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Eugene McCarthy And The 1968 Nebraska Primary [1]

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Date: 2023-04-05  

In the fall of 1967, anti-war activists made an unsuccessful attempt to recruit Robert Kennedy to run for president against Lyndon Johnson. Subsequently, they recruited Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy to take on Johnson. Like Kennedy, McCarthy was an early opponent of the war and had had a falling out with Lyndon Johnson. McCarthy was receptive to their entreaties since he was unhappy in the U.S. Senate and did not plan to run for re-election in 1970.

McCarthy announced his longshot presidential bid on November 30, 1967. “I am concerned that the administration seems to have set no limits on the price it is willing to pay for military victory,” McCarthy stated when he announced. In response to a reporter’s question, McCarthy acknowledged that he was a heavy underdog and stated that Johnson was the front runner at the time.

At this early stage McCarthy decided to run in four primaries, including Nebraska. Nebraska’s unusual law on presidential primaries obligated McCarthy to run in Nebraska. The Nebraska Secretary of State had the legal duty to place any potential presidential candidates on the ballot for the May 14, 1968. A possible candidate could only avoid being placed on the ballot by filing a sworn affidavit.

The biggest myth about the 1968 Nebraska campaign is McCarthy’s claim that he did not wage a vigorous campaign in the state. In his memoir of the 1968 campaign, McCarthy stated that he only campaigned four days in Nebraska in May and that he did not expect to do very well there. Instead, McCarthy contended that he had to concentrate on the Oregon primary: “giving Nebraska little more than a quick once over and hoping for the best.”

Journalists and authors who have written about the Nebraska campaign have taken McCarthy’s assertion at face value. Television journalist and author Chris Matthews wrote that McCarthy had shrewdly “retreated” from Nebraska and had only “touched down in Nebraska for a single day…” Similarly, reporters who covered the 1968 Nebraska Democratic primary in Nebraska adopted McCarthy’s framing of his campaign. Jack Newfield of the Village Voice stated that McCarthy gave up on Nebraska and “left Kennedy alone in Nebraska the final days, running against the absent ghost of McCarthy.” McCarthy told Jules Witcover that the “Nebraska primary really wasn’t very important.” Based upon that conversation, Witcover wrote that McCarthy cut and ran from Nebraska.

The reality is that McCarthy waged an active and competent campaign in Nebraska with the aim of winning. McCarthy campaigned extensively in Nebraska and gave it a strong effort. He campaigned in Nebraska for eight days — almost as many as Kennedy — who campaigned for ten days. McCarthy’s campaign also claimed to have knocked on every Democratic door in the state.

Another indicator that McCarthy ran a serious campaign in Nebraska was that Omaha businessman Warren Buffett served as the treasurer for the campaign and headed up a fundraising drive for him. Buffett was already a prominent businessman in Omaha, and both he and his wife attended a McCarthy campaign event.

The McCarthy campaign began organizing and recruiting volunteers as early as February. McCarthy made his first Nebraska appearance on April 4 and campaigned extensively in the population centers of Omaha and Lincoln. In addition, McCarthy visited numerous small towns — there were appearances in Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, Columbus, Fremont, North Bend, Arlington, McCook, North Platte, Beatrice and Nebraska City.

Despite McCarthy’s subsequent claim that Nebraska was not important, he did return to the state for a final campaign push in which he literally worked himself to the point of exhaustion. McCarthy had planned to campaign on election day on May 14 but he took the day off to recover.

Despite McCarthy’s all out effort, Robert Kennedy decisively defeated him by a 52% to 31% margin. Kennedy did well with blue collar whites, farmers and urban voters. The New York Senator carried 60% of the farm vote and 60% of the blue collar vote. Kennedy carried 88 out of 93 counties. It was an impressive victory that made a strong case for his electability in the general election cycle.

McCarthy minimized his effort in the 1968 Nebraska primary in an attempt to spin away a humiliating defeat. There is no reason why historians should believe McCarthy’s false, after the fact rationalization for his bad loss. Robert Kennedy defeated a formidable and hard working opponent.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/4/5/2162208/-Eugene-McCarthy-And-The-1968-Nebraska-Primary

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