ABSTRACT
The events of 1968 touched off a wave of change that engulfed both Democrats and Republicans and laid the foundation for a new order in American politics, one with a changed place for the news media. Indeed the enhanced prominence of the media in the political system that resulted from the turmoil of 1968 gave rise to the widely accepted notion that journalists had shouldered aside the established political leadership to assume dominance of American politics. Party leaders clung to their old titles and struggled to preserve their traditional influence. In the New Hampshire primary, the peace candidate for the Democratic nomination, Gene McCarthy, won enough votes to claim a moral victory over Johnson. The assassination of Robert Kennedy traumatized the nation and robbed the Democrats of the leader best able to exploit the reputation of John Kennedy and hold together the fractious elements of the old New Deal coalition.
