Episode 43: UPHEAVAL (Part 3) 1968 The Conventions to the Bombing Halt

The assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy shocks the world and causes the Democratic Party to descend into chaos. This episode opens with messages from Senator Eugene McCarthy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the rivals of Robert Kennedy for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Kennedy had just won the California Primary and seemed headed for a victory at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Instead, Robert Kennedy would be buried not far from his brother at Arlington National Cemetery. He was only 42 years old. 

The Republican Nomination Process was itself not without some drama, though Former Vice President Richard Nixon seemed to be firmly in the lead. As the Republican Party met for its convention in Miami there would be some last minute attempts to thwart Nixon's ascendency to the nomination from Governor Ronald Reagan, but after some last minute meetings, Senator Strom Thurmond would help Nixon hold the south and he would win the nomination of his party for a second time for President. 

The Democratic National Convention  could be summed up in a single word in 1968, DISASTER. Vice President Hubert Humphrey would win the nomination, but it appeared almost worthless after the Democrats tore themselves apart on live television and broke out in riots in the streets of Chicago. One U.S. Senator even accused Chicago's powerful Mayor Richard J. Daley of instituting Gestapo tactics in the streets. Humphrey did not even take the stage until late the night he was nominated. It just could not have been worse if you had tried.

A few days later Richard Nixon would have a rally in the same town to a heroes welcome. It would kick off the 1968 campaign and Nixon started out with an almost insurmountable lead. However, Hubert Humphrey would break with President Lyndon Johnson on his policy in Vietnam and he would campaign as hard as any nominee in American History.  Slowly but surely, Hubert Humphrey, who from all accounts was an enormously nice and friendly man, would start closing the gap between himself and his Republican rival. By the eve of the 1968 Presidential Election the race would be to close to call, and in that final stretch a final trump card would be played by the sitting President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. He would claim that peace was insight and call a halt to all bombing in Vietnam. 

This would lead to one of the most controversial accusations in all of American History about whether a candidate for President was actually involved in an act of treason to undermine peace talks in Paris. While there is proof that one woman was trying to influence South Vietnam, we will examine whether any evidence actually exists at all on whether Richard Nixon was complicit in her efforts or, if in fact, it is really Richard Nixon who has been the victim of one of histories great injustices. 

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