8/27/1964: Democratic convention nominated Johnson and Humphrey, who would win election in landslide

[alp227]

I found this at the LA Times' Facebook page. Eventually, Johnson would trounce the Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, then a US Senator from Arizona and now an icon of conservatism. Johnson won with 61% of the popular vote. Only four elections during the 20th century had a winner of over 60 percent: Harding 1920, Roosevelt 1936, Johnson 1964, and Nixon 1972. Johnson's percentage of the vote remains the largest in US history. The vice president under John F. Kennedy, Johnson became president after JFK was assassinated just under one year before the election.



Just look at how many states went for LBJ in the electoral college! The whole central section of states from North Dakota to Texas has been solidly Republican in the EC in every election since 1972 (but not 1976). The Rocky Mountain states also became a solidly red region after 1968 (except 1992 with MT and CO going for Clinton and 2008 with CO for Obama). Heck, I'm looking up early 20th century election maps and notice how Montana, Idaho, and Utah voted for Roosevelt all four terms. Johnson also won several states that formerly voted for Eisenhower in the '50s and then for Nixon instead of Kennedy in 1960.

Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid, other Great Society and War on Poverty programs, and the Freedom of Information Act. He also enacted the Immigration Act of 1965 that eliminated nationality quotas...and disillusioned, over-entitled conservatives still sneer at it. Unfortunately, Johnson would go down for acting on the inaccurate Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and the urban riots in Watts, Detroit, and Chicago created backlash against the civil rights act. Richard Nixon appealed to working-class white voters by invoking "law and order" in his 1968 campaign. And of course the disastrous Democratic National Convention of 1968 with disputes over the Vietnam War.

Fast forward to now. With the Republicans now controlling the House, Paul Ryan launched a plan to privatize Medicare into a voucher program. In 1996, Bill Clinton signed the welfare reform bill. The next president from Texas, George W. Bush, also launched a war on false pretenses (Iraq). And another Texan, Rick Perry, is so radical that he makes Bush look like a Rockefeller Republican. Would you consider LBJ more progressive than Obama? (Note: throughout his presidency, Johnson had Democratic majorities in both bodies of Congress (the 88th-90th Congresses), including filibuster-proof majorities in the Senate. But the southern Democrats or "Dixiecrats" leaned rightward and were responsible for stalling the '64 CRA.)

[Gman]

1. That was the election that got me hooked on politics

I watched that convention every night. I was 10 years old. I knew I wanted to attend one of those conventions one day. I've been a delegate to 2, so far. I was a Clinton delegate in 92 and a Kerry delegate in 04. But I doubt I'll ever run again for delegate.

[brooklynite]

2. Do you think Johnson/Humphrey would get DU support?

Yes, he was big on Civil Rights and Medicare, but what about the War? And what did they do about Marriage equality?

[alp227]

3. Marriage equality in the '60s? wha...?

If DU were around back then, I think we'd support him until the Vietnam War, similar with how our support for Obama has slid recently.

[bemildred]

4. And then he ramped up the Vietnam War and lost it all. nt