http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1964
All the way with LBJ.
This was the first Presidential campaign I remember clearly.
My parents were Goldwater partisans, and so was I at the time. But in your guts you know he’s nuts, and in your brain you know he’s insane. LBJ it is, even knowing that he would escalate the war in Vietnam. It’s not like Goldwater would have done any less.
Should I vote for the guy that signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the guy that voted against it? That’s a no-brainer for me. And looks even better in retrospect knowing that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1968 Civil Rights Act, and Medicare/Medicaid would be coming in LBJ’s second term. And since the whole progressive agenda made very little progress between 1968 and 2009, having LBJ in office for those four years is pretty important to me. Sure, he was horrible on Vietnam, but I’m not willing to gamble that Goldwater wouldn’t have been worse.
The sleazebag over the nutcase, definitely.
Other than his making it easier for Nixon to try to get us killed, Johnson was a pretty good president. I like a guy who can both bully Congress and cut a deal.
No AuH[sub]2[/sub]O in 64 for me this time. I regret supporting him the first time, but I was 10.
One of the most no-brainer elections in history. LBJ and the Great Society for me.
I was just two months old when LBJ won his big victory in November 1964, but yes, he would’ve had my support. He was a legislative master, and built on and greatly extended JFK’s accomplishments.