1968: The Election That Changed America (American Ways Series) [Paperback]

Lewis L. Gould (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 156663010X | ISBN-13: 978-1566630108 | Publication Date: February 1, 1993

The race for the White House in 1968 was a watershed event in American politics. In this compact and evenhanded narrative analysis, Lewis L. Gould shows how the events of 1968 changed the way Americans felt about politics and their leaders; how Republicans used the skills they brought to Richard Nixon's campaign to create a generation-long ascendancy in presidential politics; how Democrats, divided and torn after 1968, emerged as only crippled challengers for the White House throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Bitterness over racial issues and the Vietnam War that marked the 1968 election continued to shape national affairs. The election, Mr. Gould observes, accelerated an erosion of confidence in American institutions that has not yet reached a conclusion. In this lucid account he considers the phenomena of Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy, the campaigns of Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace, and the extraordinary events of what McCarthy later called the "Hard Year."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Richard M. Nixon's defeat of Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 presidential election ushered in the Republicans' near-monopoly of the White House for two decades. University of Texas historian Gould's concise and engrossing analysis of this decisive election overturns conventional wisdom on many points, showing, for example, that Robert Kennedy was a less formidable national candidate than people at the time and later historians have believed. Gould maintains that the election's outcome was determined largely by the decline in Democratic loyalty during the '60s. Nixon played up "wedge issues" to draw whites with conservative views on race, crime and moral values--a technique, notes Gould, that Reagan and Bush would later exploit. Using unpublished materials at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Gould fills in the details of Nixon's attempt to thwart an "October surprise" by President Johnson on Humphrey's behalf. As LBJ pushed a peace initiative with the Vietnamese, Nixon worked through Ann Chennault (widow of WW II hero Claire Chennault) to stall South Vietnamese acceptance of a bombing halt until after Election Day. LBJ and Humphrey failed to blow the whistle on Nixon, because doing so would have revealed that they had wiretapped Chennault's phone conversations.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

As the torch has been passed to the first president of the Vietnam-baby-boomer generation, Univ. of Texas historian Gould has provided in his analysis of the 1968 presidential election an explanation for Republican successes in the race for the White House in the last 25 years. In a fluid prose that should help this book capture a wide audience, Gould examines the Democratic party dog-fight for the nomination, emphasizing Eugene McCarthy's antiwar entrance into the fray and the decision of Robert Kennedy to throw his hat into the ring. He also chronicles the "violent spring" and the antiwar movement that propelled it. While Gould details the debacle that was the Democratic Convention, his work's most lasting contribution may be the pithy chapter titled "Nixon's the One." It examines Nixon's development of his now-vaunted "Southern strategy" based mainly on the issue of the desegregation of schools. Nixon's invocations of the forgotten man also resonated well enough for Republicans to use the themes to great advantage for the next 25 years. Well written and easily accessible to large audiences.
- Frank Kessler, Missouri Western State Coll., St. Joseph
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156663010X
• ISBN-13: 978-1566630108
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,313,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Election That Changed America, November 12, 2004

By 

JMack (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: 1968: The Election That Changed America (American Ways Series) (Paperback)

The election of 1968 is one of the most significant in American history. While the 2000 and 2004 are the most controversial elections in our immediate hindsight, they pale in comparison to 1968.

Lewis Gould's argument suggests that race was the primary factor in the 1968 election. The assassination of Martin Luther King, the race riots that proceeded the assassination, as well as the civil rights movement were on the minds of voters. With the riots, some felt blacks received equal rights too soon. Others felt the rights they received were the cause of the riots and increases in crime. Yet still other voters questioned if laws that mandated such change as school desegregation was a proper solution. From differing perspectives, race was a prominent issue. Third party candidate George Wallace became the choice of those disenchanted with the civil rights movement.

Vietnam was the other "hot button" issue. With no apparent end to the war in sight, the polls showed disapproval for Lyndon Johnson. He never declared candidacy for reelection, and waited until March 31 to announce he would not run. Some sighted poor health among the reasons for this choice. Johnson's lack of action, in addition to his unwillingness to endorse Hubert Humphrey, crippled the chances of the democratic party. While the democratics were in disarray, the republicans were united behind Richard Nixon. With more funds and a united party, Nixon never had to reveal a platform for most issues. Nixon's campaign was only threatened by a potential cease-fire in Vietnam brokered by Johnson which Gould alleges Nixon lobbied to prevent the South Vietnamese from accepting.

Gould also addresses the candidacy of Robert Kennedy. Unfortunately, he will never know what would have happened had he not been assassinated. The author contends that Kennedy faced nearly insurmountable odds to gain the nomination of his party, much less defeat Nixon. Based on the confused state of the democratic party in 1968, I believe Kennedy's chances are much less clear.

The legacy of the 1968 election is more clear. It marked a clear shift from democrat dominance to a republican dominated government which is still evideant today. The strength of this book is its ability to draw out how the parties went different ways in 1968, and with few aberrations continue this trend today. It will only be when the democratic party realizes the change in voter tendencies that the legacy of 1968 will fade.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Overview of 1968 Presidential Election, January 11, 2009

By 

Joe (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1968: The Election That Changed America (American Ways Series) (Hardcover)

Lewis Gould, a history professor at the University of Texas, provides an excellent, brief (172-page), and concise overview of the pivotal 1968 U.S. Presidential Election contest.

Gould's book tells the story of the collapse of electoral support for the Democratic Party in the years immediately following Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide victory over Barry Goldwater. It also analyzes the issues that Richard Nixon and the Republicans exploited, highlighted, and/or developed, to win in 1968 and to hold onto the White House for 20 of the next 24 years. In 1968, those issues were race riots in America's big cities, divisions over the Vietnam War, and disenchantment with the costly new welfare and regulatory policies that were at the heart of Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Race-related policies like busing and affirmative action, the foreign policy fallout from Vietnam, and disenchantment with liberal tax, spending, and regulatory policies would therafter persist as major issues which favored the Republicans.

As with all history, Gould reminds his readers that none of these events were inevitable. Despite the difficult political environment in 1968, incumbent Vice-President Humphrey virtually erased Nixon's lead in the opinion polls during the final weeks of the fall campaign and lost the election by less than 1% of the popular vote. Former Alabama Governor George Wallace, running as an Independent, was a potential spoiler who threatened to win enough electoral votes to deadlock the Electoral College and throw the election into the House of Representatives for the first time since 1824. In that event, the Democratic-controlled House would most likely have chosen Humphrey--even if Nixon had won a plurality of the electoral and/or popular votes.

Ultimately, Humphrey was unable to replicate in 1968 the surprising success that Harry Truman had in 1948 of holding together enough of the old New Deal Democratic coalition to win the election. As Gould points out, George Wallace provide a temporary vehicle for those southern Democrats and moderate-to-conservative northern Democrats who were disaffected with the national Democratic Party, but not quite ready to vote Republican in 1968.

Interestingly, Gould argues that--despite his tragic assassination and the subsequent wave of Kennedy nostalgia that has fueled a variety of "what-if" scenarios--Robert Kennedy would probably not have won the Democratic nomination in 1968. Gould argues that Kennedy was not as popular within the Democratic Party as Humphrey and, even more important to party professionals and stalwarts, was not as strong a potential candidate in the fall election as Humphrey.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read, January 12, 2008

By 

Jim (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 1968: The Election That Changed America (American Ways Series) (Paperback)

This is a short book about an election that changed the course of politics in America.

The book is highly readable and takes account of the entire election of 1968. Gould writes an interesting piece on the primaries, conventions, and general election.

While the book is not incredibly in depth it is a good introduction to the election of 1968. Defenitely worth a read as it is quite concise.