Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - A farkon 1968, yawancin 'yan Democrat sun yi tsammanin cewa Shugaba Lyndon B. Johnson za a sake zabarsa. Wadannan tsammanin sun rushe da Sanata Eugene McCarthy, wanda ya mayar da yakin neman zabe a kan adawa da manufofin Johnson na Vietnam. McCarthy ya yi rashin nasara ga Johnson a farkon Jam'iyyar Democrat a ranar 12 ga Maris a New Hampshire, kuma kusanci da sakamakon ya firgita jam'iyyar ta kafa kuma ya karfafa Sanata Robert F. Kennedy na New York don shiga tseren. Makonni biyu bayan haka, Johnson ya gaya wa al'ummar da suka yi mamakin cewa ba zai sake neman wa'adi na biyu ba. A cikin makonni da suka biyo baya, yawancin ƙarfin da ke motsawa McCarthy ya ci gaba ya koma Kennedy. Mataimakin Shugaban kasa Hubert Humphrey ya bayyana takararsa, yana samun goyon baya daga magoya bayan Johnson. Sirhan Sirhan ya kashe Kennedy a watan Yunin 1968, ya bar Humphrey da McCarthy a matsayin manyan 'yan takara biyu da suka rage a tseren. Humphrey ya lashe zaben shugaban kasa a watan Agusta Democratic National Convention
a Chicago, kuma an zabi Sanata Edmund Muskie na Maine a matsayin mataimakinsa. A waje da majami'ar taron, dubban matasa da suke adawa da yaƙin da suka taru don su nuna rashin amincewa da Yaƙin Vietnam sun yi faɗa da 'yan sanda. Rikicin, wanda aka watsa wa duniya a talabijin, ya gurgunta yakin neman zaben Humphrey. Binciken ranar ma'aikata bayan taron ya nuna Humphrey yana bin Nixon da fiye da kashi 20 cikin dari.