US Presidential Election, 1968

[© tweed]

I'd have voted for Nixon.  Humphrey would've just been a continuation of LBJ's disasterous Vietnam policies.

[A18]

Nixon. This is before I knew what a disaster he would be.

[opebo]

The Democrat, of course, though this one wasn't very good.

[jokerman]

Humphrey

[True Democrat]

This would have been an extremely hard choice.  If Kennedy had been the nominee, I would have probably voted for him, but since Humphrey was so close to LBJ, I would have voted Nixon, though either would have been acceptable.

[Frodo]

Like any sane and loyal Democrat of the time (unlike those hippies rioting in the streets), I would have voted Humphrey/Muskie. 

[© tweed]

Like any sane and loyal Democrat of the time (unlike those hippies rioting in the streets), I would have voted Humphrey/Muskie. 

Why be 'loyal' when it just leads to more Americans dying for a lost cause?

If Humphrey had won, the Vietnam death toll would have approached 100,000 instead of the 60,000 with Nixon.

[Frodo]

Like any sane and loyal Democrat of the time (unlike those hippies rioting in the streets), I would have voted Humphrey/Muskie. 

Why be 'loyal' when it just leads to more Americans dying for a lost cause?

If Humphrey had won, the Vietnam death toll would have approached 100,000 instead of the 60,000 with Nixon.

Really?  Are you sure about that, or are you just guessing what would have happened, based on popular perception?  How are you so sure that Humphrey would not have pursued policies similar to that which Nixon carried out with regard to the Vietnam War? 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Humphrey. A good man who would have increased trust in American politics and the democratic system, rather than smash it to pieces for the sake of his own paranoia. It's a tragedy that he lost, and one that America is still paying the price for IMO.

As for Vietnam... Nixon actually escalated the scale of the conflict...

[© tweed]

Really?  Are you sure about that, or are you just guessing what would have happened, based on popular perception?  How are you so sure that Humphrey would not have pursued policies similar to that which Nixon carried out with regard to the Vietnam War? 

Obviously, there's no way to be sure.  But Humphrey and LBJ were joined at the hip politically, so to speak, which leads me to believe that Humphrey's Vietnam policies would have more closely mirrored LBJ's than Nixon's.

As for Vietnam... Nixon actually escalated the scale of the conflict...

No, he didn't.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

No, he didn't.

He certainly did in the first few years of his Presidency. IIRC U.S casualities began to decrease (for several reasons) but the intensity of the war increased markedly (big increasing in bombings, that dodgy stuff in Cambodia... and so on...) The first *significant* pullout of U.S troops was in late (I forget whether it was in October or November) 1970.

[PBrunsel]

I'd vote for Wallace due to his policies on Vietnam and the Hippy Movement.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Nixon now!

[Frodo]

Really?  Are you sure about that, or are you just guessing what would have happened, based on popular perception?  How are you so sure that Humphrey would not have pursued policies similar to that which Nixon carried out with regard to the Vietnam War? 

Obviously, there's no way to be sure.  But Humphrey and LBJ were joined at the hip politically, so to speak, which leads me to believe that Humphrey's Vietnam policies would have more closely mirrored LBJ's than Nixon's.

Certainly Hubert Humphrey was under President Johnson's shadow, and Johnson did everything he could to ensure that Humphrey could win.  That does not immediately translate that Humphrey would have pursued the same policies with regard to the Vietnam War that Johnson did until 1968. 

Unlike Eugene McCarthy or Robert Kennedy, Humphrey realized he needed Johnson's support if he were to win the nomination.  At the same time, he didn't want to appear so close that people would see him as Johnson's clone, especially in light of the enormous antiwar movement that had arisen during the past several years since the marines came ashore at DaNang in 1965 -hence his call for a bombing halt that Johnson agreed to.  That was the single most important action that helped bring momentum to his campaign, and made the election of 1968 closer than it otherwise would have been. 

It is impossible to imagine that Humphrey -as Vice-President and an astute politician trying to keep President Johnson's support while winning over an increasingly influential antiwar constituency- would simply have ignored them, especially if he were to become president.  It is also worth remembering that both the Democratic and Republican parties had antiwar wings that both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey had to heed if they wanted to have a successful presidency.  I therefore fail to see how Humphrey would have been more hawkish as president than Nixon.   

[Beet]

Tweed, between Humphrey and Nixon, Nixon's constituency was more conservative, and he was the more pro-war candidate. 1968 was a very dynamic year and the Humphrey that jumped into the primaries in the spring was not the same one on election night in November.

[7,052,770]

I like Nixon, but I would've gone with Humphrey.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Humphrey.

Remember, Nixon had a "secret plan" to end the Vietnam War, which turned out to be just doing what was happening then on a larger scale and just a bigger disaster. Humphrey was more dovish, he called for a halt on bombing of North Vietnam, and had a major part of his constituenty calling for an end. Humphrey probably would've totally pulled out by 1972. Nixon just escalated the war, and then pulled out when he basically had no other choice.

[opebo]

I'd vote for Wallace due to his policies on Vietnam and the Hippy Movement.

What were his policies regarding the Hippy Movement?  Forced haircutting?  The War on Drugs? 

[PBrunsel]

I'd vote for Wallace due to his policies on Vietnam and the Hippy Movement.

What were his policies regarding the Hippy Movement?  Forced haircutting?  The War on Drugs? 

No pretty much it was, "Shut up and get a job."

[DanielX]

I'd vote for Wallace due to his policies on Vietnam and the Hippy Movement.

What were his policies regarding the Hippy Movement?  Forced haircutting?  The War on Drugs? 

No pretty much it was, "Shut up and get a job."

To opebo, a fate worse than death...

NOTA. I don't like Humphrey, Nixon, or Wallace.

Write-in Reagan/Goldwater.

[AkSaber]

Nixon

[Speed of Sound]

While no ticket was fantastic, Humphrey would have gotten my vote

[dazzleman]

As for Vietnam... Nixon actually escalated the scale of the conflict...

Not true at all.  Nixon drew down troops continually until there were none left in Vietnam.  The Cambodia incursion that people like to use as an example of his 'escalation' lasted a month, and only extended a few miles into Cambodia to an area that had been illegally attacke and occupied by the North Vietnamese for years.

I would have voted for Nixon.