1964 Election

[Justin]

I Would have voted for Barry M. Goldwater. He held alot of the same beliefs that I do. He believed in a strong military, the idea that states should have more power, and that we should be doing everything in our power to help our allies around the world.

[opebo]

Goldwater was a wonderful guy.  Happily, since Reagan a lot of elected Republicans resemble Goldwater.

[zachman]

Where are you from Justin?

I'm from Bedford.

[Justin]

Where are you from Justin?

I'm from Bedford.

Salem-windham area.

[zachman]

How old are you?

[© tweed]

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor)

But out of these two, Goldwater.

[Justin]

How old are you?

I'm 18.

[zachman]

Do you go to Salem High School?

[Justin]

Do you go to Salem High School?

I do.

[zachman]

Do you know anyone at West?

[Justin]

Do you know anyone at West?

I don't think so.

[zachman]

Oh well, I don't know anyone at Salem.

[dazzleman]

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor)

But out of these two, Goldwater.

Why would you not have voted for Johnson?

I would have had reservations about Goldwater because he was against the Civil Rights Acts.  I am not a liberal, but I don't think that basic rights for all Americans is a conservative-liberal issue, and I think it was absolutely necessary at that time to make the first steps toward ending systematized discrimination, against the spirit and word of the constitution, against blacks.  Despite my dislike of Johnson and the Democrats, I would have been reluctant to vote for a candidate who did not seem to understand this.

[zachman]

Johnson earns my vote for his work on civil rights. Although I disagree with him on Vietnam, and there is some argument that he planned the Kennedy assassination which I am not dismissing. I don't know much about Johnson's personality, but he looks like the stereotypical old man who controls the world, and he is Texan so he loses points for that.

[© tweed]

Why would you not have voted for Johnson?

He was an ego-idiot.  At the time I might have voted for Johnson, but back in hindsight, there is no way.  He was a mess with the "war on Poverty" (Those wars on nouns don't work) and Vietnam.  At least Goldwater would have made the place a "mud puddle" and we could have same hundreds of thousands of American lives.

[dazzleman]

Johnson earns my vote for his work on civil rights. Although I disagree with him on Vietnam, and there is some argument that he planned the Kennedy assassination which I am not dismissing. I don't know much about Johnson's personality, but he looks like the stereotypical old man who controls the world, and he is Texan so he loses points for that.

I think Johnson messed up in Vietnam because he made the worst possible choice - to fight with one hand tied behind his back.  He should have either gone all out or stayed out.

The war on poverty was also a mess, wasting untold billions of dollars and generally making all the problems worse that it sought to address.

But I don't believe for a minute that he planned the Kennedy assassination.  And I wouldn't judge whether to vote for him or not by the state he came from.  That attitude is what make large parts of the country hate "Yankees" and it's hard to blame them.

[dazzleman]

Why would you not have voted for Johnson?

He was an ego-idiot.  At the time I might have voted for Johnson, but back in hindsight, there is no way.  He was a mess with the "war on Poverty" (Those wars on nouns don't work) and Vietnam.  At least Goldwater would have made the place a "mud puddle" and we could have same hundreds of thousands of American lives.

You make some good points.  There were not a lot of good choices that year, and of course, Johnson's tenure looked a lot more promising from the vantage point of 1964 than it did after the Vietnam disaster and the destruction wrought by his war on poverty.

I would also say that you're right that wars on nouns don't work, and that's why I don't refer to our current war as a war on terrorism.  Let's call it what it is -- a war on radical Islamic fundamentalists.  There's no point in being politically correct.

[zachman]

Thats still a noun.

[??????????]

Johnson was a racist, liar, and cost many good American lives in Vietnam. 'Nough said.

[dazzleman]

Thats still a noun.

No, it's a group of evil people, like the Nazis.  It is not a tactic or condition.

[Reaganfan]

If the 1964 election were today.. President Goldwater and Vice President Miller.

[7,052,770]

Wow, i was shocked to see goldwater way up on johnson . . . . i definitely picked johnson btw

[opebo]

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor)

But out of these two, Goldwater.

Why would you not have voted for Johnson?

I would have had reservations about Goldwater because he was against the Civil Rights Acts.  I am not a liberal, but I don't think that basic rights for all Americans is a conservative-liberal issue, and I think it was absolutely necessary at that time to make the first steps toward ending systematized discrimination, against the spirit and word of the constitution, against blacks.  Despite my dislike of Johnson and the Democrats, I would have been reluctant to vote for a candidate who did not seem to understand this.

I think Goldwater would've made a distinction between discrimination by the government and discrimination by private individuals.  I know I would.

[Reaganfan]

Wow, i was shocked to see goldwater way up on johnson . . . . i definitely picked johnson btw

Johnson only won since people were still sorrowing over the Kennedy death.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If the 1964 Election was held now, Goldwater would win only Arizona... and possibly Mississippi.
Black people can vote now