Just as in elections today, the New Hampshire primary was the first one in 1968, although there was a shorter primary calendar then, so it took place on the 12th of March 1968. The result of the primary was shocking. By some counts Lyndon Johnson emerged victorious; he received 49% even though he hadn't even campaigned (he was a write-in candidate). Eugene McCarthy emerged with 42% of the vote, even though experts had predicted that he would receive no more than 15%. So that in itself was a shock. But when you counted the write-in votes, it was actually McCarthy who emerged by a very narrow margin of 250 votes. Something like that had never happened before, no incumbent president had come that close to defeat, or by some counts, even been defeated in the primary, the first primary of the year. Undoubtedly dissatisfaction with Vietnam was an important factor. Although polls showed, yet again, that also quite a number of Hawks had voted for McCarthy in this primary campaign. It also made a difference that McCarthy had personally campaigned in the state, whereas Lyndon Johnson had not. McCarthy also had the enthusiastic backing of from many young anti-war protesters. A lot of these young anti-war protesters 'cleaned up' their act. It was known as the "Clean for Jean" campaign. They cleaned up their act, they cut their hair short, put on shirts and ties and campaigned door-to-door In New Hampshire. McCarthy also secured the backing of a number of noted liberal film stars, such as Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman. Here you can see the parallels to more modern elections, you see the parallels of Clinton's mobilization of the Hollywood elite in the 1990s, or Obama's mobilization of youth in the election of 2008. But what the New Hampshire primary clearly signaled, was that the president was vulnerable. Only four days later, in a move that looked very opportunistic at the time, Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's younger brother, entered the race for the democratic nomination. Robert Kennedy was much better better known, and much more glamorous than the dour looking McCarthy. McCarthy was understandably livid about Kennedy entering the campaign. A three-way race emerged, a battle between between the sitting president, Robert Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy. It's worth emphasizing though, that neither McCarthy nor Robert Kennedy advocated a unilateral and speedy withdrawal from Vietnam. They both advocated a negotiated solution, which of course echoed the official line of the sitting administration. So there didn't seem to be that much of a difference between the candidates on Vietnam. But the biggest shock perhaps of this early election campaign, arrived at the end of March. On the 31st of March Lyndon Johnson gave a speech, ostensibly on Vietnam. He emphasized in this speech his desire to negotiate with North Vietnam and, in a notable departure, that he would unilaterally suspend the bombing of most of North Vietnam. The real bombshell of the speech came at the end, a bombshell that even president's speechwriters were unaware of. He had only filled in his vice president, Hubert Humphrey. Lyndon Johnson announced at the end of the speech that he would stand down as a candidate, and he would not run for re-election, and he would not accept the nomination, even if it were handed to him. As I mentioned earlier, he's only one of five sitting US presidents to do so. So in one fell swoop, Lyndon Johnson took himself out of the race and there was, understandably, and there still is, a lot of speculation about his motives. One reason may very well be the reason that he stated in the speech, that he did not want to politicize the search for peace in Vietnam. But there could equally have been the worry about being beaten, particularly by one of the Kennedy's, whom Lyndon Johnson despised so much. And they despised him. But there were also worries about his health. Already in the fall of 1967, he had ostensibly told General Westmoreland that his family did not want him to seek re-election. But irrespective of the reasons, what we can very clearly see here is that Vietnam set the stage for the election campaign and that it increased Johnson's unpopularity. It had brought the relatively unknown McCarthy to the brink of a primary victory and it had brought Robert Kennedy into the campaign. Undoubtedly it contributed to Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election that year.