Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1972
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| Democratic Presidential Primaries, 1972 |
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The establishment favorite for the Democratic nomination was Ed Muskie, the moderate who acquitted himself well as the 1968 Democratic vice presidential candidate. Shirley Chisholm announced she would run she became the first black person ever to seriously run for president. In the New Hampshire primary, Muskie gave a speech to defend himself and his wife, Jane, against the claims of the Canuck Letter. The press reported that Muskie was crying during the speech, which likely caused Muskie to do worse than expected in the primary, while George McGovern came in a surprisingly-close second. McGovern now had the momentum, which was well orchestrated by his campaign manager, Gary Hart.
Alabama governor George Wallace, with his "outsider" image, did well in the South (he won every single county in the Florida primary) and among alienated and dissatisfied voters. What might have become a forceful campaign was cut short when Wallace was shot while campaigning, and left paralyzed in an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer. Wallace did win the Maryland primary, but his near assassination effectively ended his campaign.
In the end, McGovern succeeded in winning the nomination by winning primaries through grass-roots support in spite of establishment opposition. He had led a commission to redesign the Democratic nomination system after the messy and confused nomination struggle and convention of 1968. The fundamental principle of the McGovern Commission—that the Democratic primaries should determine the winner of the Democratic nomination—lasted throughout every subsequent nomination contest. However, the new rules angered many prominent Democrats whose influence was marginalized, and those politicians refused to support McGovern's campaign (some even supporting Nixon instead), leaving the McGovern campaign at a significant disadvantage in funding compared to Nixon.
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[edit] Wallace's Assassination attempt
While campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, on May 15, 1972, Wallace was shot five times by Arthur Bremer. Three others wounded in the shooting also survived. Bremer's diary, published after his arrest as An Assassin's Diary, showed that Bremer's assassination attempt was not motivated by politics, but by a desire for fame, and that President Nixon had been a possible target. The assassination attempt left Wallace paralyzed, as one of the bullets had lodged in his spinal column.
Following the shooting, Wallace won primaries in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Wallace spoke at the Democratic National Convention from his wheelchair in Miami on July 11, 1972. The eventual Democratic nominee, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota would be defeated by President Nixon in a landslide, with Nixon carrying 49 of the 50 states, losing only in Massachusetts.
While Wallace was recovering in Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, he was out of the state for more than 20 days. The Alabama state constitution required the lieutenant governor, Jere Beasley, to serve as acting governor from June 5 until Wallace's return to Alabama on July 7; Wallace never returned to Maryland.
Bremer was sentenced to 53 years in prison for the shooting. He served 35 years of the sentence and was released on parole on November 9, 2007.
[edit] Candidates
 Representative Shirley Chisholm of New York |
 former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark of Ohio |
 U.S. delegate Walter E. Fauntroy of District of Colombia |
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 Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma |
 Senator Vance Hartke of Indiana |
 Representative Wayne Hays of Ohio |
 Senator Harold Hughes and former Governor of Iowa |
 Senator and former U.S. Vice President 'Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota |
 Senator and former DNC Chairman Henry M. Jackson of Washington |
 Mayor John Lindsay of New York City |
 former Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota |
 Senator George McGovern of South Dakota |
 Representative Wilbur Mills of Arkansas |
 Representative Patsy Mink of Hawaii |
 Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota |
 Senator and 1968 vice-presidential nominee Edmund Muskie of Maine |
 Former Senator Ralph Yarborough from Texas |
[edit] Statewide contest by winner
Only seven candidates won statewide contest (McGovern, Muskie, Humphrey, Wallace, Jackson, Chisholm and Mills)[1]:
McGovern
- Alaska
- California
- Connecticut
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Massachusetts
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota (home state)
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Muskie
- Arizona
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Maine (home state)
- New Hampshire
Wallace
Humphrey
- Indiana
- Minnesota (home state)
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
Jackson
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Washington (home state)
- Wyoming
Chisholm
Mills
- Arkansas (home state)
[edit] Total primaries popular vote
Primaries popular vote results[2]:
- Hubert Humphrey - 4,121,372 (25.77%)
- George McGovern - 4,053,451 (25.34%)
- George Wallace - 3,755,424 (23.48%)
- Edmund Muskie - 1,840,217 (11.51%)
- Eugene McCarthy - 553,990 (3.46%)
- Henry M. Jackson - 505,198 (3.16%)
- Shirley Chisholm - 430,703 (2.69%)
- Terry Sanford - 331,415 (2.07%)
- John Lindsay - 196,406 (1.23%)
- Samuel Yorty - 79,446 (0.50%)
- Wilbur Mills - 37,401 (0.23%)
- Walter E. Fauntroy - 21,217 (0.13%)
- Unpledged - 19,533 (0.12%)
- Ted Kennedy - 16,693 (0.10%)
- Vance Hartke - 11,798 (0.07%)
- Patsy Mink - 8,286 (0.05%)
- None - 6,269 (0.04%)
President Richard Nixon won 1,091 (0.01%) write-in votes.
[edit] References
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