The 1968 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 5, 1968. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other 49 states.
The 1960s had seen Alabama as the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement, highlighted by numerous bombings by the Ku Klux Klan in "Bombingham",[1] Birmingham police commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor's use of attack dogs against civil rights protesters, attacks on the Freedom Riders and Selma to Montgomery marchers, and first-term Governor George Wallace's "stand in the door" against the desegregation of the University of Alabama.[2] The state Democratic Party, which had remained closed to African-Americans two decades after Smith v. Allwright outlawed the white primary,[3] had by a five-to-one margin refused to pledge its 1964 electors to incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson,[4] and no attempt was made to challenge this Wallace-sponsored Democratic slate with one loyal to the national party.[5] Despite sponsoring the state Democratic slate, in the 1964 general election Wallace would back Republican nominee Barry Goldwater,[6] who won almost seventy percent of Alabama's ballots against the state Democratic electors, for his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
George Wallace would build a third party candidacy with his right-wing populistAmerican Independent Party during the following two years, campaigning on opposition to desegregation, race riots, and the counterculture. However, with the state Democratic Party still refusing to integrate,[3] the national party made efforts to place its own electors on the Alabama ballot in 1967.[7] As expected, Wallace won the state Democratic primary in May, and was listed as the “Democratic” candidate on the Alabama ballot.[8] National Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey was able,[9] unlike Harry S. Truman and outgoing President Johnson, to gain ballot access on a fusion of the "Alabama Independent Democrat" and National Democratic lines.[10] Among white voters, 78% supported Wallace, 16% supported Nixon, and 4% supported Humphrey.[11][12][13]
This table shows the results by congressional district in Alabama. The candidate who was the winning candidate is listed first. George Wallace won all 8 congressional districts in Alabama.[21]
District
Nixon
Humphrey
Wallace
1st
9.8%
21.4%
68.8%
2nd
10.4%
18.8%
70.8%
3rd
7.7%
18.6%
73.7%
4th
11%
16.6%
72.4%
5th
10.3%
27.9%
61.8%
6th
23.5%
28.6%
48%
7th
20.2%
8.8%
71%
8th
17.4%
12.5%
70%
Analysis
Wallace won his home state in a landslide, receiving 65.86 percent of the vote to Democrat Hubert Humphrey's 18.72 percent, a 47.13-point margin. Republican Richard Nixon, while winning the election nationally, finished a distant third in Alabama with only 13.99 percent, gaining significant support only in a few northern counties with historical Unionist sympathies and higher-income urban areas.[22] Wallace's 65.86 percent of the popular vote would make Alabama not only his best-performing state in the 1968 election, but the strongest-performing state out of any candidate, with only Humphrey's performance in Washington D.C. being stronger.[23]
Wallace won 64 of the state's 67 counties. As African-Americans in the South were slowly gaining the right to vote as a result of federal civil rights legislation passed in 1964 and 1965, Wallace's weakest region was the Black Belt, where he won most counties with narrow majorities or pluralities.[24]
↑ Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon's official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 In this county where Nixon rather than Humphrey ran second behind Wallace, margin given is Wallace vote minus Nixon vote and percentage margin Wallace percentage minus Nixon percentage.
References
↑ Bullock, Charles S.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (October 22, 2014). The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South. University of Oklahoma Press. pp.41–42. ISBN978-0806185309.
↑ Bullock, Charles S.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (October 22, 2014). The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South. University of Oklahoma Press. pp.41–42. ISBN978-0806185309..
1 2 Walton, Hanes (1972). Black Political Parties: An Historical and Political Analysis. New York Free Press. p.149.
↑ McDannald, Alexander Hopkins (1965). Yearbook of the Encyclopedia Americana (Report). p.63.
↑ Cleghorn, Reece (August 13, 1964). "Who Speaks for Mississippi". The Reporter. pp.31–33.
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