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Vance Hartke Presidential Candidacy 1972
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| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Edited | Chronicler Jun 20, 2024 04:35pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Chronicler |
| News Date | Thursday, June 20, 2024 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | R. Vance Hartke was one of a group of Democrats who campaigned for the presidential nomination in 1972 to run against Richard Nixon. His campaign was always underfunded and generally ignored by the press, resulting in little connection with Democratic voters.
Hartke was thought to hold a relatively safe seat in the US Senate. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, long before that position was popular. Imagine his surprise when his re-election race in 1970 was a squeaker and his Republican opponent challenged the result. To repair his image, Hartke began a tour around Indiana in 1971 to speak with voters (Evansville Courier and Press, 9/5/1971). In the fall of 1971, Sen. Birch Bayh ended his presidential campaign due to his wife's illness. The Indiana Democratic committee, having supported favorite sons in 1964 and 1968, voted unanimously not to sponsor a favorite son in 1972. At that point, Hartke was considering a presidential run in 1972 and realized that he would need to campaign in other states in order to obtain the Indiana Democratic support for the state primary (Evansville Courier-Journal, 11/23/1971).
Early Maneuvering
The first step in Hartke's campaign took place in December 1971. A group of 150 Indiana Democrats ran a full-page display advertisement in 12 newspapers. The group, operating under the name "Committee to Draft Vane Hartke for President," was led by an insurance executive and a woman with a political science degree; included in the list of supporters was William Fortune, former state treasurer (Greensburg Daily News, 12/18/1971). Charles Roche, a former aide in the JFK administration who supported Hartke, visited Democrats in New Hampshire to evaluate Muskie's strength there. At that point, only three Democrats expressed an interest in opposing Muskie in NH (Charlotte Observer, 12/21/1971). Roche found that Democrats in NH were not sold on Muskie and wanted candidates to discuss middle class unemployment, the Vietnam War, high medical costs, and insecurity of seniors. Roche then became Hartke's national campaign manager (Buffalo News, 1/22/1972). In three days, Hartke gathered 3,000 signatures to obtain ballot access in NH (with 1,000 required). In tailoring his positions for NH voters, Hartke advocated an import quota system to regulate textiles and shoes, proposed a national system of homes for the aged, and proposed expanded Social Security and medicate benefits (Biddeford-Saco Journal, 12/31/1971).
Entering the Race
Hartke announced his candidacy on January 3, 1972. His busy itinerary that day began with an event in NH on the spot in the Sheraton-Carpenter Hotel in Manchester where JFK entered the race in 1960, after which Hartke filed his NH petition, then flew to Indianapolis for his announcement, and then flew to California for events in Los Angeles and San Francisco the next day. He confirmed his endorsement by James White, the Democratic chairman of Hillsboro County (the county with 40% of NH Democrats). In Indianapolis, Hartke spoke as an advocate for the "helpless victims of drug addiction," the poor, able-bodied jobless workers, underemployed people, abandoned mothers, and children of misfortune (Indianapolis Star, 1/4/1972).
In an ominous turn of events, Sen. Bayh chose not to endorse Hartke. Bayh told the press that Hartke needed to prove himself with a primary victory somewhere, such as NH, FL, or WI before Indiana Democrats would support him (Vidette-Messenger of Porter County, 1/5/1972). When some members of the press asked him some questions informally later in the month, Hartke complained that the press was generally ignoring his campaign. As a response, syndicated columnist Tom Braden wrote a very negative column about Hartke, portraying him as a Washington insider who helped businesses with legislation they needed after they made contributions to his campaign (Columbia Daily Tribune, 1/19/1972). This article prompted Hartke's national finance chairman Eugene K. Garfield to leave the campaign (Lansing State Journal, 1/23/1972). Lucian Warren of the Buffalo Evening News wrote an article in reply that warned people not to underestimate Hartke (Buffalo News, 1/22/1972). In mid-January, Hartke's campaign reserved 100 hotel rooms near the DNC convention site as in indication of his intention to pursue the nomination all the way (Lansing State Journal, 1/23/1972).
With the press generally ignoring him, Hartke finally made the news on February 15, 1972, when he recommended that President Nixon meet with Castro as an extension of Nixon's visit to China. Hartke believed that opening a dialogue, even without formal diplomatic relations, would create opportunities to reduce the number of plane hijackings and achieve other goals in the national interest (Miami Herald, 2/16/1972). The Democratic contenders were discussing holding a debate of some kind; Hartke had wanted to debate McGovern, who had incorporated some of Hartke's ideas into his proposals, but McGovern said he would prefer to debate Muskie or Lindsay (Tampa Bay Times, 2/16/1972). As a five-candidate debate approached, Hartke stated that his campaign was critical to Democrats because he was the only one who could actually defeat Nixon in the general election (Portsmouth Herald, 2/26/1972).
Having skipped the Iowa caucus, Hartke needed a strong showing in NH. In the days before the primary, he was one of a few contenders meeting with voters nonstop. On Leap Day, he chose not to travel to the Senate to vote on legislation to overturn the busing mandate. Rather than taking a stand in favor of busing, Hartke said that strong schools in general were more important than what school a particular student attended (Concord Monitor, 3/1/1972). The debate on March 5 was disappointing for Hartke because a key topic was disclosing financial donors by McGovern and Muskie. Hartke tried to bring the discussion back to timely issues unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, Yorty painted the three Senators as all identical liberal Democrats, which helped to obscure differences in their approaches (Concord Monitor, 3/6/1972). New Hampshire's primary fell on March 7, 1972, and Democrats there did not help Hartke. He placed fifth with just under 3% of the vote, behind a write-in effort for Wilbur Mills.
With McGovern and Muskie soaking up all the media attention after the New Hampshire primary, Hartke wondered if he should continue his campaign. He wanted to continue at least for another week since his campaign was organized for the Florida primary. However, lack of interest caused his campaign to cancel two events (Concord Monitor, 3/11/1972). While Hartke considered his options, the Florida primary took place; Democrats gave Hartke less than 1% of their vote. He then travelled to Wisconsin to campaign, but on March 26, 1972, he withdrew from presidential contention. Still hurt that McGovern had taken some of his ideas, Hartke endorsed Humphrey for the nomination (Charlotte Observer, 3/271972).
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