im not really sure how to start this but welcome to the first post of my blog!!! but ok so, like, some context i guess: lyndon johnson was president, inflation was beginning to ramp up, and the vietnam war was raging. by january, discontent was growing but it wasnt really mainstream, so johnson tries to run for president. on the other hand theres the friendly old grampa hank sorensen who HATES the vietnam war. he enters the race in november of 1967 and like no one thinks hes got a chance, but the percieved failure of the tet offensive in vietnam makes a whole lot of people think he might be right. so here comes the first primary, new hampshire and sorensen blows everyone away by almost beating the PRESIDENT in the new hampshire primary. suddenly, johnson doesnt seem invincible anymore and a bunch of folks enter the race. despite folks calling for him to drop out though, johnson sticks with it, mostly out of petty hatred for sorensen i think. anyway so yeah, theres a bunch more candidates who run and mostly define themselves on where they stand on vietnam. except for the hick racist guy lecrompton. most of them flop, except for the previously mentioned lecrompton (because most of the southern delegates were also hicks and racist, but like, also because of that he didnt really ever have a chance to win anyway) and war hero franklin black. so the race was on between johnson, black, and sorensen.
most of the delegates werent assigned based on primaries yet so most of the candidates would be equally as much trying to court democratic leaders to their side to gain their support in the various caucuses. johnson had the lead and advantage in this originally but what he didnt have was momentum and actual likability. sorensen was on his trail and when he destroyed the sitting president in the wisconsin primary, many party insiders started to jump ship to blacks campaign and some even to sorensen. as time went on, it seemed more and more likely that if johnson didnt drop out of the race, the convention would deadlock. so he did. hed try in a last ditch effort (and an act of spite for sorensen) to get the party apparatus around black but itd be a fail. sorensen would attract most of the newly unpledged delegates with his charm and when they did the vote, even the racists trying to stop him wouldnt be enough. sorensen would choose minor candidate nathan anderson, who in addition to being somewhat more moderate than himself, was also a punch back at the president (anderson and johnson REALLY didnt like eachother lol)
the other side of the aisle was much simpler. the thing is like, maryland governor sam parkerson was a big preacher and had celebrity status, as well as being liked by all the liberals in the party, so when he said hed run most folks just stayed out. i do say most, but the thing is, after nixon declined to run, there was a few who were emboldened enough to try to challenge parkerson. the big one was governor reagan who ran as the super conservative candidate, since parkerson was rather left wing on issues like welfare and foreign policy for a republican, and his firm support of civil rights would also be exploited on the down low. there was a third place in the middle of the big two, senator gerald landon, but he would drop out halfway through the primaries and endorse parkerson. after everything was said and done parkerson would win but reagan would win most of the western states and some of the southern ones too. parkerson would, after landon declined the spot, choose gerald ford for the position of vice president.
if u just took a look at the two tickets u might think the average american was a firm liberal who opposed the vietnam war. but like, they werent? many conservatives of both parties were pretty angry about that and what do u know, in february governor george wallace declared he would run as a third party candidate with general curtis lemay as his vp. this guy was like SUPER racist. but he was also really good at selling that to an america who had witness lbj crash and burn and were greeted with just more liberalism. while he never intended to win outright, that wasnt his goal. his real goal was to deadlock the election. all in all very contentious. but anyway thats all for now ill finish this with a part 2 for the actual main election. bye!!!!1!!11!