The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. Johnson championed his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also advocating a series of anti-poverty programs collectively known as the Great Society.
About 1964 United States presidential election in brief
The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. Johnson took office on November 22, 1963, following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson championed his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also advocating a series of anti-poverty programs collectively known as the Great Society. Goldwater espoused a low-tax, small-government philosophy. Johnson carried 44 states and the District of Columbia, which voted for the first time in this election. This was the last time that the Democratic Party won the white vote, although they came close in 1992. Johnson’s landslide victory coincided with the defeat of many conservative Republican Congressmen. The subsequent 89th Congress would pass major legislation such as the Social Security Amendments of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act. The long-term realignment of conservatives to the Republican Party continued, culminating in the 1980 presidential victory of Ronald Reagan. The only candidate other than President Johnson to actively campaign was then Alabama Governor George Wallace who ran in a number of northern primaries, though his candidacy was more to promote the philosophy of states’ rights among a northern audience. The Republican Party was divided between its moderate and conservative factions, with Rockefeller and other moderate party leaders refusing to campaign for Goldwater. At the national convention the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party claimed the seats for delegates for Mississippi, not on the grounds of Party rules, but because the official Mississippi delegation had been elected by a white primary system.
Johnson was concerned that, while regular Democrats of the South would probably vote for Gold water anyway, rejecting them would lose him the South. Eventually a compromise was reached and the two Mississippi delegations took two seats: the regular Democratic delegation was required to pledge to support the party ticket; the future Democratic convention would accept a delegation chosen by a discriminatory poll. Many young civil rights workers were offended by any compromise and left the convention; no one from Mississippi and Alabama would sign any pledge to back the Johnson ticket. Johnson received 1,106,999 votes in the primaries. He won the election with 61. 1% of the popular vote, the largest share of thepopular vote of any candidate since the largely uncontested 1820 election. The election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964, and Johnson easily defeated a primary challenge by segregationist Governor GeorgeWallace of Alabama to win the nomination to a full term. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Johnson also won the nomination of his preferred running mate, United States Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Goldwater won his home state and swept the states of the Deep South, most of which had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since end of Reconstruction in 1877. Johnson led by wide margins in all opinion polls conducted during the campaign, although his lead continued to dwindle throughout. The next day Johnson was inaugurated as President of the United States.
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