March 16, 1968 - Kennedy Enters Race for White House

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the former Attorney General of the United States and brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, formally entered the 1968 Presidential race today in the same Senate office building caucus room where his brother declared his candidacy in 1960. The New York Senator declared he would enter primary races in Oregon, Nebraska, and California. Kennedy, 42, is also the same age as his brother was when he entered the 1960 campaign. Kennedy said that he had dispatched his brother, Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, to Wisconsin Friday night to explain his decision to Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, whose narrow loss in New Hampshire on Tuesday still netted him a substantial early lead in delegates. Kennedy urged his supporters to support McCarthy in the upcoming primaries in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, presumably primaries Kennedy will sit out. Kennedy declared he was running "not to oppose any man but to propose new policies."

Although Kennedy suggests the results of the New Hampshire primary are the cause of his reassessment, it is likely that today's Gallup poll showing that 69% of Americans favor a "phased out" withdrawal from Vietnam is as much or even more of a factor in his decision. It is difficult as of yet to fully process Tuesday's results from New Hampshire because McCarthy was an active campaigner helped by an energetic band of college supporters while Johnson not only did not campaign in New Hampshire but his name did not even appear on the ballot. What is undeniable at this point is that Johnson is in severe trouble politically, probably not seriously enough to cost him the party's nomination but certainly enough to lose the White House in November. Kennedy's entry into the race comes with the risk that whether he succeeded or failed at winning the nomination, the end result is potentially a split party that cannot win the fall election. In a bid to help Kennedy, California Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh launched the Senator's campaign in the state by declaring Kennedy "can win and will win" the June 4 primary. Unruh managed President John Kennedy's Southern California campaign in 1960. Unruh said that a massive petition signing endeavor will begin next week to obtain the 30,716 signatures necessary to place Kennedy's name on the ballot.

New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller continues to deny he will enter the Republican primaries, but a recent poll in Oregon suggests he could carry the state's primary as he did in 1964. One newspaper poll showed Rockefeller with a 40-36 lead over Nixon while California Governor Ronald Reagan was third with 10 percent.

SOURCES

"Kennedy's Reassessment," Florence Morning News, March 16, 1968, page 4.

"NH Primary Shows LBJ in Trouble," by Roscoe Drummond, Ibid.

"Rockefeller in the Race," by Joseph Alsop, Cumberland News, March 16, 1968, page 5.

"Kennedy Officially Enters Race," by William Theis, UPI, Marshall Evening Chronicle, page 1.

"Unruh Claims Kennedy Will Win Primary," AP, San Rafael Independent Journal, March 16, 1968, page 1.