The election year was tumultuous ; it was marked by the assassination of Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. , subsequent King assassination riots across the nation , the assassination of Kennedy , and widespread opposition to the Vietnam War across university campuses . Nixon ran on a campaign that promised to restore law and order to the nation 's cities and provide new leadership in the Vietnam War . A year later , he would popularize the term " silent majority " to describe those he viewed as being his target voters . He also pursued a " Southern strategy " designed to win conservative Southern white voters who had traditionally supported the Democratic Party . Humphrey promised to continue Johnson 's War on Poverty and to support the Civil Rights Movement . Humphrey trailed badly in polls taken in late August but narrowed Nixon 's lead after Wallace 's candidacy collapsed and Johnson suspended bombing in the Vietnam War
assassination
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
1968 United States presidential election