Richard Nixon secures his place in history: The election of 1972

1972 was an eventful year for Americans, and the presidential election would fall in to the same mood. Early that year, president Richard Nixon made headlines by traveling to China, the first president to do so. Being a powerful communist nation under Mao Zedong, China had been closed to much of the western world, but Nixon's visit did much to improve relations between the two countries. Nixon also traveled to the Soviet Union in May and signed the SALT agreement with Leonid Brezhnev. As election season approached, some burglars broke in to the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C., the Democratic headquarters. What eventually erupted as the Watergate scandal would really not play a role in the election results that year. The Democrats were trying to find a candidate that was anti-war and progressive, and South Dakota Senator George McGovern won the nomination, defeating a surprising run by George Wallace, before an assassination attempt ended his campaign. There was some controversy over the vice presidential nomination for the Democrats, as nominee Thomas Eagleton was discovered to have suffered from depression and it was thought this would harm McGovern's campaign, so Sargent Shriver was chosen instead. As for the Republicans, there was little doubt that Nixon would be renominated, as well as Vice President Spiro Agnew. On election day, Nixon carried 49 states, and won close to 60% of the popular vote, with McGovern winning Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. It was one of the most lopsided elections in history, and for the first time, the entire South voted for a Republican. Nixon's second term became largely engrossed by the Watergate scandal, as many high office holders resigned, such as VP Agnew, special assistants, and cabinet members. Nixon was able to put an end to the Vietnam War, but by late 1973 and in to 1974, Watergate was all the focus in Washington, and in August of 1974, Nixon resigned, turning over the presidency to Gerald Ford. Campaign items from this election are pretty abundant, especially word pins promoting Nixon and McGovern. Most small jugate buttons for Nixon and Agnew are also readily available. McGovern items are also pretty common, and you can even find items with both Eagleton and Shriver pictured with McGovern. I have pictured a few items from this campaign, including a pair of plates, a couple buttons, a McGovern poster, and an interesting Nixon/Ronald Reagan button, a hopeful from people thinking Reagan should run with Nixon instead of Agnew.