United States presidential election, 1964 Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
United States presidential election, 1964

← 1960

November 3, 1964

1968 →


Nominee	Lyndon B. Johnson	Barry Goldwater
Party	Democrat	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
Democrat

Elected President

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democrat

The 1964 United States presidential election was a big contest. It was between Lyndon B. Johnson, the current President from the Democratic Party, and Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona representing the Republican Party.

This election happened after a very sad event in 1963. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. His Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, then became the new President.

Lyndon Johnson wanted to continue many of President Kennedy's plans. This included important work on civil rights, which aimed to give equal rights to all people. Johnson also introduced a set of programs called the "Great Society." These programs were designed to help people who were struggling. They included ideas like Medicare (health insurance for older people) and Medicaid (health insurance for low-income people). There were also programs to protect the environment.

Barry Goldwater had different ideas. He believed the government should be smaller and have less control over people's lives. He was against many of the government programs Johnson supported. During his campaign, a famous actor named Ronald Reagan gave a speech supporting Goldwater. Goldwater was sometimes shown as an extreme candidate. Some people worried his ideas might lead to serious problems, like a nuclear war. His beliefs were quite new for the time. However, they later influenced many politicians who believed in less government, known as libertarian and conservative ideas.

In the end, Lyndon Johnson won the election by a huge amount. This is called a landslide victory. It means he received many more votes than his opponent.

Meet the Candidates
- Democratic Party Candidates
  - Democratic Candidates Gallery
- Republican Party Candidates
  - Republican Candidates Gallery
Images for kids
See also

Meet the Candidates

Democratic Party Candidates

The main candidates for the Democratic Party were:
- Lyndon B. Johnson, who was the President of the United States from Texas.
- George Wallace, who was the governor of Alabama.
- Pat Brown, who was the governor of California.

Democratic Candidates Gallery

President Lyndon B. Johnson
Governor George Wallace of Alabama

Republican Party Candidates

The main candidates for the Republican Party were:
- John W. Byrnes, a U.S. representative from Wisconsin.
- Hiram Fong, a U.S. senator from Hawaii.
- Barry Goldwater, a U.S. senator from Arizona.
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts. He was also the vice-presidential candidate in 1960.
- Richard Nixon, a former Vice President and the presidential candidate in 1960.
- Nelson A. Rockefeller, the Governor of New York. He also ran for president in 1960.
- Margaret Chase Smith, a U.S. senator from Maine.
- William Scranton, the governor of Pennsylvania.
- Harold E. Stassen, a former Minnesota Governor. He had run for president in 1944, 1948, and 1952. He ran from Pennsylvania.