Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection, 1968
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.
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
- New York Mayor John Lindsay[3]
- Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield[3]
- Illinois Senator Charles H. Percy[3]
- Tennessee Senator Howard Baker[4]
- California Governor Ronald Reagan[1]
- Texas Senator John Tower[1]
- Texas Representative George H.W. Bush[1]
- Michigan Senator Robert P. Griffin[1]
- New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wainstock, Dennis (18 October 2013). Election Year 1968: The Turning Point. Enigman Books. pp. 115–119. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- 1 2 Lippman, Theo (5 April 1998). "How the 1968 riots made Agnew's career". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 Kramer, Joel (9 August 1968). "Vice-President Choice Almost Splits GOP". Harvard Crimson. 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. JSTOR 2952169.