Oct. 29, 1968: Republican presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon and his wife Pat shook hands on their way into the Civic Arena for a rally, six days before the election.
On the same day, Democratic candidate Hubert H. Humphrey led a rally at the Allegheny County Airport. The Pittsburgh Press headline read, “District Gives Top Candidates Big Welcomes.” In the accompanying story, both candidates were described as “expressing confidence and promising to do what’s best for America.”
Just five months earlier, Ro
bert F. Kennedy was assassinated, one day after he won the California Democratic primary. Two months before that, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis and riots broke out in 125 cities across the country. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago that year was disrupted by violent clashes between anti-war protesters and police.
In November, Richard Nixon was elected president with a victory margin of about 1 percent of the popular vote.
(Photo by Anthony Kaminski, Pittsburgh Press)
Order this photo at PG Store
