What do you think?
Rate this book
The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America's Soul
1968—rife with riots, assassinations, anti–Vietnam War protests, and realpolitik—was one of the most tumultuous years in the twentieth century, culminating in one of the most consequential presidential elections in American history. The Contest tells the story of that contentious election and that remarkable year. Bringing a fresh perspective to events that still resonate half a century later, the book is especially timely, giving us the long view of a turning point in American culture and politics.
Author Michael Schumacher sets the stage with a deep look at the people with important roles in the unfolding drama: Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, George Wallace, Richard Nixon, and especially Hubert Humphrey, whose papers and journals afford surprising new insights here. Following these politicians in the lead-up to the primaries, through the chaotic conventions, and down the home stretch to the general election, The Contest combines biographical and historical details to create a narrative as intimate in human detail as it is momentous in scope and significance.
An election year when the competing forces of law and order and social justice were on the ballot, the Vietnam War divided the country, and the liberal regime begun with Franklin D. Roosevelt was on the defensive, 1968 marked a profound shift in the nation’s culture and sense of itself. Thorough in its research and spellbinding in the telling, Schumacher’s book brings sharp focus to that year and its lessons for our current critical moment in American politics.
560 pages, Hardcover
Published July 3, 2018
10 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Michael Schumacher
46 books26 followersA lifelong resident of the Great Lakes region, Michael Schumacher is the author of twelve books, including biographies of Allen Ginsberg, Phil Ochs, and Eric Clapton, and the award-winning book Wreck of the Carl D. He has also written twenty-five documentaries on Great Lakes shipwrecks and lighthouses.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 13, 2018
First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Michael Schumacher, and the University of Minnesota Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
While many will argue the importance of all elections in a democratic system, Michael Schumacher posits that the American Presidential Election in 1968 might have been the most important voting event in the country’s modern history. Held in the middle of the bloody Vietnam War, the election saw a true split in the American political psyche, dividing those in favour of the war and those wanting to get soldiers out of the region (likely more than either World War before it). With a sitting president who could not turn his back on America’s involvement, Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ) soon became tarred and feathered for allowing so many men to die in a military action that had no direct connection to the country he led. This pushed him to the brink and left him to wonder how he ought to handle the upcoming presidential election campaign. Schumacher argues that the electoral importance began late in 1967, when the likes of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy agreed to challenge LBJ, feeling the country needed peace and should remove troops from the region. This divisive issue would soon snowball into disaster for LBJ, who took it upon himself to admit defeat and make the famous speech on March 31, 1968, where he refused to run for re-election. Schumacher opens the book with the narrative around this announcement and how those closest to him took the news on a decision that had been pondered but only decided that day. The decision opened the contest for the Democratic nomination, as well as solidifying some of the strong contenders within the Republicans. Schumacher spends an early part of the tome offering up mini biographies of the serious contenders within the Democratic Party (Vice-President Hubert H Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy), the Republicans (Richard Nixon, with a peppering of information on Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan), as well as an outsider Third Party candidate (Alabama Governor George Wallace), who sought to push for state-rights and push the election in the House of Representatives for a final decision. Armed with this knowledge, the reader can follow the push on into the primaries, where Schumacher lays out a succinct narrative of some well-established races within both parties in an attempt to solidify the nomination ahead of each party’s respective convention in the summer. Filled with detailed analysis of the political shoving and maneuvering, Schumacher explores how the candidates sought to win favour with the electorate and use the War to their favour, some vilifying LBJ while others trying to spin their own version of events and staying true to the country’s leader. During this time, three significant deaths cast a shadow on the primary campaign: the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, as well as the wife of George Wallace, Lurleen. While the former two did stun the country, the third appeared to light a fire under Wallace in his attempts to promote segregation as a viable option. Schumacher then forges on and turns the focus to the conventions, where the party’s decision would have to be made. Miami Beach may have been smooth sailing for Nixon, but it was anything but a foregone conclusion. Armed with an unlikely vice-presidential candidate in Spiro Agnew, Nixon was ready to do battle and began his treachery in covertly tinkering with the peace negotiations to end the War. Meanwhile, all eyes turned to Chicago, where much disruption was expected (and found). Schumacher uses an entire chapter of the book to lay out some of the strongest forces in the groups protesting outside the convention and their push to disrupt the goings-on, more to speak out against the Vietnam War than the Democratic Party. Inside the convention hall, the political bloodbath was beginning, but it paled in comparison to the brutality on the streets. Democratic candidates struggled for control and tried to vie for last minute votes, which eventually gave Hubert Humphrey the nomination, while violence filled television screens. Schumacher juxtaposes the two ‘fights’ effectively and keeps the reader pushing onwards into the final step of the contest, the General Election. Here, Nixon and Humphrey traipsed across the country to secure votes, all while LBJ continued to waffle on how to handle Vietnam. Pushing for peace, LBJ soon realised that Nixon may have spoiled the Democratic Party with his own promises (much like Reagan would do a dozen years later in the campaign against Jimmy Carter). The last week of the campaign turned out to be the most exciting, as Nixon and Humphrey sought to secure key states, while Wallace pushed to spoil the Electoral College victory for either man. Once all was said and done, Nixon prevailed by just over half a million votes cast, proving to be a close contest and, in a way, Wallace did prove (Democratic) spoiler. Wonderfully written and paced, the book educates the curious reader who has a passion for history and electoral politics. I’d highly recommend this for anyone who has the patience to plunge into the inner workings of American political campaigns to see just how contentious they can be and why 1968 will likely be seen as one of the most important in modern American history.
Being a political addict, I could not give up the opportunity to read this book when I discovered it. This being the fiftieth anniversary of this election, I allowed myself to be enthralled with the way in which Schumacher delivered s much information in an easily digestible fashion. The book is divided effectively, giving the reader much context as to how and why 1968 was such a political powder keg in the United States. Beginning with the important LBJ speech, Schumacher offers key themes that would return throughout the campaign, namely: the War, infighting about America’s presence in Vietnam, and the segregated states. He then pushes into the primaries, which splintered the country further before turning to the conventions, where America’s youth took centre stage, outside the political event proper. Schumacher turns the final campaign into a succinct narrative, as though all the glitter of 1968 ended once the bloody streets of Chicago had been cleaned in late August. I felt a significant shift towards an anti-climactic ending of the book, which forces the reader to skim over the last few months and not find that last push towards a defining end to what was a strongly worded build-up over four hundred pages. One might argue that the intensity was gone (and the book had taken up so much to that point), forcing a quick end so as not to lose the reader. If I could extract a single, overarching sentiment that Schumacher offers in this piece, it would be just how destructive and divisive the election became for America. Politicians and the electorate alike found themselves deeply divided on the issue of the Vietnam War, which also helped fuel a generational divide in the country, where young and newer voters turned to protest in order to make themselves heard. Tearing at the familial fabric would surely alienate many at a time when parents were trying to make sense of their ‘liberated’ children and Americans watched revolutionary demonstrations on television, seeking to push the American state to its limits. Filled with significant detail, Schumacher left me feeling as though I were right there and wanted to know more, the key to a successful piece of writing. I could not ask for a better introduction to the 1968 campaign than with this book and will surely sift through the biographical notes to find further pieces to whet my appetite.
Kudos, Mr. Schumacher, for a brilliant piece. I will check to see what else you may have published, as I found your writing to my liking and your delivery engaging.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
While many will argue the importance of all elections in a democratic system, Michael Schumacher posits that the American Presidential Election in 1968 might have been the most important voting event in the country’s modern history. Held in the middle of the bloody Vietnam War, the election saw a true split in the American political psyche, dividing those in favour of the war and those wanting to get soldiers out of the region (likely more than either World War before it). With a sitting president who could not turn his back on America’s involvement, Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ) soon became tarred and feathered for allowing so many men to die in a military action that had no direct connection to the country he led. This pushed him to the brink and left him to wonder how he ought to handle the upcoming presidential election campaign. Schumacher argues that the electoral importance began late in 1967, when the likes of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy agreed to challenge LBJ, feeling the country needed peace and should remove troops from the region. This divisive issue would soon snowball into disaster for LBJ, who took it upon himself to admit defeat and make the famous speech on March 31, 1968, where he refused to run for re-election. Schumacher opens the book with the narrative around this announcement and how those closest to him took the news on a decision that had been pondered but only decided that day. The decision opened the contest for the Democratic nomination, as well as solidifying some of the strong contenders within the Republicans. Schumacher spends an early part of the tome offering up mini biographies of the serious contenders within the Democratic Party (Vice-President Hubert H Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy), the Republicans (Richard Nixon, with a peppering of information on Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan), as well as an outsider Third Party candidate (Alabama Governor George Wallace), who sought to push for state-rights and push the election in the House of Representatives for a final decision. Armed with this knowledge, the reader can follow the push on into the primaries, where Schumacher lays out a succinct narrative of some well-established races within both parties in an attempt to solidify the nomination ahead of each party’s respective convention in the summer. Filled with detailed analysis of the political shoving and maneuvering, Schumacher explores how the candidates sought to win favour with the electorate and use the War to their favour, some vilifying LBJ while others trying to spin their own version of events and staying true to the country’s leader. During this time, three significant deaths cast a shadow on the primary campaign: the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, as well as the wife of George Wallace, Lurleen. While the former two did stun the country, the third appeared to light a fire under Wallace in his attempts to promote segregation as a viable option. Schumacher then forges on and turns the focus to the conventions, where the party’s decision would have to be made. Miami Beach may have been smooth sailing for Nixon, but it was anything but a foregone conclusion. Armed with an unlikely vice-presidential candidate in Spiro Agnew, Nixon was ready to do battle and began his treachery in covertly tinkering with the peace negotiations to end the War. Meanwhile, all eyes turned to Chicago, where much disruption was expected (and found). Schumacher uses an entire chapter of the book to lay out some of the strongest forces in the groups protesting outside the convention and their push to disrupt the goings-on, more to speak out against the Vietnam War than the Democratic Party. Inside the convention hall, the political bloodbath was beginning, but it paled in comparison to the brutality on the streets. Democratic candidates struggled for control and tried to vie for last minute votes, which eventually gave Hubert Humphrey the nomination, while violence filled television screens. Schumacher juxtaposes the two ‘fights’ effectively and keeps the reader pushing onwards into the final step of the contest, the General Election. Here, Nixon and Humphrey traipsed across the country to secure votes, all while LBJ continued to waffle on how to handle Vietnam. Pushing for peace, LBJ soon realised that Nixon may have spoiled the Democratic Party with his own promises (much like Reagan would do a dozen years later in the campaign against Jimmy Carter). The last week of the campaign turned out to be the most exciting, as Nixon and Humphrey sought to secure key states, while Wallace pushed to spoil the Electoral College victory for either man. Once all was said and done, Nixon prevailed by just over half a million votes cast, proving to be a close contest and, in a way, Wallace did prove (Democratic) spoiler. Wonderfully written and paced, the book educates the curious reader who has a passion for history and electoral politics. I’d highly recommend this for anyone who has the patience to plunge into the inner workings of American political campaigns to see just how contentious they can be and why 1968 will likely be seen as one of the most important in modern American history.
Being a political addict, I could not give up the opportunity to read this book when I discovered it. This being the fiftieth anniversary of this election, I allowed myself to be enthralled with the way in which Schumacher delivered s much information in an easily digestible fashion. The book is divided effectively, giving the reader much context as to how and why 1968 was such a political powder keg in the United States. Beginning with the important LBJ speech, Schumacher offers key themes that would return throughout the campaign, namely: the War, infighting about America’s presence in Vietnam, and the segregated states. He then pushes into the primaries, which splintered the country further before turning to the conventions, where America’s youth took centre stage, outside the political event proper. Schumacher turns the final campaign into a succinct narrative, as though all the glitter of 1968 ended once the bloody streets of Chicago had been cleaned in late August. I felt a significant shift towards an anti-climactic ending of the book, which forces the reader to skim over the last few months and not find that last push towards a defining end to what was a strongly worded build-up over four hundred pages. One might argue that the intensity was gone (and the book had taken up so much to that point), forcing a quick end so as not to lose the reader. If I could extract a single, overarching sentiment that Schumacher offers in this piece, it would be just how destructive and divisive the election became for America. Politicians and the electorate alike found themselves deeply divided on the issue of the Vietnam War, which also helped fuel a generational divide in the country, where young and newer voters turned to protest in order to make themselves heard. Tearing at the familial fabric would surely alienate many at a time when parents were trying to make sense of their ‘liberated’ children and Americans watched revolutionary demonstrations on television, seeking to push the American state to its limits. Filled with significant detail, Schumacher left me feeling as though I were right there and wanted to know more, the key to a successful piece of writing. I could not ask for a better introduction to the 1968 campaign than with this book and will surely sift through the biographical notes to find further pieces to whet my appetite.
Kudos, Mr. Schumacher, for a brilliant piece. I will check to see what else you may have published, as I found your writing to my liking and your delivery engaging.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
May 12, 2024
A beautiful and entertaining account of the 1968 election, not through one person, but through the daily lives of all the campaigns, primaries, conventions, and then the final vote. Mr. Schumacher gives us a live play-by-play of the contest, giving insightful post-game analysis and finding ways to put a pulse on the nation as if this election was today. There is little comparison to modern events, but there are themes in the book that do ring true today. I wouldn't say there is something earth-shattering in this book, but it is a nice story and most of the chapters really flow together. I would say the only issues are that he doesn't spend a lot of time on the general, and I would have liked a concluding chapter to show what happened to the nation after the contest, even if it was brief. Still a fantastic book and a great read overall.
May 17, 2019
The Contest is about the 1968 US presidential campaigns and election. The book also looks at different politicians' stances on Vietnam and the politicians' stances on law & order. I think the central idea is that your reputation matters. For example, Nixon had to clear his "loser" image after he lost to Kennedy in 1960, and how George Wallace had built his reputation up as a segregationist, despite not being one.
Want to read
August 3, 2018Netgalley
pub date July 3, 2018
Rec Aug 3, 2018
University of Minnesota Press
pub date July 3, 2018
Rec Aug 3, 2018
University of Minnesota Press
July 30, 2018
50 years on from the 1968 presidential election, Michael Schumacher has written a book with a recounting of the process, the people, and the events of that historic election. The portrait Schumacher illustrates is that of a nation and the two political parties divided - the divisive opinions of the war in Vietnam, a party with members running against their incumbent president, and the other party with no clear leadership or moral center. The books greatest detail comes in the recollection of the party's primary process and lead up to their conventions - and starkly contrasts what this looks like in comparison to the process we currently have. Less detail is spent on the core election between Nixon, Humphrey, and Wallace - most likely due to Schumacher's (largely corroborated) perception that by this point the election was largely already decided. However, the primary weakness of this book is that Schumacher provides very little analysis of the impact and effects the '68 election had. Schumacher's writing and insights are of such a caliber that further analysis of how '68 impacted the primary process, party conventions, presidential engagement with (treasonous) behind the scenes manipulation, etc. This aside, Schumacher provides a wonderful book with fantastic writing and detail about a momentous period in U.S. history. With so many relevant lessons applicable today this book is highly recommended.
August 6, 2018
I can’t say enough good things about this book about the election of 1968. The author, a contemporary who lived through it like me, made this fateful year and election come alive again despite being 50 years in the past.
1968 was a historical election which resulted in our country moving to the right, a direction that has not really changed in 50 years. The problems of getting involved in stupid wars and civil rights unrest are still with us today. Stupid me, I thought history was supposed to teach us not to make the same mistakes over and over again.
If you think our country is divided today, well, 1968 if you lived through it, seemed worse. I know that is hard to believe if you weren’t around then, but this book will really put that into perspective for you.
The author who’s most prolific work prior is biographies of activists and artists, really gives great insight into the backgrounds and personal development of members of the Chicago 8, a group active in the uprisings during the Democratic Convention in 1968. This book is a great contribution to an important time in the history of our country. Michael Schumacher has a very readable and descriptive writing style which made history come alive for me.
1968 was a historical election which resulted in our country moving to the right, a direction that has not really changed in 50 years. The problems of getting involved in stupid wars and civil rights unrest are still with us today. Stupid me, I thought history was supposed to teach us not to make the same mistakes over and over again.
If you think our country is divided today, well, 1968 if you lived through it, seemed worse. I know that is hard to believe if you weren’t around then, but this book will really put that into perspective for you.
The author who’s most prolific work prior is biographies of activists and artists, really gives great insight into the backgrounds and personal development of members of the Chicago 8, a group active in the uprisings during the Democratic Convention in 1968. This book is a great contribution to an important time in the history of our country. Michael Schumacher has a very readable and descriptive writing style which made history come alive for me.
September 17, 2020
A few spots are a little too on-the-nose for my liking, namely the last few pages that seem to immediately try and discredit Nixon's win (though the whole book builds up to this point), and some of the glowing coverage of the Chicago protesters could be a bit one-sided at times, especially in a modern political and social climate.
That aside, I loved literally every other part of this book. Every character, every personality that had an impact on the 1968 election - from tremendously important figures like Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey to the less important like Ted Kennedy and George McGovern - gets a role to play, and a unique persona to explore. Every candidate is thoroughly humanized, even George Wallace, which makes this book truly read like a snapshot of history.
I would love to imagine a future installment, or multiple, covering future elections, because Schumacher is 2020's Theodore White in terms of his late twentieth-century election coverage.
That aside, I loved literally every other part of this book. Every character, every personality that had an impact on the 1968 election - from tremendously important figures like Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey to the less important like Ted Kennedy and George McGovern - gets a role to play, and a unique persona to explore. Every candidate is thoroughly humanized, even George Wallace, which makes this book truly read like a snapshot of history.
I would love to imagine a future installment, or multiple, covering future elections, because Schumacher is 2020's Theodore White in terms of his late twentieth-century election coverage.
March 7, 2023
Schumacher takes us through the tumultuous and violent 1968 presidential election, an election that saw the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, an escalation of the Vietnam War, students taking over Columbia University, and a Democratic National Convention that was marred by "police riot" against protesters. After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, his Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson became president. He was reelected in 1964 in a landslide but too surprise of pretty much everybody did not run in 1968. I recommend the film "All the Way" for Bryan Cranston's sublime performance as Johnson. The book begins with fantastically readable profiles of the 5 major candidates: on the Democratic side there was Johnson's Vice President and former Senator from Minnesota Hubert Humphrey. He had a strained relationship with Johnson, especially regarding Vietnam and Humphrey pushed Johnson to find a way to end the war but during the campaign he was rather noncommittal and was attacked by the other candidates for the being associated with Johnson's foreign policy. Eugene McCarthy, also a Senator from Minnesota ran on an anti-war platform and attracted many young people to his campaign, A late addition to the race for the Democratic nomination was Robert F. Kennedy who was murdered in Los Angeles. I highly recommend the Netflix documentary series: "Bobby Kennedy for President" for a look at his campaign. He probably would have beaten Nixon and who knows how that would have changed American history. Richard Nixon, the former vice president to Dwight Eisenhower, easily wrapped up the Republican nomination by besting Michigan governor George Romney (father of Mitt) whose campaign was undone by a comment about being "brainwashed" into supporting the Vietnam War, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and late addition Ronald Reagan. George Wallace ran as a third-party candidate chiefly on a platform of segregation and states rights, although interestingly he was to the left of Nixon on many issues. I found the most interesting part of the book to be its coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that ended with wanton police brutality against people protesting Humphrey's nomination, the Vietnam War, and racism. Schumacher does an excellent job of profiling the many different figures and groups that were part of organizing that protest (I also recommend the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 if you're interested in them). Overall, I found this to be a really interesting book that provides a rich and compelling narrative of a pivotal moment in the nation's history, and sheds light on the ongoing struggles and challenges that continue to define American society.
May 6, 2024
The Contest provides a fascinating look at the candidates on the campaign trail during one of the most turbulent years in American history.
Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the continuing fight for civil rights, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F Kennedy and the political conventions held by each party.
The author takes us on a journey through state primaries eventually bringing us inside the Republican convention held in Miami, and into the Democratic Convention in Chicago and outside on the streets with the Yippies, Hippies and Chicago PD.
The culmination of this journey brings us to election day and the result already recorded in history.
Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the continuing fight for civil rights, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F Kennedy and the political conventions held by each party.
The author takes us on a journey through state primaries eventually bringing us inside the Republican convention held in Miami, and into the Democratic Convention in Chicago and outside on the streets with the Yippies, Hippies and Chicago PD.
The culmination of this journey brings us to election day and the result already recorded in history.
January 29, 2019
Detailed look at the primaries and presidential campaign of 1968 - and, though the author does not make them explicit, some real parallels to the most recent presidential campaign.
I find myself concerned that the lessons of '68 will be lost on both parties...
I find myself concerned that the lessons of '68 will be lost on both parties...
September 30, 2018
Excellent!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews