Katana VentraIP

Eugene McCarthy 1968 presidential campaign

The 1968 presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy was launched by United States Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota in the latter part of 1967 to vie for the 1968 Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States. The focus of his campaign was his support for a swift end to the Vietnam War through a withdrawal of American forces. The campaign appealed to youths who were tired of the establishment and dissatisfied with government.

Eugene McCarthy 1968 presidential campaign

Eugene McCarthy
U.S. senator (1959–1971)

Announced: November 30, 1967
Lost nomination: August 29, 1968

Get Clean for Gene

Early on, McCarthy was vocal in his intent to unseat the incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson. Following McCarthy's 42% showing in New Hampshire, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) entered the race. Kennedy's entrance forced President Johnson to withdraw. After Johnson's withdrawal, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey entered the contest but avoided the primaries.


Kennedy fought it out with McCarthy in the primaries, as Humphrey used favorite son stand-ins to help him win delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy was assassinated, leaving Humphrey as McCarthy's main challenger. However, Humphrey's organization was too strong for McCarthy to overcome, and his anti-war campaign was split after the late entrance of Senator George McGovern of South Dakota just ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Despite winning the popular vote, McCarthy lost to Humphrey at the convention amidst protests and riots.

Aftermath[edit]

McCarthy's refusal to endorse Humphrey wavered somewhat by October, as the former candidate laid out conditions for the Democratic nominee. These included a shift in his stance on the Vietnam War, a change of the military draft, and a reform of the Democratic machine politics. Humphrey discussed the demands with McCarthy via telephone, and responded that he was "not prone to start meeting conditions",[66] but that he is stating his "own case"[66] as a candidate.[66] At the end of October, McCarthy announced that he would vote for Humphrey, but would go no further than that.[67] Nixon eventually won the election, and McCarthy received 20,721 write-in votes in California.[68] and 2,751 in Arizona, where he was listed as the nominee of the anti-war New Party.[69]


McCarthy also ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972, but soon dropped out.[70] He mounted an independent campaign in 1976 and received over 700,000 votes. He went against his party in 1980 when he gave his public support to Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter.[71] McCarthy tried twice again for the Democratic nomination in 1988 and 1992.[70] He died on December 10, 2005, at the age of 89.[71]

McCarthy for President Campaign, Northern California Headquarters. . oac.cdlib.org. Online Archive of California. Retrieved 15 September 2023.

"Inventory of the McCarthy Presidential Campaign Collection"