Nixon took office after the 1968 presidential election, in which he defeated incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., combined with disaffection towards the Vietnam War, the disturbances at the Democratic National Convention, and a series of city riots in various cities, made 1968 the most tumultuous year of the decade. Throughout the year, Nixon portrayed himself as a figure of stability during a period of national unrest and upheaval. He promised 'peace with honor' in the Vietnam War but did not release specifics of how he would accomplish this goal, resulting in media intimations that he must have a 'secret plan'. When Nixon took office in January 1969, the inflation rate had reached 4.7%, the highest rate since the Korean War. Johnson's Great Society programs and the Vietnam War effort had resulted in large budget deficits.
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