1968 Primaries (The Hearse at Monticello)

Eight years after his failed run for vice president in 1956 and four years after his equally unsuccessful attempt to win the American Party's nomination in 1960, Barry Goldwater would manage to win a narrow victory in the 1964 Presidential race, defeating Chief Justice A. Phillip Randolph by one of the smallest margins in American history. A fiercely conservative politician who had opposed Joe McCarthy's reign of terror in 1954 and gone on to become the most prominent right winger in the nation, Goldwater's rise to power was heralded by ecstatic cheering on the right and dreadful moans on the left, foreshadowing one of the most controversial presidencies Americans had ever seen.

Though he had been elected on promises to drastically roll back the welfare state, Goldwater found doing so extremely difficult, if not outright impossible. Not only was Congress controlled by the Populists, who vowed to fight the president's domestic policy with tooth and nail; a number of American Party Congressmen stood opposed to Goldwater as well, fearful that his proposals would both decimate the national economy and make their own reelection impossible. Instead, Congress voted overwhelmingly to continue most government programs (including the National Healthcare Service), then overrode the president's veto, setting the stage for a battle that would pit Goldwater against his party's liberal wing.

On the international stage, Goldwater's attentions were largely absorbed by the worsening situation in Cuba, whose Communist dictator had grown more and more hostile towards the United States during Estes Kefauver's second term. When the C.I.A. reported that the Cubans were in the process of obtaining nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union (reports whose accuracy would be repeatedly questioned by dovish Populists), Goldwater asked for and received a Declaration of War against the Republic of Cuba in March 1966. The ground invasion of Cuba, launched in July of that year, has yielded mixed results, though in terms of foreign policy it has been an outright failure, bringing relations with the Soviets to the point where the drop of a pen could start a nuclear war.

Goldwater's actions in Cuba have been criticized by the liberal wing of the American Party, and it is unsurprising that this faction has fielded a challenger in the 1968 primaries. The man in question is Senator Robert F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who succeeded his brother, two-time candidate for president John F. Kennedy, in the Senate in 1962. Though significantly to the left of the average American Party voter, Kennedy has gained much support from liberals and moderates within the party who have been alienated by Goldwater's policies, and speculation is that he stands a good chance of unseating the president.

The Populists, meanwhile, look towards the general election with a mixture of confidence and apprehension, knowing that Goldwater's actions in Cuba have hurt his popularity but unsure of how to oppose him without exposing themselves to charges of being "soft on Communism". The front-runner for the nomination is former Secretary of State Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, who has trumpeted his foreign policy experience as proof of his ability to preserve the peace and win the Cold War. Opposing Humphrey are fellow Minnesotan Senator Eugene McCarthy, Governor George McGovern of South Dakota, and Senator George Wallace of Alabama. Of the candidates, Wallace is the lone Populist in favor of continuing the war in Cuba, though Humphrey has avoided saying whether he favors an immediate withdraw of all troops.

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