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The U.S. presidential election of 1964 was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in United States history. President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier upon the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, and Johnson had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's popularity. Johnson also successfully painted his opponent, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, as an extremist who might plunge the country into nuclear war. With both of these factors working for him, Johnson easily won the Presidency in his own right.
Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Supporters were saddened by the loss of the charismatic president, while opposition candidates were put in the awkward situation of running against the policies of a slain president.
During the following period of mourning, Republican leaders called for a political moratorium, perhaps so as not to appear disrespectful. Most political pundits agreed the political outlook following the assassination of the president was quite unclear for some time.
Nominations
Democratic Party nomination
The new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, used a combination of the national mood and his own political savvy to push his own agenda; most notably, Johnson managed to get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. Although other Democrats had placed their hat in the ring—significantly, George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, made his first run—by the time of the national convention, Johnson was unassailable, and easily won the Democratic nomination at the Atlantic City convention.Johnson chose Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota as his running mate. Humphrey was a strong New Dealer and proponent of civil rights.
Republican Party nomination
The Republican Party was more divided. Richard Nixon, who had been beaten by Kennedy in a close election, and subsequently lost the 1962 election for Governor of California, decided not to run. Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona, was the champion of the conservative wing of the party, which was dissatisfied with what it perceived as the dominance of the party's Eastern liberal wing. Goldwater was opposed most notably by Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York, and William Scranton, the Governor of Pennsylvania.In the New Hampshire primary, the voters gave a surprising victory to the ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Nixon's running mate in 1960 and a former Massachusetts senator, who was a write-in candidate.
Despite this defeat, Goldwater won the nomination, helped partly by an endorsement from Nixon. In accepting his nomination, he uttered his most famous phrase: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
General election
Campaign
Although Goldwater had been successful in rallying conservatives, his charisma seemed to be inadequate for the general election. Shortly before the Republican convention, he had alienated most Republicans by his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Johnson championed and signed into law. Goldwater argued that it was a matter for the individual states rather than federal legislation. Earlier comments followed Goldwater throughout his campaign. Once he called the Eisenhower administration “a dime store New Deal”, and the former president never fully forgave him. In December 1961, he told a news conference that “sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.” That comment came back to haunt him, in the form of a Johnson television commercial, as did remarks about making Social Security voluntary and selling the Tennessee Valley Authority.Eisenhower’s strong backing could have been an asset to the Goldwater campaign, but instead its absence was clearly noticed. When questioned about the Presidential capabilities of the former President's younger brother, university administrator Milton S. Eisenhower, in July 1964, Goldwater replied, “One Eisenhower in a generation is enough.” The former president did, however, agree to appear in one Goldwater television advertisement.
Johnson positioned himself as a moderate, and succeeded in portraying Goldwater as an extremist. Goldwater had a habit of making blunt statements about war, nuclear weapons, and economics that could be turned against him. Most famously, the Johnson campaign broadcast a television commercial dubbed the “Daisy Girl” ad, which featured a little girl picking petals from a daisy in a field, counting the petals, which then segues into a launch countdown and a nuclear explosion. The ads were in response to Goldwater's advocacy of “tactical” nuclear weapons use in Vietnam. Another Johnson ad, “Confessions of a Republican”, tied Goldwater to the Ku Klux Klan. Voters increasingly viewed Goldwater as a right wing fringe candidate—his slogan “In your heart, you know he's right” was successfully parodied by the Johnson campaign into “In your guts, you know he's nuts,” or “In your heart, you know he might.”
The Johnson campaign's greatest concern may have been voter complacency leading to low turnout in key states. To counter this, all of Johnson's broadcast ads concluded with the line: “Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.” The Democratic campaign used two other slogans, “All the way with LBJ.” and “LBJ for the USA.”
The election campaign was disrupted on October 20, 1964, with the passing of former president Herbert Hoover, because it was considered disrespectful to be campaigning during a time of mourning. Five days later, the final stretch of the campaign resumed after Hoover was laid to rest at his presidential library in Iowa.
Results
The election was held on November 3, 1964. Johnson crushed Goldwater in the general election, winning over 61 percent of the popular vote, the largest percentage since the popular vote first became widespread in 1824. In the end, Goldwater won only his native state of Arizona and five Deep South states that had been increasingly alienated by Democratic civil rights policies. Because states like Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia had not voted Republican in any presidential election since Reconstruction, this was a major transition point for the South, and an important step in the process by which the Democrats' former “Solid South” became a Republican bastion. Nonetheless, Johnson still managed to eke out a bare popular majority of 51%–49% (6.307 to 5.993 million) in the eleven former Confederate states.Source (Popular Vote):
Source (Electoral Vote):
Consequences
While losing quite badly in the 1964 election, Goldwater laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow. Ronald Reagan's speech on Goldwater's behalf, grassroots organization, and the conservative takeover of the Republican party would all help to bring about the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s. Indeed, many of today's leading conservatives first entered politics to work for Goldwater.
Johnson went from his victory in the 1964 election to launch the Great Society program at home, signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and starting the War on Poverty. He also escalated the Vietnam War, which corroded Johnson's popularity. By 1968, Johnson was so unpopular that he had to withdraw as a candidate. Moreover, his domestic policies helped split union members and Southerners away from Franklin Roosevelt's Democratic New Deal Coalition, which would lead to the phenomenon of the "Reagan Democrat". Of the ten presidential elections that followed, Democrats would win only three times. Columnist George Will had this to say about the lasting effects of the 1964 election, "It took 16 years to count the votes, and Goldwater won."
See also
- American Conservatism
- History of the United States (1964–1980)
- History of the United States Democratic Party
- History of the United States Republican Party
- United States Senate election, 1964
Further reading
Books
Web
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United States presidential elections | 1964 elections
Präsidentschaftswahl 1964 (Vereinigte Staaten) | Elezioni Presidenziali degli Stati Uniti del 1964 | Wybory prezydenckie w USA, 1964
"United States presidential election, 1964"