Editing Eugene McCarthy (section)

==1968 presidential campaign==
{{main|Eugene McCarthy 1968 presidential campaign}}
[[File:Eugene McCarthy 1968 (1).png|thumb|Campaign poster]]

===McCarthy challenges Johnson===
In 1968, [[Allard K. Lowenstein]] and his anti-[[Vietnam War]] [[Dump Johnson movement]] recruited McCarthy to run against incumbent President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. Reportedly, Lowenstein first attempted to recruit Senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]], who declined to run, then Senator [[George McGovern]], who also declined (Kennedy eventually decided to run after the primary on March 16, 1968,<ref>{{cite web|title=Remembering Eugene McCarthy|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5049072|website=NPR|access-date=September 2, 2016}}</ref> and McGovern also later briefly entered the race). McCarthy entered and almost defeated Johnson in the [[New Hampshire primary|New Hampshire Democratic primary]], with the intention of influencing the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]]—then controlled by [[United States Democratic Party|Democrats]]—to curtail its involvement in the [[Vietnam War]]. A number of antiwar college students and other activists from around the country traveled to [[New Hampshire]] to support McCarthy's campaign. Some antiwar students who had the long-haired, [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] appearance of [[hippy|hippies]] chose to cut their long hair and shave off their beards in order to campaign for McCarthy door-to-door, a phenomenon that led to the informal slogan "Get clean for Gene".<ref>Get Clean For Gene: Eugene McCarthy's 1968 Presidential Campaign - George Rising</ref>

McCarthy's decision to run arose partly as an outcome of Oregon Senator [[Wayne Morse]]'s opposition to the war. Morse was one of two senators to vote against the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] of August 1964. He gave speeches denouncing the war before it had entered most Americans' awareness. Thereafter, several politically active Oregon Democrats asked Kennedy to run as an antiwar candidate. McCarthy also encouraged Kennedy to run.<ref name=kennedymccarthy>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMqSzTPXl7QC&q=eugene+mccarthy+robert+kennedy+whose+candidacy+mccarthy+encourage&pg=PA188 |title = Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism|isbn = 9780307425775|last1 = Sandbrook|first1 = Dominic|date = December 18, 2007| publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing }}</ref> After Kennedy refused, the group asked McCarthy to run, and he responded favorably. After Kennedy entered the race and Johnson withdrew, however, McCarthy shifted his focus toward Kennedy.<ref name=kennedymccarthy />

McCarthy declared his candidacy on November 30, 1967, saying, "I am concerned that the Administration seems to have set no limit to the price it is willing to pay for a military victory." Political experts and the news media dismissed his candidacy, and he was given little chance of making any impact against Johnson in the primaries.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Marlow|first1=James|title=McCarthy Is Unlikely to Alter LBJ Policy|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lesrAAAAIBAJ&pg=3484%2C5130197|access-date=June 14, 2015|work=[[Kentucky New Era]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=December 1, 1967|location=Hopkinsville, Kentucky|page=4 |quote=At this point it is not likely many people, including McCarthy, think he has a chance to get the nomination away from Johnson although, if he can generate enough heat, somebody else might. |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> But public perception of him changed following the [[Tet Offensive]] (January 30 – February 23, 1968), the aftermath of which saw many Democrats grow disillusioned with the war, and quite a few interested in an alternative to Johnson. McCarthy said, "My decision to challenge the President's position and the administration's position has been strengthened by recent announcements out of the administration. The evident intention to escalate and to intensify the war in Vietnam, and on the other hand, the absence of any positive indication or suggestion for a compromise or for a negotiated political settlement."<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1967/Elections/12303074818188-11/ |title= 1967 Year In Review| website=UPI.com}}</ref>

On December 3, 1967, McCarthy addressed the Conference of Concerned Democrats in Chicago, accusing the Johnson administration of ignoring and bungling opportunities for bringing the war to a conclusion.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dbBeAAAAIBAJ&pg=3165,380819|title=Message of fear attributed to LBJ |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |date=December 3, 1967 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> Eight days later it was reported that he had suggested abandoning some areas of South Vietnam to the [[Viet Cong]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fbBeAAAAIBAJ&pg=5864,2018412|title=McCarthy urges letting Cong have some Southern Districts |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |date=December 11, 1967 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref> On February 17, 1968, it was reported that McCarthy's campaign had raised only a quarter of the funds it had hoped to raise nationally.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j4wgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1112,5496046|work=The Lewiston Daily Sun |date=February 17, 1968 |title=Senate Ethics Committee Dragging Feed |last=Allen |first=Robert S. |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>

As his volunteers (led by youth coordinator [[Sam Brown (activist)|Sam Brown]]) went door to door in New Hampshire, and as the media began paying more serious attention to the senator, McCarthy began to rise in the polls. When he received 42% of the vote to Johnson's 49% in the March 12 New Hampshire primary (and 20 of New Hampshire's 24 delegates to the Democratic convention), it became clear that there was deep division among Democrats about the war. By this time, Johnson had become inextricably defined by [[Vietnam]], and this demonstration of divided support within his party meant his reelection (only four years after [[1964 United States presidential election|winning the highest percentage of the popular vote in modern history]]) seemed unlikely.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The folk trio [[Peter, Paul and Mary]] released a record "Eugene McCarthy For President (If You Love Your Country)", endorsing McCarthy, who they said had stood alone against Johnson over "more timid men" now echoing him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7pR0yTGOiA | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/N7pR0yTGOiA| archive-date=November 18, 2021 | url-status=live|title=1968 45-RPM Eugene McCarthy Campaign Recording: Peter, Paul, & Mary |publisher=YouTube |date=September 4, 2010 |access-date=June 15, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2025}}

=== Kennedy enters the race ===
{{More sources|section|date=February 2025}}

On March 16, [[Robert F. Kennedy]] announced that he would run; many Democrats saw Kennedy as a stronger candidate than McCarthy. On March 31, Johnson surprised the world by announcing that he would not seek reelection. After that, McCarthy won in [[Wisconsin]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://madison.com/democratic-winner-eugene-mccarthy/article_349d5b25-ad8b-5676-9415-7b96907a625e.html|title=1968 Democratic winner: Eugene McCarthy|website=madison.com|date=March 29, 2016 }}</ref> where the Kennedy campaign was still getting organized. McCarthy also won in Oregon against a well-organized Kennedy effort; it was considered his first official victory over Kennedy.<ref name=kennedymccarthy />

McCarthy styled himself as a clean politician, but criticized his opponents. Known for his wit, when asked if Michigan Governor [[George W. Romney|George Romney]]'s comment that Romney had been "brainwashed" about the [[Vietnam War]] had ended Romney's presidential hopes, McCarthy remarked, "Well... no, not really. Anyway, I think in that case a light rinse would have been sufficient."<ref name="ChesterHodgson1969">{{cite book|author1=Lewis Chester|author2=Godfrey Hodgson|author3=Bruce Page|title=An American melodrama: the presidential campaign of 1968|url=https://archive.org/details/americanmelodram00ches|url-access=registration|access-date=May 15, 2013|year=1969|publisher=Viking Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanmelodram00ches/page/101 101]|isbn=9780670119912}}<br/> as cited in: {{cite web|last=Campbell|first=W. Joseph|title=Recalling George Romney's "brainwashing" and Gene McCarthy's "light rinse" retort|url=http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/recalling-george-romneys-brainwashing-and-gene-mccarthys-light-rinse-retort|publisher=Media Myth Alert|date=September 4, 2012|access-date=May 16, 2013}}</ref> He mocked Kennedy and his supporters. A major gaffe occurred in Oregon, when McCarthy called Kennedy supporters "less intelligent" than his own and belittled Indiana (which had by then gone for Kennedy) for lacking a poet of the stature of [[Robert Lowell]]—a friend of McCarthy's who often traveled with him.<ref name=after>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2192865|title=After the Assassination: How Gene McCarthy's response to Bobby Kennedy's murder crippled the Democrats|website=Slate.com|first=David|last=Greenberg|date=June 4, 2008|access-date=January 29, 2016}}</ref> In May, Kennedy attacked McCarthy's civil rights record.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Robert S. |title=McCarthy did vote against Poll Tax repeal |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LaIgAAAAIBAJ&pg=1145%2C1421679 |work=[[Lewiston Daily Sun]] |date=May 11, 1968 |page=3 |via=Google News Archive}}</ref>

Some of those who joined McCarthy's effort early on were Kennedy loyalists. Now that Kennedy was in the race, many of them jumped ship, urging McCarthy to drop out and support Kennedy.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} McCarthy resented that Kennedy had let him do the "dirty work" of challenging Johnson and entered the race only when it became apparent that Johnson was vulnerable.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} As a result, while he initially entered the campaign with few illusions of winning, McCarthy now devoted himself to beating Kennedy (and Humphrey, who entered the race after Johnson withdrew) and gaining the nomination.<ref name=kennedymccarthy />

Humphrey, long a champion of labor unions and of [[civil rights]], entered the race with the support of the party "establishment", including most members of Congress, mayors, governors and labor union leaders.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} He entered too late to compete in any primaries, but had the support of Johnson and many Democratic insiders.{{who|date=June 2014}}

Kennedy, like his brother John in 1960, planned to win the nomination through popular support in the primaries. McCarthy and Kennedy squared off in California, knowing that the result there would be decisive. They both campaigned vigorously up and down the state, with many polls showing them neck-and-neck, and a few predicting a McCarthy victory.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

A televised debate between them began to tilt undecided voters away from McCarthy. He made two statements many found ill-considered: that he would accept a government including Communists in South Vietnam, and that only the relocation of inner-city blacks would solve the urban problem. Kennedy pounced, portraying the former idea as soft on communism and the latter as a scheme to bus tens of thousands of ghetto residents into white, conservative [[Orange County, California|Orange County]].<ref name=after/> Kennedy won the California primary on June 4, but was [[Robert F. Kennedy assassination|shot]] after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and died soon afterwards. In response, McCarthy refrained from political action for several days. One aide recalled McCarthy sneering about his fallen rival, saying that Kennedy was "demagoguing to the last". Another heard McCarthy say that Kennedy had "brought it on himself"—implying that he had provoked [[Sirhan Sirhan]], the Palestinian gunman convicted of killing him, by promising military support to the state of Israel.<ref name=after/>

Despite strong showings in several primaries—he won more votes than any other Democratic candidate—McCarthy garnered only 23% of the delegates at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]], largely due to the control of state-party organizations over the delegate-selection process. After Kennedy's assassination, many Kennedy delegates, remembering his bitter war of words with McCarthy, chose to support [[George McGovern]] rather than McCarthy.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Moreover, although Humphrey was not clearly an antiwar candidate, some antiwar Democrats hoped that as president he might succeed where Johnson had failed and extricate the United States from Vietnam. On June 23, 1968, [[Hubert Humphrey]] defeated McCarthy, securing significant delegates in their shared home state of Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50174297/|title=HHH Given 3-1 Edge In Convention Delegates|page=1 | newspaper=The Winona Daily News|date=June 24, 1968| via= newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TqIgAAAAIBAJ&pg=4212%2C7197516|title=Nixon, Humphrey Add Delegates, Widen Leads|page=1 | newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun|date=June 24, 1968| via= Google News Archive Search}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2011/05/two-favorite-sons-humphrey-mccarthy-battle-1968/|title=Two favorite sons: the Humphrey-McCarthy battle of 1968 | newspaper=MinnPost|first=Iric|last=Nathanson|date=May 25, 2011|access-date=March 29, 2020 }}</ref> Before election day, McCarthy confirmed that he would personally vote for Humphrey, but said that he would go no further than that, stopping short of endorsing him.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Although McCarthy did not win the Democratic nomination, the antiwar "New Party", which ran several candidates for president that year, listed him as its nominee on the ballot in [[Arizona]], where he received 2,751 votes, and in Vermont, gaining 579 votes. He also appeared on the Oregon ballot as the New Party choice. He received 20,721 votes as a [[write-in candidate]] in California.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

Despite McCarthy's anti-Vietnam War stance, North Vietnam's Communist government had a cynical attitude toward him, largely because the lack of money in his campaign made it highly skeptical of what he could achieve, describing McCarthy as "a second-rate politician with little experience or money" in its analysis of the presidential election published in their Army Newspaper dated August 10, 1968.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170119035742/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005976301.pdf The President's Daily Brief] August 13, 1968. Retrieved March 29, 2020.</ref>