The 1972 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. Relevance. From top left, clockwise: Joe Biden during a community event in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Jan. 21; George McGovern urges U.N. Security Council to take action to prevent air hijackings in New York June 19, 1972; Bernie Sanders during a rally at the Holiday Inn in Des Moines, Iowa, on Feb. 3; Hubert Humphrey visits the Miami airport during the Democratic National Convention in Florida on July 10, 1972.September Dawn Bottoms for TIME; Bettmann Archive/Getty Images; Devin Yalkin for TIME; Fairchild Archive—Penske Media/Shutterstock Nixon easily swept aside challenges from two Republican congressmen in the Nixon emphasized the strong economy and his success in foreign affairs, while McGovern ran on a platform calling for an immediate end to the Richard Nixon was a popular incumbent president in 1972, as he was credited with opening the Overall, fifteen people declared their candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination. McGovern had also been appointed in 1968 to head a party commission to democratize the selection process for the next Democratic nominee—a reaction to the 1968 race, in which Hubert Humphrey had become the last man in modern political history to win his party’s nomination without even entering a single primary.Although McGovern himself was a classic Midwestern American of perfectly regular habits, he, like Bernie Sanders today, was a Muskie, who had made an excellent impression as a vice-presidential candidate in 1968, began the race as the front-runner, but he won neighboring New Hampshire by a surprisingly small margin against McGovern, and then lost badly to Wallace in Florida.

Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections, caucuses, and state party conventions, culminating in the 1972 Democratic … Meanwhile, regulars When the convention finally arrived, the McGovern delegates shrewdly McGovern, however, had won a Pyrrhic victory. On the right, the party included a strong southern faction that had opposed all the major gains of the civil rights movement in the 1960s; Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who had carried four southern states as an independent in 1968, was now running as a Democrat.

They were:Nearly two years before the election, South Dakota Senator On January 25, 1972, New York Representative Shirley Chisholm announced she would run, and became the first African-American woman to run for the Democratic or Republican presidential nomination. McGovern made a final unsuccessful run for president in 1984 United States presidential election. Wallace did win the Maryland primary and the Michigan primary both held the following day (Tues. May 16), but his near assassination effectively ended his campaign. 3 weeks ago.

The establishment favorite for the Democratic nomination was Following the shooting, Wallace won primaries in Maryland and Michigan. As a result, a large field of Democratic challengers emerged. He had led a commission to redesign the Democratic nomination system after the messy and confused nomination struggle and convention of 1968. In 1972, McGovern was successful in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, but lost the election in a landslide to incumbent President Richard Nixon. After McGovern resigned from his position as chair, he was replaced as chair by U.S. Representative Donald Fraser, which gave the McGovern–Fraser Commission its name. McGovern meanwhile started a string of victories in Wisconsin, and Hubert Humphrey—despite having worked with McGovern on many issues—was not willing to see the nomination go to McGovern, whom the establishment now viewed as a hopeless radical. The 28-member commission was established after the tumultuous 1968 convention.

Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1972← 1968January 24 to June 20, 19721976 → CandidateGeorge McGovernHubert HumphreyHome stateSouth DakotaMinnesotaContests The 1984 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1984 U.S. presidential election. Anonymous. Wallace spoke at the Democratic National Convention from his wheelchair in Miami on July 11, 1972. On the left, George McGovern of South Dakota, a typical liberal on domestic issues, had been one of the party’s first opponents of the Vietnam War, and had entered the 1968 race as a proxy for Robert Kennedy after Kennedy’s assassination in California.