1968: Nixon elected
Richard Milhous Nixon was elected as the thirty-seventh U.S. President today. “Capping a remarkable political comeback, Nixon surged to the White House on the crest of close windup victories in California, his native state, Illinois and Ohio,” reported the Panama City Herald on November 6, 1968.
“Through the long night after the polls had closed Nixon and Humphrey were in a virtual deadlock—and they nearly tied in the popular vote. Nixon’s edge at 12:30 p.m. EST was only 180,017 votes with more than 67 million votes cast,” continued the article. “But in the electoral vote column, where presidencies are won, Nixon had 287, Humphrey 172 and George C. Wallace, the American Independent party candidate, 45. Victory required 270 electoral votes.”
NOTE: Nixon would win a landslide re-election in 1972, one of the largest victories in U.S. history. His presidency took a sharp dive after the Watergate scandal, and Nixon would resign in 1974 while facing impeachment, the only U.S. president to do so.
Links to the Past
Nixon Elected President
The Gettysburg Times, November 6, 1968
Nixon Well-Trained For White House After Eight Years Under Ike
The Gettysburg Times, November 6, 1968
Nixon Elected 37th President; Captures 287 Electoral Votes
Panama City Herald, November 6, 1968
Nixon wins thrilling photo-finish
The Lowell Sun, November 6, 1968
Nixon, Agnew Elected; Pledge to Unite Nation
Oakland Tribune, November 6, 1968
Panama City Herald
November 6, 1968
Women's Suffrage, 1890 - 1919
After Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton began the National Woman Suffrage Association, fellow woman's rights leader Lucy Stone started the much larger group American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1890, the groups combined to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). It is here that we continue our story.
A Historical Perspective
NAWSA quickly became a powerful organization, uniting hundreds of smaller state and community groups. Progress of women's rights became more visible: "Forty years ago women were given no representation in conventions where political or industrial topics were discussed," reported the Galveston Daily News on January 15, 1893. "Today nearly all the states have some degree of suffrage. New York and Minnesota have given women the power to vote for county superintendent of schools. Illinois gives their votes on all school elections, including a vote for trustees of the state university. Kansas allows them to vote at all city elections, and Wyoming has given them full recognition, placing them on a level with the male voter. Two of the four territories, Arizona and Oklahoma, have granted women suffrage in school matters. [...] But the women who are foremost in this convention have given utterance to their sentiments in no weak manner. I take the following from the call issued for this convention, and which breathes the spirit that has controlled them in their long labors: 'The mission of the national American woman suffrage association is to awaken public opinion to the necessity of bringing the practice of the United States government into harmony with its professed principles.'"
In 1912, a woman named Alice Paul joined the NAWSA but found it too tame. She started a splinter group in 1913 (Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage) which became the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1916. While the NAWSA focused on individual states, the NWP concerned itself with the passing of a congressional amendment to give women nationally the right to vote. "Magazine writers and journalists are hailing the Congressional Union and its daughter, the National Woman's party, as that organization which has lifted the suffrage issue out of the academic realm and placed it in the field of practical politics," explained an article by NWP Chairman Anne Martin in the Oakland Tribune on October 22, 1916. "The Woman's party is not a suffrage organization. It is a political party, its role is not that of the teacher. It has no part in demonstrating that suffrage for women is right or in pleading with the populace to give suffrage to women. It believes that the truth concerning woman suffrage has already been demonstrated. It believes that the Federal government and not the states should settle the question of United States citizenship. The National Woman's party is therefore but a political weapon to obtain what women want."
The NWP made great strides during World War I. While President Woodrow Wilson was declaring the War as a struggle for human rights, the Woman's party picketed in front of the White House calling out the hypocrisy of Wilson's actions. Eventually many demonstrators were arrested and went on a hunger strike. The attention to the scandal - and President Wilson's declining reputation as a result - helped Wilson to decide to call for Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment. "Miss Anne Martin, legislative chairman of the national woman's party, last night gave out the following message: 'President Wilson today saw the necessity of supporting the national suffrage amendment [...]," informed the Nevada State Journal on January 10, 1918. "The president faced it with the responsibility of causing the defeat of the amendment as a result of his four years opposition while the republicans were giving nearly their entire voting strength..." The House passed the proposed amendment, but it was defeated in the Senate and would not be fully passed and ratified until 1920.
Oakland Tribune
October 22, 1916
Syracuse Herald Journal
November 6, 1994
Grand Traverse Herald
November 28, 1872