Hubert Humphrey

Would Ronald Reagan, the former movie actor who had been Governor of California for just two years, have beaten Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 presidential election – if Republicans had nominated him?   The Reagan of the late 1960’s was perceived differently than he was when he was elected President in 1980 – he was viewed as Barry Goldwater’s guy, a conservative that was not necessarily in line with the Clifford Case wing of the New Jersey GOP.  In 1969, Reagan came to Millburn to headline a fundraiser for GOP gubernatorial candidate William Cahill on the same day the campaign announced key Democratic endorsements in Hudson County.  Cahill made only a brief appearance at the Reagan event, and headed instead for Democrats for Cahill events in North Bergen and Jersey.  The endorsements overshadowed Reagan’s visit.

Robert F. Kennedy campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968

Working guard duty at Fort Dix in 1968, 22-year-old government issue Ray Lesniak counted himself a fortunate one because he didn't get shipped off to Vietnam.

"Even though I ain't no senator's son," said the senator, 40 years later now, quoting the Creedence Clearwater Revivial song lyrics from the older era.

He was into politics even then, and he liked Sen. Robert Kennedy for president.

"I was a huge supporter," he said.

For insiders like Lesniak who have been immersed in Democratic Party stand-offs for decades, the primary rumble between senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama bears traces of that 1968 match-up between establishment warhorse Hubert Humphrey and tousle-headed rock star Kennedy.

In the final days of Eugene McCarthy’s campaign for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination – when Hubert Humphrey appeared to have the votes to win following the assassination of Robert Kennedy and George McGovern’s last-minute replacement candidacy never took hold – McCarthy released a list of possible cabinet appointments.  He had narrowed his choice for U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development down to two choices: Governor Richard Hughes of New Jersey and Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York.