Interesting C-Span Discussion on 1968 Politics

Earlier today on one of the C-Span channels they were showing a very interesting program about politics in the tumultuous year of 1968.  It was a discussion consisting of author Michael A. Cohen of the book American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division, Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who served as lt. governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003, and the C-Span moderator.  Townsend was sixteen when her father declared his candidacy for president on March 16, 1968 and had a special perspective on the events and personalities involved during this period.  For me, I was eleven years old and this was the first presidential campaign I was aware of.  When the New Hampshire Primary results came in and Minnesota Senator Eugnene McCarthy made a surprisingly strong showing against incumbent president Lyndon Johnson, my mother was overjoyed...she'd heard McCarthy on TV and was impressed by his boldness, especially against Vietnam.  So being essentially ignorant of the world of politics at the time, I essentially latched on to her feelings and, like her, was put out when Kennedy announced he was also running just a short time later.  On March 31, Johnson announced he would not run for reelection and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey soon entered the race soon afterwards.  This big scramble involving McCarthy, Kennedy, Johnson, and Humphrey in the span of three weeks or so came about almost solely from the Vietnam War stalemate and the backlash of negative public opinion following the Tet Offensive by the Communists that had been going on for a few weeks.  Johnson dedicated the rest of his presidency to  unsuccessfully seeking a peace deal to the conflict, something that he believed the Nixon campaign sabotaged just before the general election when an agreement seemed assured...the American involvement in the war would drag on four more years...

I enjoyed the C-Span program and especially liked the rapport between the moderator, Townsend, and Cohen as they discussed the personalities, politics, and motivations of the candidates...especially the relationship between Robert Kennedy and President Johnson and a comparison of the personalities of Kennedy (more personal and emotional) and McCarthy (more standoffish and intellectual).  I found it all very intriguing and all the more so because I was there at the time paying attention to these events.  The bitter irony about Johnson's exit from seeking reelection is that back then the party nominees were basically chosen from state conventions...run by party insiders...and few delegates were picked from the relatively few primaries.  Had Johnson stayed in, he no doubt would have won his party's nomination over either McCarthy or Kennedy.  After all, after Humphrey entered the race, he did not campaign nor did he enter any of the primaries...it makes that big California victory by Kennedy over McCarthy even more of a tragedy: RFK was assassinated immediately following his victory speech on June 6, but Humphrey already had enough delegates to secure the nomination on the first ballot...to paraphrase our current president, it was all rigged...

If you want to watch this excellent program, click on the following link: [link-to-video]...it should lead you to it...