I simplified the history to focus on electoral politics, 1968 was a busy year. Martin Luther King Jr. was also assassinated that year. That had a big effect on Black voters and on the White vote for Wallace and Nixon (both were "law and order").

In the chaos of 1968, who showed up, decided the future.

Wallace, BTW was also gunned down between 68' and 72'. He survived but was paralyzed from the waist down. It ended his political career.

There was a LOT of political violence between 68' and 72' that gets glossed over now.