1972: NIXON RE-ELECTED

	VS
R. Nixon 60.7%		G. Mc Govern

In the largest Republican victory to date, President Richard M. Nixon won re-election with 60 percent of the vote against George McGovern. The election process ran without a hitch for Nixon, from the Republican party nomination to the general election. Even news reports that members of Nixon's campaign staff were involved in the break-in at Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel failed to affect the election.

At the same time, as many as 12 candidates battled for the Democratic nomination, won by North Dakota Senator George McGovern. An already tough campaign against a popular incumbent took a sour turn with the news that the candidate for vice president, Thomas F. Eagleton, had been hospitalized for a nervous disorder and received electric shock therapy. Eagleton quit, at McGovern's request, but the campaign never recovered and McGovern won only his home state.

Nixon served half his term before resigning to head off impeachment proceedings as a result of the Watergate investigation. Several months earlier, Vice President Spiro Agnew had resigned amid charges he accepted bribes as governor of Maryland. At that time, Nixon had named House Minority Leader Gerald Ford as vice president.

Under the 25th Amendment, Ford then became president after Nixon's resignation. He also became the first president to serve without running in the presidential election.

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