The 1964 election, LBJ and Goldwater
Barry Goldwater, Arizona state senator, decided to run for the office of President of the United States of America in 1964. His opponent was Lyndon Baynes Johnson who had held the office the year previous due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. One of the biggest issues for both candidates was the situation in Vietnam. Vietnam was the longest war in which the US took part. It lasted between 1957 and 1975, but the US did not become officially involved until 1965. Vietnam, a small country in Asia, was divided into Communist-ruled North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam. North Vietnam and South Vietnamese rebels fought to take over South Vietnam. The US and the South Vietnamese army tried to stop them, but failed in the end. This was a major issue which affected many people in the US. Everyone was related to or knew someone who had been drafted or enlisted to go and fight in the Vietnam war. Inevitably, the two candidates for the presidency had to face this issue and take a definitive stance on it. Normally, the President would just be asked what his opinion was on a war like this to assess what their character was like, but this election it was very important to find out exactly what the would-be president woul
Lyndon B. Johnson was a warmonger. Although initially it seemed that he wanted to keep us out of the Vietnam war, it appeared that this view was not entirely true. The sinking of the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin was very well documented, yet people were much more skeptical of the C. Turner Joy. Many skeptics believed that the sinking of the C. Turner Joy was a complete hoax made up by LBJ. his motivation of course was so that he could get the Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed and subsequently have the power to make all decisions for the US in the Vietnam situation. People who were against sending American troops to Vietnam in 1964 were in the majority. In polls taken by Camp Johnson only 28% of Americans in the US wanted to send troops to Asia, but 78% thought that stopping the spread of Communism was a very important thing to do. One would guess that LBJ thought that by going shipping out soldiers he was, in fact, helping to stop the spread of Communism. Under the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, LBJ never had to declare war against Vietnam because under it, he was taking the necessary measures, as he saw fit, to protect the US and its interests. LBJ ended up winning the election of 1964 in an electoral landslide: 486 to 52 over Goldwater. Many felt though that this election was a revolutionary one in that finally people realized that there was more to the president than what they originally thought. There were many other issues in this election, obviously, yethow the president would react towards Vietnam was definitely on the minds of the people as they went to the polls on Novembe
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Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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