1968 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection
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.[1] 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.[1] 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).[2] 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.
Despite being his running mate in 1960, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. was not considered as a potential running mate for Nixon in 1968.
Potential running mates[]
Finalists[]
- Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew
- Massachusetts Governor John Volpe[2]
- California Lieutenant Governor Robert Finch[1]
- Maryland Representative Rogers Morton[1]
Other candidates[]
- Tennessee Senator Howard Baker[3]
- Texas Representative George H.W. Bush[1]
- Michigan Senator Robert P. Griffin[1]
- Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield[4]
- New York Mayor John Lindsay[4]
- Illinois Senator Charles H. Percy[4]
- California Governor Ronald Reagan[1]
- New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller[1]
- Texas Senator John Tower[1]
See also[]
- 1968 Republican National Convention
- Republican Party presidential primaries, 1968
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wainstock, Dennis (18 October 2013). Election Year 1968: The Turning Point. Enigman Books. pp. 115–119. ISBN 9781936274413. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ a b Lippman, Theo (5 April 1998). "How the 1968 riots made Agnew's career". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ Sigelman, Lee; Wahlbeck, Paul (December 1997). "The "Veepstakes": Strategic Choice in Presidential Running Mate Selection". The American Political Science Review. 91 (4): 858. doi:10.2307/2952169. JSTOR 2952169.
- ^ a b c Kramer, Joel (9 August 1968). "Vice-President Choice Almost Splits GOP". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- Vice presidency of the United States
- Richard Nixon 1968 presidential campaign
- George H. W. Bush
- Ronald Reagan
- Nelson A. Rockefeller