George Wallace presidential campaign, 1968
| George Wallace for President 1968 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Campaign | U.S. presidential election, 1968 |
| Candidate |
George Wallace Governor of Alabama (1963–1967) Gen. Curtis LeMay Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force (1961-1965) |
| Affiliation | American Independent Party |
| Status | Lost election November 5, 1968 |
| Headquarters | Montgomery, Alabama |
| Slogan | Stand Up for America |
Former Governor of Alabama George Wallace ran in the 1968 United States presidential election as the candidate of the American Independent Party.
Wallace's pro-segregation policies during his term as Governor of Alabama had been rejected by the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The impact of the Wallace campaign was substantial, winning the electoral votes of several states in the Deep South. Although Wallace did not expect to win the election, his strategy was to prevent either major party candidate from winning a majority in the Electoral College and throw the election into the House of Representatives, where Wallace would have bargaining power sufficient to determine, or at least strongly influence, the selection of a winner.
When George Wallace ran for President in 1968, it was not as a Democrat – which he had done in the 1964 Democratic primaries and would again in the 1972 Democratic primaries – but as a candidate of the American Independent Party. The American Independent Party was formed by Wallace, whose pro-segregation policies as governor had been rejected by the mainstream of the Democratic Party. In 1968 he ran on the idea that "there's not a dimes difference between the two major parties". Wallace's strategy was essentially the same as that of Dixiecrat candidate Strom Thurmond in 1948 in that the campaign was run without any realistic chance of winning the election outright, but instead with the hope of receiving enough electoral votes to force the House of Representatives to decide the election, something many observers thought might happen. This would presumably give him the role of a power broker; Wallace hoped that southern states could use their clout to end federal efforts at desegregation.
...
Wikipedia