not receive his party 's nomination, which went to the Vice President Hubert Humphrey who had not run in a single primary. Despite losing the Democratic nomination at the convention, McCarthy 's candidacy had a huge effect on the 1968 election and beyond. Eugene McCarthy never stood a chance of becoming president in 1968, but at the same time the minute he announced his campaign he mortally wounded one candidate, and an eventual candidate, Johnson and Humphrey. Eugene McCarthy was not your typical presidential candidate. He was reluctant to run, campaign, even to allow people to campaign for him. When he announced his candidacy, he was angry someone had spoken to the audience before he arrives, and gave a quick uninspired announcement. The driving forces behind McCarthy 's campaign were well dressed intelligent college students who called themselves "Clean for Gene". McCarthy thought he was doing his student workers a favor by allowing them to use his name and prestige in an effort to pursue their own goals. The students still loved him even though he may not necessarily loved them back. The students were just glad to finally have a

Bibliography: Larner, Jeremy. Nobody Knows; Reflections on the McCarthy Campaign of 1968. New York: Macmillan, 1969. This book is all about one person 's views and account of the 1968 McCarthy campaign. It is a pretty easy read going in chronological order, starting off with some descriptions of McCarthy, then basically a day by day account of the campaign. I choose this as my primary source because I already knew some about this, and it was the most interesting topic I found in "Takin ' it to the streets". McCarthy had a huge impact on the 1968 election and this book explains the campaign lead by students that changed the course of history. "Report No. 31-42." Gallup Opinion Index. 1968 ed. I choose this reference as a secondary source because I wanted to know what the trends of the country in 1968 were. I did not know how people felt at that time about Johnson, McCarthy, or Vietnam, and this reference helped me with all of those and more. This is a great reference with all of polls that were conducted in 1968 organized very nicely. This will be a great deal of help for helping me write about the trends and mood of the country around 1968. Cook, Rhodes. United States Presidential Primary Elections 1968-1996. 2000 ed. p. 4,8,10,12,24 I chose this as a reference as a secondary source because I did no know the numbers for the results of the primary. I wanted for my paper to be able to know the precise results for what happened in the 1968 presidential primary. The reference showed me the results for the primary as well as a short description of what happened which was helpful, and some other interesting information.