[122]

1968 presidential campaign
Main articles: Richard Nixon 1968 presidential campaign and 1968 United States presidential election
Nixon and Johnson meet at the White House before Nixon's nomination, July 1968
At the end of 1967, Nixon told his family he planned to run for president a second time. Pat Nixon did not always enjoy public life,[123] being embarrassed, for example, by the need to reveal how little the family owned in the Checkers speech.[124] She still managed to be supportive of her husband's ambitions. Nixon believed that with the Democrats torn over the issue of the Vietnam War, a Republican had a good chance of winning, although he expected the election to be as close as in 1960.[123]
An exceptionally tumultuous primary election season began as the Tet Offensive was launched in January 1968. President Johnson withdrew as a candidate in March, after an unexpectedly poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. In June, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a Democratic candidate, was assassinated just moments after his victory in the California primary. 