Because of the strong showing of third-party candidate George Wallace,
neither Nixon nor Humphrey received more than 50 percent of the popular
vote; Nixon beat Humphrey by less than 500,000 votes. Nixon campaigned
on a platform designed to reach the “silent majority” of middle class
and working class Americans. He promised to “bring us together again,”
and many Americans, weary after years of antiwar and civil rights
protests, were happy to hear of peace returning to their streets
