United States presidential election: U.S. President Richard Nixon is re-elected in the largest landslide victory at the time.
1972 United States presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew defeated Democratic Senator George McGovern and former Ambassador Sargent Shriver in a landslide victory. With 60.7% of the popular vote, Richard Nixon won the largest share of the popular vote for the Republican Party in any presidential election.
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California in both houses of the United States Congress before serving as the 36th vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.