richard nixon ran as a third party candidate in the 1968 election.
richard nixon ran as a third party candidate in the 1968 election.
who ran as a third party candidate in the 1968 election?
richard nixon
this article lists those who were potential candidates for the republican nomination for vice president of the united states in the 1968 election. after winning the republican presidential nomination at the 1968 republican national convention, former vice president richard nixon convened a series of meetings with close advisers and party leaders such as strom thurmond in order to choose his running mate. nixon ultimately asked the convention to nominate maryland governor spiro agnew as his running mate. by a large margin, agnew won the vice presidential nomination on the first ballot over michigan governor george w. romney, who was supported by a faction of liberal republicans. nixon chose agnew because he wanted a centrist who was broadly acceptable to the party, had experience with domestic issues, and appealed to southern voters (to counter the third party candidacy of former alabama governor george wallace). the nixon-agnew ticket defeated the humphrey-muskie ticket, and also won re-election in 1972, defeating the mcgovern-shriver ticket. however, agnew was forced to resign as vice president in 1973 due to a controversy regarding his personal taxes.
1968 republican party vice presidential candidate selection
a third party candidate will sometimes strike a chord with a section of voters in a particular election, bringing an issue to national prominence and amount a significant proportion of the popular vote. major parties often respond to this by adopting this issue in a subsequent election. after 1968, under president nixon the republican party adopted a "southern strategy" to win the support of conservative democrats opposed to the civil rights movement and resulting legislation and to combat third parties with southern agendas. this can be seen as a response to the popularity of segregationist candidate george wallace who gained 13.5% of the popular vote in the 1968 election for the american independent party.
third party (united states)