Senator Robert F. Kennedy's entry into the 1968 Presidential race began with an immediate attack upon the Johnson administration, aiming his rhetorical fire against "disastrous, divisive policies" both foreign and domestic and said that the policies could be changed "only by changing the men who make them." Kennedy's challenge to President Johnson may be the most formidable challenge faced by an incumbent President from within his own party since Teddy Roosevelt split the Republican Party in the 1912 election against incumbent William Taft, effectively handing that election to Woodrow Wilson. If Johnson is denied renomination, he will be the first incumbent so denied since Chester Arthur in 1884. Senator Eugene McCarthy, who seized momentum with a near upset of Johnson in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, chided Kennedy for arriving "on the playing field" after the battle had already been fought. McCarthy further said he would make "no deals" with Bobby and is in the race to win it. And Democrats across the country are coming out in favor of particular candidates signaling what may be an even more divided party than already believed.
Support for Kennedy seemed to fall along regional lines. Former Wisconsin Lt. Governor Patrick Lucey has come out immediately on both sides of the anti-Johnson crusade, campaigning for McCarthy to win the April 2 Wisconsin primary while supporting Kennedy nationally. Both Iowa Governor Harold Hughes and Missouri Governor Warren Hearnes indicated they were open minded about whom to support.
Reaction throughout the South was generally negative towards Kennedy. Robert S. Vance, the Democratic state party chairman of Alabama, declared that Kennedy's campaign will receive as much attention "as an intraparty dispute in Czechoslovakia." Eddie Caramouche, the former Democratic state chairman said, "I think it is the feeling of loyal Democrats to stick with Johnson." Texas Governor John Connally, a close friend of Johnson's, said Kennedy would provide little competition to the President in Texas and that Kennedy is both a contradictory and uncertain leader. Illinois state chairman James Roman said the state is "100 percent behind Johnson" and noted that the primary filing deadline is already past. Georgia Governor Lester Maddox seized upon the development to say that he would campaign harder against Kennedy than he did for himself in the 1966 governor's race, further adding that Kennedy's bid would "add to the chances" of third party candidate and former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace. And even the presumptive Republican nominee, Richard Nixon, got into the discussion by saying that Kennedy would run a good campaign but Johnson would win the nomination.
SOURCES
"Kennedy Enters Presidential Race," Wisconsin State Journal, March 17, 1968, pp 1-2.
"Many Respond Icily To RFK's Candidacy," The Racine Journal Times Sunday Bulletin, pp 1-2.
"Nixon Predicts Johnson Victory," The Daily Review, March 17, 1968, 6.
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