The Presidential Election Of 1972 Essay -- essays research papers

The death chairial Election of 1972     The Presidential election of 1972 had two strong candidates, PresidentRichard Nixon and George McGovern. in that location were many issues which had a greatdeal of importance to the election. The Vietnam war and the stability of theeconomy at the time were two main factors. The election ended in one thelargest political scandals in U.S. history, being the Watergate break-in, andcover-up, by President Richard Nixon.     The Democratic party had a large selection of candidates from which tochoose for the primary elections of 1972. There were many well known candidateswho entered the race for the nomination. The leading contenders were Edmund S.Muskie of Maine, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota and Hubert H. Humphreyof Minnesota. Other candidates who didnt receive quite as much recognitionwere Alabama governor George C. Wallace, Mayor surface-to-air missile Yorty of Los Angeles, Rep.Wilbur D. Mills of Arkansas, Sen. Vance Hartke of Indiana, former Senator EugeneJ. McCarthy of Minnesota, Mayor John Lindsay of New York City and Rep. ShirleyChisholm of New York. Chisholm was the first black to run in a series ofpresidential primaries." (Congressional Quarterly, " operate to U.S. Elections",Third ed., 1994, pg.603-605.) 5     Governor Wallace had a devastating moment in his campaign while inMaryland. "In early May a queasy young man named Arthur Bremer altered thepolitics of 1972. As Governor Wallace campaigned toward certain victory in theMaryland primary, Bremer stepped forward out of a shopping-center crowd and piquancehim four times. Wallace survived, but at the cost of being paralyzed from thewaist down. Marylands voters surged out on election day to give Wallace a hugevictory, his destination of 1972. While Wallace recuperated, the millions who wouldhave voted for him as a Democratic or independent candidate began to move inoverwhelming proportions behind the candidacy began to move in overwhelmingproportions behind the candidacy of Richard Nixon." (Benton, William. "U.S.Election of 1972." Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year. pg.12-13, 1973ed.)1     When the California primary was approaching, Humphrey tried to save thenomination for himself. "Humphrey excoriated his old senate frien... ...ergate scandal. These two reporters open up theWatergate scandal, and all the participants involved. "During the investigation,a presidential aide revealed that Nixon had secretly taped Oval Officeconversations with aides. When the Watergate special prosecutor Archibald coxswainordered Nixon to surrender the tapes, Nixon ordered Cox fired. Then the SupremeCourt ruled that Nixon had to surrender even more tapes, which indicated that hehad played an active role in covering up the Watergate scandal. Nixon resignedthe judicature when his impeachment and conviction appeared certain. &nbs p    Theimpeachment articles charged him with obstruction of justice, abuse ofpresidential powers and contempt of Congress. President Nixon resigned onAugust 9, 1974. The Watergate affair was perhaps the greatest political scandalin U.S. history. For the first time, a president was forced to leave officebefore his term expired."6     Vice President Gerald Ford became the President of the United States.President Ford then granted Richard Nixon a full pardon of the crimes committedagainst the presidency, and the people of the United States.