Video: 'NBC Coverage of Election Night 1968.' (16 videos)

(Tuesday, November 5, 1968, during the United States presidential election, 1968) — Republican former U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon of New York was elected President of the United States today, defeating Democratic U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota.

Nixon and his running mate, Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland, defeated Humphrey and his running mate, U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, 43.42-42.72% in the national popular vote, which would result in a 301-191 victory in the Electoral College.

Video: 'CBS New Coverage 1968 Election' (8 videos)

Governor George Wallace of Alabama, running on the American Independent Party ticket, received 13.5% of the popular vote and won 46 electoral votes. His running mate was retired U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay of California.

Incumbent Democratic U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson had been the early front-runner for his party’s nomination, but he announced his withdrawal from the race after anti-Vietnam War candidate Eugene McCarthy finished second in the New Hampshire primary.

Video: 'ABC 1968 Election Coverage Clip'

Nixon and Agnew would be sworn in for four-year terms on January 20, 1969.

Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1968'

Also on this day, Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, New York became the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, defeating the heavily-favored James L. Farmer, Jr., a black candidate for New York’s Liberal Party and the former national director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).