National Politics: Democratic Primaries and Convention 1972

Democratic Primaries.

As the primary season began, the two front-runners for the nomination were both conservatives: George Wallace, governor of Alabama, and Edmund Muskie, senator from Maine. Wallace had made his national reputation in the early 1960s as a prosegregationist. By 1972 his position had modified somewhat, and he campaigned on an anticrime, antibusing, populist platform that had immediate appeal for millions of conservative, blue-collar Democrats. Muskie's reputation was that of a statesmanlike, prudent politician. The favorite of Democratic party bosses, Muskie did not possess the natural constituency of Wallace but did carry considerable financial and organizational clout.

Dirty Trcks.

Unknown to the Democrats, President Nixon's campaign utilized illegal and unethical tactics to defeat them. Led by Donald Segretti and Chapin, CREEP developed a dirty-tricks campaign to undermine the Democrats. They...

[The entire page is 1531 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass