1964 United States presidential election

The 1964 United States presidential election happened on November 3, 1964. It was between Democrat Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States, and his running mate Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, against Republican Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona, and his running mate, Congressman William Miller of New York.

1964 United States presidential election

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Nominee Lyndon B. Johnson Barry Goldwater Party Democratic Republican Home state Texas Arizona Running mate Hubert Humphrey William E. Miller Electoral vote 486 52 States carried 44 + DC 6 Popular vote 43,127,041 27,175,754 Percentage 61.1% 38.5%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Goldwater/Miller, Blue denotes those won by Johnson/Humphrey. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Elected President Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic

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In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Johnson (his vice president) became president of the United States.

Lyndon Johnson campaigned to continue many of Kennedy's policies and ideas such as civil rights. He supported a series of programs called the "Great Society" to improve the quality of living for poor people which included programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and environmental programs.

Barry Goldwater had the opposite belief that the government should be smaller and he was against government programs. During his campaign, actor Ronald Reagan made a famous speech called "A Time For Choosing" in support of Goldwater. Goldwater, during the campaign, was portrayed as an extremist who condoned the actions of the KKK and would cause nuclear war. His beliefs were radical at the time, but they would later influence many libertarian and conservative politicians.

Lyndon Johnson won the election by a landslide, and this was the last presidential election where Democrats carried any of 8 particular states.