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US President National Vote

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> United States > U.S. Executive > Popular Vote

Office

President

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

June 01, 1964 - 12:00pm

Polls Open

November 03, 1964 - 06:00am

Polls Close

November 03, 1964 - 08:00pm

Term Start

January 20, 1965 - 12:00pm

Term End

January 20, 1969 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Thomas Walker

Last Modified

Charlotte Rose June 30, 2019 08:13am

Data Sources

Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U. S. Elections, second edition

Description

President Kennedy’s inauguration day was the first of many challenges which awaited him. The day before the inauguration, Washington DC witnessed a moderate snowfall of eight inches which was enough to stop all traffic. Many cars were abandoned in the roads, and there was some uncertainty how the inauguration would proceed. City plows worked overtime to remove the snow; by daybreak the weather was improving, but the confusion caused by the snow delayed the ceremonies a half an hour. A blinding sun hampered the reading of the speeches once things were underway. VP Johnson tried to help Robert Frost read his poem by holding his hat to block the sun, but it was not enough shade, and Frost repeated the poem from memory. President Kennedy’s speech quoted from an unpopular former President (without citing him) when he concluded with the words “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

One of the earliest troubles facing President Kennedy was the situation with Cuba. The CIA had been planning an attack on the Castro regime using well-trained guerilla refugees, and Kennedy gave his approval for the invasion. The resulting Bay of Pigs disaster was a tough lesson for the new president; he accepted responsibility for the defeat and turned his attention elsewhere.

President Kennedy’s foreign policy overshadowed his domestic agenda. East Germany built the Berlin Wall in 1961 after the Soviet leader Krushchev failed to intimidate Kennedy when they met in Vienna. The Soviets then began to place missiles on Cuba which were aimed at sites in the USA. Kennedy announced a blockade of Cuba to prevent other missiles from arriving; half of the Soviet ships passed through the blockade when it was found that they contained no weapons. Krushchev offered to trade missile sites in Cuba for American sites in Turkey, but Kennedy would not back down. Just as it seemed that nuclear war was imminent, the Soviets agreed to remove their missiles.

President Kennedy’s domestic policies were not enacted during his presidency. His assassination on 11/22/1963 opened the door for these initiatives as a tribute to him. Lyndon Johnson, as the caretaker President, only had one year to work with Congress, but during the months available to him Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Economic Opportunity Act (an anti-poverty measure).

President Johnson coasted to renomination. He did not contest any of the primaries, and most of the delegates selected were not pledged to any specific candidate. However, the Deep South revolted against Johnson; Gov. George Wallace of Alabama entered the Wisconsin and Maryland primaries but lost both. When the Democratic National Convention met, its most important task was to decide how to deal with the Alabama Democratic Party, which had nominated Presidential Electors who opposed Johnson. The convention took a hard line against the Alabama Democratic Party, and in the election no votes were cast for LBJ there.

The Republican Party found itself torn between Sen. Barry Goldwater and its more traditional wing. Goldwater was one of six Senators who voted against the Civil Rights Act, as he felt that the federal government was overstepping its bounds. Goldwater’s supporters flocked to the polls to support him, and he won the key primary of California. His previous defeats in NH, OR, FL, and SD (in the two last states Goldwater lost to unpledged delegates) showed the lukewarm support Goldwater found in Republican ranks, but he had enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot.