[130] Nixon promised "peace with honor" in the Vietnam War and proclaimed that "new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific".[131] He did not give specifics of how he hoped to end the war, resulting in media intimations that he must have a "secret plan".[131] His slogan of "Nixon's the One" proved to be effective.[129]

1968 electoral vote results; the popular vote split between Nixon and Humphrey was less than one percentage point
Johnson's negotiators hoped to reach a truce in Vietnam, or at least a cessation of bombings. On October 22, 1968, candidate Nixon received information that Johnson was preparing a so-called "October surprise", abandoning three non-negotiable conditions for a bombing halt, to help elect Humphrey in the last days of the campaign.[132] Whether the Nixon campaign interfered with negotiations between the Johnson administration and the South Vietnamese by engaging Anna Chennault, a fundraiser for the Republican party, remains a controversy. While notes uncovered in 2016 possibly support such a contention, it is questionable.[132] It is not clear whether the government of South Vietnam needed encouragement to opt out of a peace process they considered disadvantageous.