Violence, Scandal, and the End of the Cold War 279Security forces, a barbed-wire fence, and checkpoints ringed the Inter-
national Amphitheater, where the convention was held. Radicalized
students taunted the police and sang “We Shall Overcome,” the civil
rights anthem, and were peppered with tear gas by the infuriated po-
lice. Television cameras recorded the mayhem, to the shock and amaze-
ment of the national viewing public. Police used clubs indiscriminately,
and cameramen, journalists, and bystanders were assaulted. According
to a later investigation, what happened was a “police riot.” Despite the
mayhem in the streets, the delegates inside the convention hall nomi-
nated Hubert Humphrey, the Vice President under Johnson, once Sen-
ator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the brother of John F. and
Robert F. Kennedy, chose not to run. Senator Edmund S. Muskie of
Maine was named to complete the ticket. The Republicans, meeting in
Miami, had an easier time of it, and on August 8 chose Richard M.
Nixon and Spiro Agnew, the governor of Maryland, to stand as their
nominees.
More than likely, the “police riot” in Chicago helped win the election
for Nixon in a very close contest. Nixon garnered 31 , 004 , 304 popular
votes to Humphrey’s 30 , 691 , 699. The margin of difference was 0. 01
percent. George C. Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, who was
the candidate of the American Inde pendent Party, a southern conserva-
tive organization, won 9 , 787 , 691 popular votes. All told, Nixon captured
32 states for an electoral vote of 301 to Humphrey’s 14 states and 191 elec-
toral votes. Wallace had 46 electoral votes from five southern states.
E a r ly in Februa ry 1969, the Vietcong launched a new, ferocious
offensive and inflicted heavy losses on U.S. forces. To impede commu-
nist operations in Vietnam, Nixon secretly ordered an intense bombing
of Cambodia. Demonstrations around the country mounted in number
and even Congress became more vocal in demanding the withdrawal
of U.S. troops. “The Americans who have died in Vietnam will not
have died in vain,” declared one Congressman, “if their deaths have
taught the United States to mind its own business and to lead the world
by its example.” Finally, Nixon announced that 25 , 000 troops would be
withdrawn by August and a timetable would be devised to bring the
war to a speedy end. He also expressed the need to make progress at