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The 1972 United States presidential election was the 47th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon defeated Democratic U.S. senator George McGovern in a landslide victory. With 60.7% of the popular vote, Richard Nixon won the largest share of the popular vote for the ...
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- Richard Nixon
- Spiro Agnew
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- The Democratic campaign
United States presidential election of 1972, American presidential election held on November 7, 1972, in which Republican Pres. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, defeating Democrat George McGovern in one of the largest landslides in U.S. history.
In January 1971 McGovern announced his candidacy for the 1972 presidential election. Initially, most political observers assumed that the party’s nominee would be Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. But McGovern’s team hoped to mount a serious challenge in New Hampshire, which on March 7, 1972, would hold the first primary. A victory there, they hoped, would provide the momentum necessary to capture the nomination.
Early on, Muskie lined up leading Democratic politicians to endorse him, including Gov. John Gilligan of Ohio; Leonard Woodcock, president of the United Auto Workers; Iowa Sen. Harold Hughes; and Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp. Muskie ran an exhausting campaign that stretched his energies and resources thin. Through January and February 1972, he shuttled between New Hampshire, Florida, Wisconsin and all the other necessary stops. On February 26, in New Hampshire, the pressure began to tell. Mounting the bed of a truck parked outside the offices of the conservative Manchester Union Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, Muskie launched an attack on the paper’s publisher, William Loeb. As he spoke of Loeb’s unflattering remarks about Mrs. Muskie, the senator’s voice cracked, and the crowd saw tears form in his eyes. The spectacle badly dented the image Muskie had tried all year to present—that of a calm, trustworthy, serene candidate. When New Hampshire voted on March 7, Muskie won the hollowest of victories, 46 percent of the vote, far below the predicted 65 percent. McGovern, reaping the benefit of his early start and vigorous organization, was close behind with 37 percent.
In Florida the Democratic battle turned over the issue of busing. In January 1972 a U.S. District Court judge merged school districts in Richmond, Va., and ordered that students be bused to achieve racial balance. Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, an opponent of federally ordered integration, entered the Florida primary and focused squarely on the issue. Florida Gov. Reubin Askew campaigned statewide against having an antibusing referendum placed on the presidential primary ballot by the Florida legislature. Lacking the votes in the legislature to keep the antibusing question off the ballot, Askew managed to have another question added: “Do you favor providing an equal opportunity for quality education for all children regardless of race, creed, color or place of residence, and oppose a return to a dual system of public schools?”
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Askew’s campaign focused the rage of many of his constituents on him, and the Democratic presidential candidates, of which there were 11, found themselves discussing busing much more often than they might otherwise have wished. Mayor John Lindsay of New York City, Rep. Shirley Chisholm of New York, former senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, and Senator McGovern, all liberal candidates, spoke in favour of busing when asked. Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana, Rep. Wilbur D. Mills of Arkansas, and Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles, although on the ballot, were not campaigning actively. Senator Muskie and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota bobbed and weaved on the issue. Only Wallace and Sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington spoke out squarely against busing.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
1972 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Nixon, blue denotes states won by McGovern. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate. The 1972 United States elections were held on November 7, and elected the members of the 93rd United States Congress.
Dec 16, 2019 · President Richard M. Nixon [R] Main Opponent George S. McGovern [D] Electoral Vote Winner: 520 Main Opponent: 17 Total/Majority: 538/270 Votes for Others John Hospers (1) Vice President Spiro T. Agnew (520) V.P. Opponents R. Sargent Shriver (17), Theodora Nathan (1) Notes Spiro T. Agnew resigned as Vice President October 10, 1973.
StateElectoral Vote Of Each StateFor President ...(richard M. Nixon, Of New York)For Vice-president ...(spiro T. Agnew, Of Maryland)Alabama999Alaska333Arizona666Arkansas666Nixon captured more than 60 percent of the national vote to 37.5 percent for McGovern. And only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., kept McGovern from a total wipeout in the electoral college, which Nixon won 520–17. For the results of the previous election, see United States presidential election of 1968.
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972.
U.S. presidential election results. year. candidate. political party. electoral votes 1. popular votes 2. popular percentage 3. 1 In elections from 1789 to 1804, each elector voted for two individuals without indicating which was to be president and which was to be vice president.
