Nyorai kupfuurira kweiyi ndima - Pakutanga kwa 1968, vaDemocrat vazhinjisa vaikarira kuti Mutungamiriri Lyndon B. Johnson aizosarudzwazve. Kariro idzodzo dzakaputsanywa naSeneta Eugene McCarthy, uyo akaisa mushandirapamwe wake pakushora mitemo yaJohnson yeVietnam. McCarthy akarasikirwa zvishoma naJohnson musarudzo dzokutanga dzeDemocratic Party musi waMarch 12 muNew Hampshire, uye kuswedera kwezvibereko kwakashamisa hurongwa hwebato uye kwakakurudzira Seneta Robert F. Kennedy weNew York kupinda mumakwikwi. Mavhiki maviri gare gare, Johnson akaudza rudzi rwakakatyamadzwa kuti aisazotsvaka nguva yechipiri. Mumavhiki akatevera, zvakawanda zvaiita kuti McCarthy aite mushandirapamwe zvakachinjira kuna Kennedy. Mutevedzeri wemutungamiri wenyika Hubert Humphrey akazivisa kukwikwidza kwake, achitora rutsigiro kubva kune vazhinji vevatsigiri vaJohnson. Kennedy akaurayiwa naSirhan Sirhan muna June 1968, achisiya Humphrey naMcCarthy vari vaviri vakasara vari mumakwikwi. Humphrey akakunda kusarudzwa kwemutungamiri wenyika paDemocratic National Convention yaAugust
muChicago, uye Seneta Edmund Muskie weMaine akasarudzwa somumiriri wake. Kunze kwehoro yekokorodzano, zviuru zvevechiduku vaishora hondo vakanga vaungana kuzoratidzira Hondo yeVietnam vakatsutsumwa zvine chisimba nemapurisa. Mhirizhonga yacho, iyo yakanga yaparadzirwa munyika yose paterevhizheni, yakakuvadza nhimbe yaHumphrey. Ongororo dzapashure pekokorodzano dzeZuva reVashandi dzakaratidza kuti Humphrey akanga ari kumashure kwaNixon nezvikamu zvinopfuura 20 muzana.