winning the presidency and listening well, winning the presidency is not worth a compact with extremism. i choose not simply to run for president. i seek to lead a great nation. even we achieve true justice in our land or we shall doom yourselves to a terrible exhaustion and body and spirit. i base my entire candidacy on the believes that come from the depths of my soul which comes

from conviction that the american people will stand up, that they will stand up for justice and fair play and they'll respond for the call of one citizenship, one citizenship opens to all and for all americans. [ applause ] the american presidency, the american presidency is a great and powerful office but it is not all powerful, it depends most of all upon the will and the faith and the dedication and the wisdom of the american people. [ applause ] i know as you know there is an essential strength in the american people. tonight, i call you, i call

you -- the american people. not to be of one mind but to be of one spirit. i call you the american people not to a life of false security, false promises and ease but to a new sense of purpose, a new dedication and commitment. remember that those who found this republic step that in order to secure these rights and pursuit of happiness, they pledge their thelives. i submit to our americans. we dare do no less of our time if republicans survived. [ applause ] so i call you forth, i call for that basic goodness that's

there. i call for you to risk the hard path of greatness. and i say to america, put aside recrimination and turn away frm violence and hatred and believe what america can do. believe in what america can be and with the vast and the help of that fast unfrighten, dedicated faithful americans, i saw to this great convention tonight and to this great nation of ours, i am ready to lead our country. [ applause ]

american history tv and primetime continues on friday night with george wallace beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern c-span. that's followed by our a archival video and pushed to get on the california ballot. also, a tour of the george wallace collection of the alaba alabama archive. that's friday beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-spac-span 3. coming up this weekend on c-span 3, saturday at 6 eastern on the civil war of the history professor of tl university of massachusetts talks about how

photography can be used to chart the history of american slavery both before and after the emancipation. we have spent time with frederick douglas and wrote about the power of african-americans to be able to present themselves as they saw themselves and as they experience themselves and each other. on sunday with the road to the white house rewind of the presidential debate between al gore and george w. bush. >> step one is to make sure we reform the system and have the system in place that leaves no child behind and start this business by asking, god, how are are you and start asking the question of what do you know. if you don't know what you are supposed to know, we'll make sure that you do early than before it is too late >> parents should have more

choices of charter schools and public school choices to send their kids to a safe school. i think we need to make education a number one priority in our country and teachers like the professionals they are. that's why i made it my number one priority. this weekend, the contenders, key figures who ran for the presidency and lost but changed political history. >> saturday, the democratic nominee and former senator from nevada, gorge mcgovern. >> together we have made it. that's my hope, that's my reason for seek ing the presidency of the united states. on sunday, former texas businessman, ross perot who ran as an independent nominee in the

1992 and 1996 races. >> we must set our ethical standards for people who served in our government. all of that have rule and las a for the next four years. for our complete schedule, go to cspan.org. road to the white house brings you our coverage of presidential races. up next, the u.s. information agency film on the 1968 campaign titled "a private decision." it chronicles the race from the new hampshire to the surprise withdraw of president lyndon johnson and the national political convention to richard nixon over humphrey. during the cold war. and by law, they could not be

shown until twelve years after they were produced. this half hour is kucourtesy of the national archive. the political situation here in new hampshire, the rest of the country is still watching >> once every four year, the united states turned its attention to choose a new leader of the north eastern country that becomes the ballpolitical e of our country. >> the final campaign is under way. the presidential primary is coming up next tuesday. on the republican side, richard nixon is urging for a big send off for the president nomination >> new hampshire of the national campaign by holding the first primary election of the year. >> so the man who then wanted to

be president, romney and richard nixon and mccartney from minnesota drew attention to new hampshire as they started to campaign through the snow. hoping these victims would bring them victory where one man from each party would win the states' support at the political convention. a small town in new hampshire, and the most popular past time dog racing, the problems across the country may seem far away. behind its landscape and comfortable homes, people were aware of the challenges the country faced in this election year. and many became activity involved in the primary

campaign. kim wilson live in occonia. >> if you're familiar with super 8 cams, ed, this is the one that loads with a drop-in cartridge. >> jim cares deeply about the future of his country, and he is concerned about the way the government spends money, including his tax money. he thinks a republican administration can do a better job. and jim thinks there is one man who can do it best. jim is a nixon man. >> there's absolutely no advantage for nixon to come and debate, because as long as nixon stays in the background, says nothing, romney just digs a deeper hole and buries himself. he's right on top. >> with romney right now -- >> his wife ann is still considering other candidates. >> if rockefeller were going to

run, i'd vote for him because i think he's that middle of the road. >> would you consider voting for eugene mccarthy? >> that's beside the point. we know he's not going to make it. >> there were others in laconia who did not share ann's pessimistic appraisal of senator mccarthy. one was ron o'callahan. like jim, ron is a businessman. he runs a family owned electronics firm. he is a member of the democratic party. in 1964 ron had voted for president johnson. but this year deeply disturbed by the war in vietnam he had decided to work for the election of senator eugene mccarthy. >> clearly, though -- >> mccarthy was opposed to the course of the war and had challenged the president for the democratic nomination. >> but the war has taken so much money out of the economy. the war on poverty.

what johnson called the great society. so much punch has been taken out of what he tried to do because of the war that it's become a marker. a mockery >> well, put someone else in if you think he's wrong. >> we'll do that. >> the laconia chamber of commerce sponsored a series of breakfasts for all the candidates and ron and jim and their wives ann and dotty attended them all. and ron got his first close look at the man he wanted to see win. [ applause ] >> as i see the campaign in '68, the issue of vietnam itself is a vital one of course and you could pass a harsh judgment on that. or if it were isolated altogether from any domestic

consequences or any other international consequences. but underneath all of this i think is a fundamental judgment that we're called upon to make as to what the real role of america is. to what direction do we want to give america? what influence do we want it to have on the rest of the world? and i say this is the fundamental test we have to face up to in the electoral process of the year 1968. >> richard nixon came to town a few days later, and jim had a chance to meet and talk with the man who was his personal choice for the presidency. nixon had the most practical experience of all the candidates. as vice president in the eisenhower administration, he had been actively involved in running the country for eight years. nixon was a man that republicans had always been able to count on. he attended thousands of dinners and rallies to help the republican cause.

the people he helped remembered and appreciated his work. and it was this personal contact with thousands of ordinary americans that was to become the backbone of the nixon campaign. >> it was my pleasure to have mr. nixon here as speaker when i came into office this past year. >> i know he mentioned being here. >> wonderful meeting. >> boy, you're really talked up, aren't you? >> we really have to promote sled dogging and all our winter events around here. >> jim was pleased to have nixon as his guest at the world championship dog sled races. >> doing about an hour and 10 minutes. >> i've seen it in alaska, and i've seen it in laconia. it's a pleasure to have you here again. >> good to see you. >> you have my vote. i want you to know that -- >> thank you.

>> jim had promised nixon his vote, and he went to work to fulfill that promise by working for the nixon campaign in laconia. >> don't we have any other choice, jim? >> well, there are quite a few choices. are you a true johnson democrat? >> all the way. i think that he's handling things as well as they can be handled. >> 74, 67. >> the democrats who were supporting the president had organized an intensive write-in campaign, urging voters tone -- to endorse the administration by writing president johnson's name on the democratic ballot, in effect, asking him to run again.

>> i'd say some more work has to be done on election day to better this. >> be sure to write in the name of president johnson. >> senator mccarthy was a newcomer to presidential politics. and since many democrats were supporting the president, ron and dottie began work on the mccarthy campaign with few assets. there was little popular support for the senator, a sparse organization, and even less money. every vote was important. >> we're glad you stopped in this morning. we're gland you stopped in this morning. send some more of your friends in. >> the mccarthy campaign did have one great asset. young people. many of them students too young to vote. they flocked to new hampshire to support the senator's cause. >> at first it was called the children's crusade, and no one thought they could compete with the professionals in the hard work of organizing a presidential campaign. but leaders of both political parties were to describe the

sudden involvement by thousands of young people in the political process as one of the most important benefits of the election year. >> he's a good candidate, i think. >> senator mccarthy also got some support from another unorthodox source. actors and actresses lent their -- some of their glamour to the cause, and paul newman became the political box office smash of laconia. >> when you have areas where you feel your own rumbles and your dissension and your own questioning, then i think it's necessary to get behind the senator now, early in the game, and not sit around and wait until you feel that you're ready to make a political commitment that's convenient to you. >> a few weeks before primary day, the republican race lost a challenger. george romney withdrew. >> the cbs news poll of republicans in new hampshire last night shows that george

romney's withdrawal has helped richard nixon much as nelson rockefeller. the romney supporters now say they will vote for another candidate. about half favor nixon and half favor rockefeller. >> people like you might write rockefeller's name in. >> some people including ann nelson thought nelson rockefeller might take romney's place. >> i will vote for any republican candidate that wins in miami at the convention, and it will either be nixon or rockefeller. >> but no one could really compete with richard nixon in new hampshire. by the time nixon made his last campaign speech, he had most of the state's republican votes and according to most predictions, he was already a winner. >> i say to you having traveled

through this state, having met hundreds of you personally and thousands of you that i have spoken to, having heard your questions, having looked into your faces, you have given me new hope about america. is new hampshire going to indicate this ballot that a change is going to come in november or is it going to be more of the same? and i say to you, turn out. let's get the biggest vote we've ever had. and with that vote, you not only will see to it that we will win tomorrow but that new hampshire will vote for new leadership in november and america will get a new president in january. thank you. [ applause ] >> primary day in new hampshire was quiet. a sharp contrast to the intensity of the campaigns.

>> are you ready to go down and vote? i've got bunny to watch the store right now, and it seems like a good time. we can get there while there aren't too many crowds or anything. >> but each voter went to the polls with the obligation to make his choice in this first test as carefully as he would in november. the voting procedure was simple. >> wilson, james r. >> republican or democrat? >> republican. >> registered voters received their party's ballot. >> dorothy o'callahan, democrat >> moved to a booth to mark it in private. returned it to a sealed ballot box. and had their names recorded to prevent voter fraud. >> james r. wilson. >> james r. wilson. >> ron and dottie voted for mccarthy. but they also had a personal interest in this election. ron was on the ballot as a mccarthy delegate.

if elected, he would go to chicago in august to vote for the senator as a representative of his state. the polls would close at 6:00. but until then, campaign workers for all the candidates were busy urging their neighbors to vote. >> >> have you voted in the primaries for president? >> no, sir. but that's my boy right there. >> thank you. >> this is mrs. kirby at nixon headquarters. we wanted to be sure to remind you to vote today. >> at nixon headquarters, voters were offered rides to the polls. a common practice in both political parties. it began to snow in laconia, but that did not stop the voters from going to the polls. it looked so easy. a mark on a piece of paper, a name written in.

it was as simple as picking out a new hat or selecting fresh vegetables for dinner. and it was done as casually. but in each voter's mind, there was the feeling that his vote, his personal choice of the presidential candidate, could make a difference. >> it's now 6:00. i now declare the polls closed. >> now let's take a recap of what it's looked like in laconia. >> while ron went to mccarthy headquarters in manchester, dotty stayed in laconia. and she was finding it hard to wait for the final vote count. >> 316. mccarthy quite strong with over 50% of the vote.

>> it was an upset. mccarthy made a surprisingly strong showing, and the young people who had worked for him suddenly had proof they could influence the national election by working for change within the framework of the democratic process. ron was amazed and delighted when he found out he had scored a personal upset victory. and he'd been elected as a delegate. dottie, of course, was thrilled. ♪ >> jim and ann stayed home on primary night with their children to celebrate nixon's overwhelming victory in the

republican race. and they were convinced that their candidate would win more victories in the future. as the campaign moved out of new hampshire and into other states, ron traveled to nearby vermont to work for mccarthy at that state's democratic convention, which was held instead of a primary to pick the state's delegates and presidential choices. and now mccarthy was facing competition from a new candidate, senator robert kennedy had decided to run. >> with the decisions made by this convention today -- >> there were other unexpected events. >> with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, i do not -- >> jim and ann did not realize at first as they listened to the president's speech, but he was about to tell the nation he would not run for the presidency again. >> partisan causes.

accordingly, i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. ♪ >> vice president of the united states. >> thank you. thank you. >> and vice president humphrey became the last democratic candidate to enter the race. as heir to the support that had been given to the president, humphrey acquired a substantial number of delegate votes before the national convention. >> thank you very much. hello there.

>> senator robert kennedy ended most of his campaign speeches with the phrase "some men see things as they are and ask why. i dream of things that never were and ask why not." before those dreams would ever become reality, senator kennedy was killed. shot by an assassin in the kitchen of a los angeles hotel. the nation mourned. and for a time politics were forgotten. although the country had lost a man that many loved, his death could not destroy the essential stability of the democratic process. the nation still had to choose a leader, and in time the campaigns began again.

>> do we have a nixon poster? >> jim wilson, working for nixon in laconia, was looking forward to the republican national convention. the choices at the miami beach convention were richard nixon, governor nelson rockefeller of new york, who was now working hard for the nomination, and california's governor, ronald reagan. ♪ as the republican delegates gathered in this resort city, it soon became clear that nixon was also their choice by an overwhelming mandate. >> the next president of the united states, richard nixon.

>> and i, again, proudly accept that nomination for president of the united states. tonight i see the face of a child. he lives in a great city. he's black. or he's white. he's mexican, italian, polish. none of that matters. what matters, he's an american child. he sleeps the sleep of childhood and he dreams the dreams of a child. that child in that great city is more important than any politician's promise. he is america. i see another child tonight. he hears the train go by. at night he dreams of faraway places where he'd like to go. seems like an impossible dream. but he is helped on his journey through life.

a father who had to go to work before he finished the sixth grade, sacrificed everything he had so his sons could go to college. and tonight he stands before you, nominated for president of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ nixon selected maryland's governor spiro agnew as his running mate for the office of vice president.