1964 Presidential Election

1
1964 Presidential Election
2
Assassination of John F. Kennedy

• The death of JFK had a profound effect on the
  public, who were desperate for strong
  presidential leadership.
• Johnson provided this in the year between
  Kennedys death and the 1964 election.
• Kennedys extensive New Frontier rhetoric had
  kept a liberal agenda alive.
• Within months Johnson had secured the proposed
  tax cut of the previous administration, and then
  moved on to tackle the unconditional war on
  poverty.

3
Johnsons administration

• In the last few weeks of his life, Kennedys
  economic advisors had been preparing plans to
  tackle poverty.
• This was an issue which Johnson felt strongly
  about, and he pursued the task with great vigour.
• The publication of Harringtons The Other
  America brought the issue to national attention.
  He estimated that 25 of the population were
  deeply in need.
• Government statistics calculated that 21 of the
  population were poor predominantly black
  Americans, those living in female headed
  households and the over 65s.
• While Johnson believed that as a rich country,
  America could afford to do something about this,
  he was also keen to demonstrate his ability to
  deal with Congress, which would prove his
  credentials for the prospective presidential
  election.

4
Johnson and Civil Rights

• Johnsons struggle to pass the Civil Rights Act
  absorbed most of his time and effort in the first
  6 months of 1964.
• He refused to make concessions on the bill, and
  individually wooed each senator, keeping a tally
  of his progress.
• Although some liberals and black leaders
  distrusted him, he was greatly admired by many
  black lobbyists.
• Due to his support for civil rights, many
  Southern whites wanted nothing to do with him.
• Johnson realised when he signed the Civil Rights
  Act that he had delivered the Southern states to
  the Republicans for many years to come.

5
Barry Morris Goldwater

• Republican candidate for the 1964 election.
• He was among the most consistently right wing
  senators since his arrival at Washington in 1933.
• Member of the NAACP.
• Strongly anti-Communist, made hasty remarks about
  sending military force to settle overseas
  disputes. Stereotyped him as a trigger happy,
  pugnacious, somewhat uniformed candidate.
  Johnson countered this by posing as the peace
  candidate. (Bornet).
• Many Democrats believed that Goldwaters
  nomination was the best thing that could have
  happened to Johnson.

6
The 1964 election

• Johnson achieved an astonishing national
  triumph. (J. T. Patterson)
• He won all but six states (Mississippi, Alabama,
  South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona).
• Johnson won 43.1 million votes, to Goldwaters
  27.2 million.
• Electoral college results
• Democrats 486
• Republicans 52
• 61.1 compared to FDRs 60.7.
• Yet many who voted for him did so out of distaste
  for Goldwater.
• Johnson never aroused strong affection among
  voters.

7
Questions

• Had Johnson faced a different candidate would he
  have fared so well? Was his mandate strong enough
  to carry him to victory regardless?
• Why were only certain areas of the deep South
  isolated? Why didnt Johnson lose other states in
  this band such as Texas, West Virginia, Florida
  and Arkansas?
• Would Johnson have taken an alternative direction
  had Kennedys mandate been different?