Achilles' Heel: The Vietnam War and George Romney's Bid for the Presidency, 1967 to 1968

Abstract

Most party presidential nominations are lost radier than won. Candidates in recent years have stumbled over their political views, off-the cuff remarks, and personal lives, thereby forfeiting their chance at the White House.1 The 1968 Republican presidential campaign was no different. Although the GOP nominee, former Vice President Richard M. Nixon, went.on to capture the White House in the fall campaign against Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, he had not been the favorite for the nomination a year before. That distinction was held by Michigan's Governor George W. Romney. A moderate whose views on civil rights, .America's cities, and other domestic issues made him extremely popular both in his own state and throughout die country, Romney's presidential ambitions foundered on die most divisive issue facing die country, die Vietnam War. Indeed, Romney's bid for die Oval Office might have succeeded if not for his misstatements, ambiguous policy, and dovish sympathies in regard to America's longest war.