1968 Nixon VS. Humphrey VS. Wallace

"Frank Sinatra"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Frank Sinatra," Humphrey, 1968

SINATRA: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Frank Sinatra. I'd like to tell you about a man. He's a man who promised to stop the bombing in Vietnam as an acceptable risk for peace. He's a man who promised that he would bring peace and order to our streets. He's a man who said every American child has a right to a full education.

The man I'm talking about is Hubert Humphrey. But before Mr. Humphrey can carry out his plans for our country, he must be elected president. And for that to happen he needs your help. He needs money.

[TEXT: Humphrey Campaign, P.O. Box 1969, Washington, D.C.]

SINATRA: Right now on your screen is an address for which contributions to the Humphrey campaign should be sent. Send in your contributions, large or small, but as soon as possible. Help Hubert Humphrey help America by helping him. Thank you.

MALE NARRATOR [and TEXT]: HUMPHREY-MUSKIE, TWO YOU CAN TRUST.

Credits

"Frank Sinatra," Citizens for Humphrey-Muskie, 1968

Video courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1968/frank-sinatra (accessed May 18, 2025).

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1968 Nixon Humphrey Wallace Results

By 1968, one of the most turbulent years in American history, the number of American troops in Vietnam had risen from 16,000 (in 1963) to more than 500,000. Nightly TV coverage of the "living-room war" ignited an antiwar movement. After a weak showing in the New Hampshire primary, President Johnson shocked the country on March 31 by announcing that he would not seek reelection. Just four days later, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, sparking riots in more than 100 cities. In June, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after winning the California primary. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who entered the race late and had not won any primaries, became the Democratic nominee at a tumultuous convention in Chicago marred by disorder inside the convention hall and by the televised spectacle of violent confrontations between police and antiwar protesters.

The Republicans nominated Richard M. Nixon, who was attempting a political comeback after losing the 1960 presidential election and the 1962 California gubernatorial race. Nixon claimed to speak for the "silent majority" of law-abiding citizens whose voices were presumably drowned out amidst the social upheaval, and he promised a return to the stability of the Eisenhower years.

Discontent with major-party candidates led to an independent run by Alabama Governor George Wallace, who waged the most successful third-party candidacy since 1924.

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