Overview: The Election of 1972

In the presidential election of 1972, Richard Nixon beat the Democratic nominee, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, by a significant margin. Emphasizing a good economy and his successes in foreign affairs, such as reducing American involvement in Vietnam and establishing relations with China, Nixon's popularity was at its height. Nixon won 60.7% of the popular vote, only slightly lower than Lyndon B. Johnson had in 1964. Nixon had a larger margin of victory in the popular vote than Johnson had, however, with 23.2%– the fourth largest in presidential election history. McGovern ran an anti-war campaign, but was confined by his outsider status and limited support from his own party. McGovern won only the state of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Despite supporting Nixon over McGovern, many American voters split their tickets, returning a Democratic majority to both houses of Congress.

The Primaries

At the start of the campaign, Nixon had expected his Democratic opponent to be Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, brother of the late president, but Kennedy was removed from contention after the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. Instead, Maine Senator Edmund Muskie, Hubert Humphrey's running mate in 1968, became the front runner, with South Dakota Senator George McGovern a close second place. McGovern began campaigning as an progressive anti-war candidate nearly 2 years before the election; in the end, he succeeded in winning the nomination, bolstered by strong grassroots support, and in spite of establishment opposition. 

McGovern had led a commission to redesign the Democratic nomination system after the divisive nomination struggle and convention of 1968. The fundamental principle of the McGovern Commission—that the Democratic primaries should determine the winner of the Democratic nomination—has lasted through to the present day. However, the new rules marginalized many prominent Democrats, whose influence had been cut, and those politicians refused to support McGovern's campaign (with some even supporting Nixon instead), leaving the McGovern campaign at a significant fundraising disadvantage.

The Democratic National Convention was chaotic, with hundreds of delegates angry at McGovern for various reasons. Eventually, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri was chosen as his running mate. Eagleton accepted the nomination despite not personally knowing McGovern well and privately disagreeing with many of McGovern's policies. After the convention, it was discovered that Eagleton had undergone intensive psychiatric treatment for depression and had concealed this information from McGovern. McGovern had initially claimed that he would back Eagleton "1000 percent," only to ask Eagleton to withdraw three days later. This perceived lack of conviction in sticking with his running mate was disastrous for the McGovern campaign. After a week in which six prominent Democrats refused the vice presidential nomination, Sargent Shriver (brother-in-law to John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy, former Ambassador to France, and former Director of the Peace Corps) finally accepted. He was officially nominated by a special session of the Democratic National Committee. By this time, McGovern's poll ratings had plunged from 41 to 24 percent.

The Campaign

In the general election campaign, McGovern called for the immediate exit of the Vietnam War. He also proposed liberal domestic policies, including guaranteed minimum incomes for the nation's poor. His campaign was undermined by his restructuring of the primary process, the perception that his foreign policy was too extreme, and his disloyalty to Eagleton. With McGovern's campaign weakened by these factors, the Republicans successfully portrayed him as a radical left-wing extremist, and McGovern suffered a landslide defeat to Nixon of 61%–38% .

Nixon's campaign included an aggressive policy of keeping tabs on perceived enemies. His aides also committed the Watergate burglary to steal Democratic Party information during the campaign, a move that would prove to be Nixon's political downfall. Nevertheless, Nixon's campaign boasted of détente with the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, both popular with most Americans. Nixon’s strategy was to appeal to working- and middle-class suburbanites.

The election was held on November 7, 1972. This election had the lowest voter turnout for a presidential election since 1948, with only 55% of the electorate voting. It was also the first election since 1808 in which New York did not have the largest number of electors in the Electoral College.

Nixon's Reelection Campaign

On the 1968 campaign trail, Richard Nixon flashes his famous “V for Victory” gesture (a). Nixon’s strategy was to appeal to working- and middle-class suburbanites. This image of him in the White House bowling alley seems calculated to appeal to his core constituency (b).