A compendium of who the presidents voted for...

[Fuzzy Bear]

this is something i've always wondered. I've always wondered if George Mahon, Wright Patman, Bill Poage, F.E. Hebert etc voted for McGovern in 1972 or if Javits, Brooke, Case etc voted for Goldwater in 1964.

Patman voted for McGovern; he was the chair of the House Banking Committee that first investigated Watergate in 1972, and Patman's efforts were frustrated by Nixon's influence with a few key Southern Democratic conservatives on the committee, plus Rep. Frank Brasco (D-NY) who was soon to be indicted.

Someone already shared Poage's loyalty to the Democratic ticket. 

Hebert didn't vote in elections; he was an odd duck that way.  He NEVER endorsed any Presidential candidates.

Mahon likely took the posture that he was voting for the Democratic ticket, but wasn't going to ask anyone else to.  He was the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, so he was a big part of the leadership.  If he had been too disloyal he might have been ousted after the 1974 elections, as Bob Poage (unfairly) was.

Javits did not endorse Goldwater, and was publicly neutral.  It's quite possible that Javits voted for Goldwater in the privacy of the voting booth.  In Goldwater's second Senate stint, he and Javits were good friends.  Goldwater endorsed Javits in the 1980 NY GOP Senate Primary in his race against Al D'Amato.

Case did not endorse Goldwater, and probably voted for Johnson in the privacy of the voting booth.

Brooke wasn't a Senator in 1964.  He was a committed GOP partisan, despite being a liberal.  He never, while in political office, opposed the GOP volubly.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I would place very heavy odds that Carter voted for LBJ in '64 and I really doubt he voted for Nixon in '72; he opposed McGovern at the convention, but also lobbied for the veep slot after McGovern was chosen. It's likely his "stop McGovern" efforts was a show for conservative voters back home, and I suspect the same of his claim to have supported Wallace in '68 (elsewhere, he intimated he had backed RFK for the Dem. nomination).

Carter was out of politics in 1968.  He may well have voted for Wallace, but he didn't campaign for Wallace at the time.  I tend to think Carter quietly voted for Humphrey.  Carter's mother ran a campaign office for LBJ in 1964, so I'm sure he voted for LBJ.  Carter went out of his way to criticize McGovern in 1972, all the while stating he would vote for McGovern, but not campaign for him.  Carter didn't dislike McGovern, but McGovern grew to intensely dislike Carter.  The normally forgiving McGovern told Hunter Thompson that Carter was "the worst p---k in politics".  In retrospect, McGovern may have been right.  Carter was one of the least likable men ever to be elected President, and it was a big reason why folks jumped ship on him when his Administration seemed to be floundering.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I would also question the claim that Wilson never voted for William Jennings Bryan.  Wilson was one of our most overtly theological Presidents and Bryan was the most vocally religious Presidential candidate in history.  Wilson was a native Southerner (from Virginia) and not likely to be warm to the GOP; he was also something of a racist who, at best, was uncomfortable amongst blacks, and the GOP was the black man's party in Wilson's lifetime.  Lastly, Wilson, as President, appointed Bryan Secretary of State.  I firmly believe that Wilson voted for Bryan in 1900 and 1908 at the least.