Nixon Is Re-Elected to a Second Term, Winning All But 17 of Electoral Votes

Richard Milhous Nixon swept into his second term yesterday will the largest Presidential vote margin of the century.

Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, the Democratic candidate, carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia for a total of 17 electoral votes.

As of 2 a.m. Nixon had received 26,393,034 votes or 62 per cent while McGovern had won 15,597,300 votes, or 37 per cent.

Ticket splitting throughout the nation prevented the Nixon landslide from shaking the Democrat's control of Congress. As of 2 a.m. the Republicans appeared to have gained 15 seats in the House and one in the Senate.

The election results confirmed the predictions of the pollsters. The Republican standard bearer won about half the vote in traditionally Democratic cities like Chicago, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and he earned New York City.

Hawaii voted for a Republican President for the first time since receiving statehood in 1959 Southern states went heavily for Nixon. In some of them, he received over 35 per cent of the vote.

Only Massachusetts backed the tide. Return at 2 a.m. with about half the vote in indicated McGovern leading with 58 per cent of the vote to Nixon's 42 per cent.

The youth vote in the first election in which 18 year olds could vote seemed to have little effect. Nixon claimed a majority of the youth vote and the size of his voters seemed to corroborate his statement.

The outcome of the election became evident early. All three television net works announced a Nixon victory by 9.30 p.m. with NBC leading the pack with a projection at 8.30 p.m.

Speaking to his supporters three hours later in the South Dakota Democratic campaign headquarters. McGovern said

All of this effort. I am positive will bear from for years to come.

Taking credit for the acceleration of Vietnam negotiations. McGovern said. "There can be no question at all that we have pushed this country in the direction of peace, and I think each one of us loves the title of peacemaker more than say office in the land."

The south Dakota senator mentioned the role of the "loyal opposition" and remarked. "We do not rally to the support of policies that we deplore, but we do love this country and we will continue to beckon it to a higher standard."

Nixon responded 15 minutes later with a televised statement from the White House. "I know that after a campaign, if one loses, one can feel very low, and his supporters can feel very low, and his supporters can feel very low," said Nixon who lost a Presidential campaign in 1960 and the California gubernatorial campaign two years later.

The loser as well as the winner, however, must continue to "play the game of politics." Nixon continued.

Appearing at the Shorthand Hotel to address his campaign workers shortly after midnight. Nixon began his talk with abundant praise of his running-mate. Vice president Spiro T. Agnew. "The Vice President has proved he's a great campaigner," Nixon said.

Referring to his re-election as maybe the greatest victory in American political history." Nixon said it "will be a great victory depending on what we up with it."

He thanked his campaign workers "for making, our last campaign the very best one of all."

The Nixon cast their voted in San Clemente, Calif., and the McGoverns voted in Sinux Falls S.D.

For McGovern, it was the end of a 22 month campaign in which he drove uphill to win the nomination but could not continue the ascent to the White House.

Concentrating on the major-industrial states. McGovern traveled over 200,000miles including 4,000 might be like day before the election.

In contrast, Nixon run a low-key campaign, appearing on radio and television only in the last stretch of the campaign and never once mentioning the name of his opponent. His only election-eve activity was a tapped, 13-paragraph statement in which he pledged a speedy end to the war.

The disclosure nearly two weeks age of seemingly substantial peace negotiations boosted an already soaring Republican campaign. For many voters, the rumored immense of peace deprived the South Dakota senator of his major issue.

The disclosure of Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton's history of mental illness helped obscure all issues by forcing McGovern to seek a new running-mate only days after the Democratic Convention ended. Combined with McGovern's reversal on his welfare proposals, the Eagleton affair permitted Nixon to depict the challenger as an incompetent who could not control his own staff, let alone the country.

McGovern's attempt to make correction a chief issue in the campaign was unsuccessful. Pointing to a range of alleged scandals involving dairy farmers, wheel formers, ITT, and the bugging of the Democratic headquarters at Watergate, McGovern called the Nixon Administration "the most corrupt in American history." These criticisms seemed to backfire, however, as many voters objected to their shrill tone