1972 Primaries

In a tumultuous year for the United States, 1968 offered an opportunity to pull away from the last eight years of President Goldwater, now regarded by historians as one of the most consequential presidents to have served. Despite shifting the national conversation to a more conservative direction for generations to come, the mishandling of the Vietnam War and the eruption of civil unrest proved to be his undoing. All three candidates running in 1968 repudiated many of Goldwater’s policies, but it was Robert F. Kennedy who was able to grab the support of many disaffected Americans by offering the clearest contrast, running a sunny campaign and promising “brighter days for all of us.” While Mark Hatfield was much more liberal than Goldwater and made great strides to distance himself from the administration, the president’s unpopularity brought down the AU ticket. George Wallace, while having benefited from the disorder plaguing the country, seemed to only have a ceiling of 25% and could not expand his support further. Kennedy won decisively, trumping Hatfield and Wallace by double digits.

Expectations were high for the newly minted President Kennedy, with many believing he could possibly be a transformational figure. Kennedy did good on enacting changes at first, starting with the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia, which would be completed by the end of 1969. In another reversal of Goldwater-era policies, the partial privatization of Social Security was rolled back and funding for the program was fully restored to what it was before then. One new major proposal from Kennedy was the focus on space exploration, with the goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” by the end of the 1970s and before the Soviets could claim that achievement. Around the middle of his term, the president declared drug abuse to be a serious problem afflicting the country and called for a combination of policies that would later be known as the War on Drugs, focused on clamping down on the drug trade and rehabilitating those with addictions. New laws on environmental protection and public safety also came into existence during Kennedy’s term, pushed by some of the growing social movements of the time.

Despite claiming some major achievements, there were many who grew disappointed in President Kennedy’s performance in office. Kennedy made civil rights a significant part of his platform in the last election and promised to bring new sweeping reforms, but nothing substantial ever got through Congress, leading critics to believe he was “all talk and no action.” Adding to this perception was the lack of motivation to bring back a truly activist government, which was considerably downscaled during Goldwater’s term. While the riots stopped, the economy was still lagging and only becoming worse with high inflation, which the administration was unable to effectively control. Those on the left unhappy with Kennedy brought Senator Eugene McCarthy to contest the president in 1972, who was even covertly being supported by Vice President McGovern. Faced with a restless base, Kennedy must convince the DA that he is still the best man for the job.

After having a disastrous performance four years ago, the AU has been trying to rebuild itself with Goldwater no longer leading the party. Former Vice President John Tower is running again as an establishment choice, though it is doubtful that he has a commanding lead over the others. California Governor Ronald Reagan, a rising star despite being in his sixties, is making another run and hopes he will stop his party from being pushed to the left. There is also Senator Robert Taft, Jr., son of the former president, who is another strident conservative in the race and who has hopes to continue on the family line. The moderates and liberals are represented by Spiro Agnew, Governor of Maryland, and Charles Percy, a senator from Illinois.

The WP is still alive and has had something of a mild resurgence across the country after originally being presumed terminally ill following 1964. This time, the field is more diverse than the last two primaries. George Wallace is running once more but is now wheelchair bound following a failed assassination attempt. “Scoop” Jackson has been known to be one of the Senate’s biggest hawks and wants to steer the party back in a pro-civil rights direction. Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty has become famous as an outspoken populist who dislikes feminism and civil rights as much as he does communism. Edmund Muskie is the volatile senator from Maine who has been committed to environmental issues and is the most ‘progressive’ of the candidates (though not enough to feel comfortable in the DA). Finally, J. William Fulbright is making one last run for the job.

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