The Big History Podcast - The Making of Modern America
What events shook the 21st and 20th Century to make America what it is today? In this podcast we cover current politics, music, culture, history. From the Civil Rights Movement and Woodstock to 21st century culture, we examine what makes America what it is today?
The Big History Podcast - The Making of Modern America
The 1968 Election: Richard Nixon vs Hubert Humphrey - A Year of Unraveling and Transformation in American Politics and Society
Journey with us to 1968, a year when America seemed on the verge of unraveling. What can the seismic political shifts and social upheavals of this era teach us about our current challenges? We'll take you through the fragmentation of the Democratic Party's New Deal coalition and the agonizing escalation of the Vietnam War, where the brutal realities of conflict reached into American homes and forever altered public trust in government narratives. The Tet Offensive, civil rights struggles, and the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are just a few of the pivotal events examined, illustrating a nation grappling with profound racial tensions and a credibility gap that fueled public disillusionment.
Witness how the 1968 election became a crucible for change, with Nixon's Southern strategy marking the dawn of a new political era. Nixon's narrow popular vote win but significant Electoral College victory flipped historically Democratic states, signaling a transformation that reshaped race relations, media roles, and national identity. Discover how figures like George Wallace tapped into the fears of a changing America, igniting conversations that still echo in today's political landscape. By reflecting on these historical shifts, we aim to equip listeners with insights and lessons to better navigate the complexities of contemporary society. Join us as we unravel a year that forever altered the American landscape.
1968, man just saying it. You know the whole year is like a movie right, like sirens and protest songs. You know like constantly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Assassinations, riots, a war that just wouldn't quit.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It felt like America was like on a tightrope or something, right on the edge of I don't know like a total meltdown.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and guess what?
Speaker 1:It kind of was.
Speaker 2:It's true, I mean 1968, it wasn't just like a crazy year, you know, it was a real turning point for America, like a before and after kind of deal. And you're right, there was this vibe, this like feeling in the air that things were about to snap. But it's not like this just came out of nowhere. To really get why 68 was such a big deal, we got to rewind a bit.
Speaker 1:Look at what's going on in politics? Yeah, ok, so like set the stage for us then.
Speaker 2:OK, so for decades it was the Democrats running the show Right, and a big reason for that was this thing the New Deal coalition. It started back in the 1930s during the Depression. You had all these different groups white Southerners, city workers, african-americans, intellectuals, all these people and they're all on Team Democrat.
Speaker 1:They found common ground Americans intellectuals, all these people, and they're all on.
Speaker 2:Team Democrat. They found common ground Exactly. But by the mid-60s you start to see some cracks in that foundation.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I bet. So you've got this party. They've been in charge forever, right Social programs, World War II, all that. But now it's a whole new ballgame Vietnam, racial tensions, and then all these young people like questioning everything.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and the Democrats are stuck in the middle, trying to hold this coalition together while the whole world's changing around them.
Speaker 1:Like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle.
Speaker 2:Pretty much, and nowhere was that more obvious, more explosive than Vietnam.
Speaker 1:Right, because by 68, that war man. It was like this open wound that just wouldn't heal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by then Johnson had like really ramped things up.
Speaker 1:Over half a million US troops stuck in the jungle and it was brutal. And the thing is it wasn't just the numbers, right? This is the first time people back home they were seeing the war in their living rooms every night.
Speaker 2:Yeah on the news.
Speaker 1:The fighting, the casualties, all of it.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you couldn't just ignore it anymore.
Speaker 1:It was unavoidable.
Speaker 2:And then you get the Tet Offensive January 68.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:Militarily. Not a win for North Vietnam, oh man, but the way it hit the American people, the psychology of it huge, huge.
Speaker 1:It was like if the US Embassy in Saigon wasn't safe. What was Like? It made you question the whole story the government was telling you know.
Speaker 2:For sure, and that's when you start to see this phrase popping up, the credibility dab.
Speaker 1:Like what you were being told and what you saw with your own eyes. Two different things.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And I remember reading about Walter Cronkite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:The news guy, America's Uncle Walter. The most trusted man in America, basically Right, and even HES saying the war is unwinnable.
Speaker 2:Which for a lot of people that was.
Speaker 1:It was over.
Speaker 2:Game over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Johnson, I mean his approval rating. It just tanks.
Speaker 2:Plummets, and you got to remember. This is all before the election has even officially started.
Speaker 1:Man talk about pressure. It's like the whole country is a pressure cooker about to blow.
Speaker 2:Talk about pressure. It's like the whole country is a pressure cooker about to blow Exactly, and within the Democratic Party it was a whole other kind of mess.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Things are about to get really interesting on that front, but we're going to have to take a quick break. We'll be right back to dig into all the drama within the Democratic Party right after this man. You can just feel it right, Like the whole country just holding its breath. Yeah, Johnson steps down. But the problems? They're not going anywhere, are they Nope?
Speaker 2:They're just heating up.
Speaker 1:Right Like turning up the heat on that pressure cooker even more.
Speaker 2:Exactly, vietnam's not over. And just as explosive, just as divisive, you've got the issue of race in America.
Speaker 1:Right, because 68 wasn't just about Vietnam, the fight for civil rights. It was reaching a boiling point, absolutely, and it felt like everything was about to break wide open.
Speaker 2:And it did in some ways In February 68, you have the Kerner Commission. They were the ones who looked into all those riots, you know the ones tearing through the cities.
Speaker 1:And their big takeaway, their conclusion.
Speaker 2:Let me guess Not good.
Speaker 1:America it's becoming two societies, one black, one white, separate, unequal.
Speaker 2:Wow, separate and unequal, it's like. Even all these years later, that hits hard.
Speaker 1:It was a huge wake up call, or at least it should have been. It should have been. And then, two months later, tragedy April 4th 1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated.
Speaker 2:Just saying it, it's still hard to process. It's like all the hope he represented just gone, yeah, and the riots that followed. It wasn't just grief, was it? It was like years of frustration, of broken promises. The whole system felt rigged.
Speaker 1:It was a breaking point for a lot of people and it completely upended the election Race, civil rights. It all became central to the 68 campaign.
Speaker 2:And that's where someone like George Wallace comes in.
Speaker 1:Exactly, he wasn't a Democrat, but he was a huge EE factor.
Speaker 2:Right, he's running as an independent.
Speaker 1:And he knew exactly what buttons to push, especially with white voters, particularly in the South, who were scared of the changes happening around them.
Speaker 2:Danielle Pletka Wallace. He's all about tapping into that fear. Denounces integration, promises to bring back law and order and his message it resonates with people who feel like they're losing their country. Marc Thiessen.
Speaker 1:So while Humphrey, the Democratic nominee, is trying to hold on to this coalition that's falling apart and Wallace is stirring up all this fear and resentment, someone else is watching, taking notes.
Speaker 2:Richard Nixon.
Speaker 1:This is where it gets really interesting, because Nixon, he's playing a different game, almost like he's got a crystal ball, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh so.
Speaker 1:Like he sees how TV, how the media is changing everything, how people see the world, how they see their leaders.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. Nixon understood that power. He was a master of image, of crafting the perfect soundbite. He knew that to win on TV you had to speak directly to people through the camera.
Speaker 1:Right, like he's in your living room having a conversation, not some stuffy politician giving a speech.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and his team. They were pioneers in this new world of political media.
Speaker 1:They were light years ahead. This whole idea of a candidate being packaged for TV. It seems obvious now, but back then revolutionary, completely.
Speaker 2:And they knew how to work the system, getting Nixon on popular shows, understanding that to reach voters you had to go where they were, no more just relying on speeches and rallies.
Speaker 1:They were playing chess and everyone else was playing checkers.
Speaker 2:That's a great way to put it.
Speaker 1:And they weren't afraid to get their hands dirty either. Yeah, remember that. Checkers speech, 1952 textbook. Example of how to use TV to control the narrative.
Speaker 2:Oh, totally Accused of being crooked. What does Nixon do?
Speaker 1:He goes on TV and basically pours his heart out to the whole country.
Speaker 2:His family struggles, his wife's simple coat, even their dog Checkers, genius. It was brilliant. Political theater humanized him, deflected the accusations and people ate it up.
Speaker 1:And from that moment on he's got this image, this narrative, the guy who's been through the ringer but came out stronger, fast forward to 68, and he's taken all those lessons, all those tactics and going big time. So you've got this country on edge war, riots, protests. The Democrats are like imploding. And here comes Nixon, knowing exactly what to say, how to say it, to tap into all that anxiety.
Speaker 2:And he nails it with that law and order message Right who's not for law and order? No, exactly, it sounds simple, straightforward.
Speaker 1:But come on, you don't use a phrase like that in a vacuum, not in 1968.
Speaker 2:No way You're talking about race, about the South, about a whole way of life that feels like it's slipping away for some people.
Speaker 1:And Nixon, he plays that like a virtuoso.
Speaker 2:He doesn't come right out and say it, but he doesn't have to.
Speaker 1:Dog whistles and coded language.
Speaker 2:Exactly this Southern strategy, as it gets called. It's all about appealing to those white voters, especially in the South, who feel like the Democrats have abandoned them.
Speaker 1:Abandoned them. For what, for who? That's the message, right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's about tapping into that fear of change, that sense of I don't know like the country's going in the wrong direction.
Speaker 1:And the Democrats are the ones leading them there.
Speaker 2:That's how Nixon sells it, man politics, it's like Nixon sells it.
Speaker 1:Man politics, it's like a three-dimensional chess game.
Speaker 2:Sometimes Sometimes it always is, but 68, it takes it to another level. So election night rolls around and it's close, closer than you might think. Oh yeah, nixon ekes out the popular vote just barely Half a percentage point, wow.
Speaker 1:So Half a percentage point. Wow. So every vote really did count.
Speaker 2:But the Electoral College. That's where it really plays out. Nixon wins big there 32 states to Humphrey's 13.
Speaker 1:There, it is the Electoral College, always a wild card.
Speaker 2:And this is where that Southern strategy pays off. Nixon flips a bunch of states that had been solid Democrat for generations.
Speaker 1:The solid South cracking.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and it's a sign of things to come, because this election it wasn't just about Nixon versus Humphrey, it was a real earthquake in American politics.
Speaker 1:Like a tectonic shift.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Everything's different afterwards.
Speaker 2:Exactly. We're talking about the start of a whole new era, the sixth party system, political scientists call it, and it lasts for decades.
Speaker 1:Wow. So the ripples from this one crazy year. They're still being felt today.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which is mind blowing when you think about it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And it's not just about Republicans and Democrats. It's about how we talk about race, about the role of the media, about what it even means to be an American. All of that gets shaken up in 68. And you could argue, we're still dealing with the aftershocks today 100 percent, which is why it's so important to understand this stuff, to see how those echoes of the past, they're still shaping our present.
Speaker 1:This has been an amazing deep dive. I feel like I need to go watch a documentary now and process all of this.
Speaker 2:You know right, it's a lot to unpack. But that's the thing about history, isn't it? It's never really over, it's always there, shaping our world in ways we don't even realize.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. On that note, folks, we're going to have to leave it there for today, but keep those conversations going. Think about what we've talked about. Look for those echoes of 68 in your own world, because the more we understand the past, the better equipped we are to navigate the present. And who knows?