the new deal coalition collapsed in the mid-1960s in the face of urban riots, the vietnam war, the opposition of many southern democrats to desegregation and the civil rights movement and disillusionment that the new deal could be revived by lyndon johnson's great society. nixon defeated both hubert humphrey and george c. wallace in 1968. when the democratic left took over their party in 1972, nixon won reelection by carrying 49 states.