1964 Election (The Hearse at Monticello)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

While Barry Goldwater would cruise to victory in the 1964 American Party primary, besting all three of his major opponents by a wide margin, the Populist Primary ended not in the orderly coronation of a nominee but a three-way deadlock between Vice President Lyndon Johnson of Texas, former Secretary of State Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, and Governor Matthew Welsh of Indiana. When the National People's Convention convened in Philadelphia, neither of these three candidates held a majority of delegates. After two tense days of political haggling, what would be termed the most momentous compromise in modern political history was reached: all three candidates dropped out of the race, and the convention voted to nominated Chief Justice A. Phillip Randolph as the party's candidate for president in 1964.

As the general election campaign begins, it has become clear that the two nominees could not be more different. Randolph, the first African-American ever nominated for president by a major party, has served on the Supreme Court since 1925, when then-President Upton Sinclair chose him to replace William Jennings Bryan as the nation's chief judicial officer. A strong supporter of the anti-poverty movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Randolph has called for vigorous government action to combat poverty, including a minimum wage hike and a massive expansion of most welfare programs. Goldwater, by contrast, is demanding a dramatic reduction in the size and scope of the federal government. If elected, he has promised to dismantle much of the welfare state, including Social Security and the National Health Service. Goldwater has also called for more aggressive opposition to the U.S.S.R. and international communism in general, in contrast to Randolph's anti-war tendencies. In order to appeal to moderate voters, Goldwater has selected Governor Margaret Chase Smith of Maine as his running mate, who if elected will become the first female vice president since Eleanor Roosevelt.

Go!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Goldwater so there's no racism powered Republican triumph in 1968.

Blacks achieved full civil rights ITTL in the 1850s, so I doubt this will happen regardless.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Wow...

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The subtraction of my vote for Randolph breaks the tie.

1964 Presidential Election

Senator Barry Goldwater (American-Arizona)/ Governor Margaret Chase Smith (American-Maine): 271 Electoral Votes; 50.9% popular votes
Chief Justice A. Phillip Randolph (People's-Florida)/ Governor Matthew Welsh (People's-Indiana): 267 Electoral Votes; 49.1% popular votes

In one of the closest elections on record, Senator Barry Goldwater narrowly bested Chief Justice A. Phillip Randolph, returning the American Party to power eight years after the scandals of the Bricker Administration gave rise to the presidency of Estes Kefauver. Randolph, the first black man to run for the presidency as the candidate of a major political party, would loose the election by less than 2% of the popular vote nationally.

Just a suggestion, but I'd like to see shades (>40%, >50% etc) in future electoral maps. It would be interesting to know where the strongholds and swing states are.

I can't promise I'll do this for every election, but here you are:

Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania were all decided by extremely slim margins (>1,000 votes), with Randolph drawing support from urban centers in all three. Goldwater's conservatism likewise allowed Randolph to make inroads to New England, with Massachusetts voting Populist for the first time since 1948. Conversely, Randolph lost votes in socially conservative states like Indiana and Iowa, where rural voters were alarmed by some of Randolph's more radical social views.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Huh, I assumed it would be thrown to Congress, like other perfect tie elections.

Actually, we haven't had a tie in a two-way election before. The closest we've come to that in this series was 1808, when ElectionsGuy broke the tie by voting for Madison after the deadline. Since Randolph and Goldwater were the only two candidates, it seems probable the results of a House poll would have been the same, and I don't feel like spending two weeks on this election.