Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 decisive presidential election victory over Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater always comes up when the subject of landslide elections arises.
Johnson had been vice president under President John F. Kennedy, and became president after the Nov. 22, 1963 assassination of Kennedy. LBJ had only been in office a couple of months when the 1964 presidential campaign began in earnest in January 1964. It had been postponed in the wake of the assassination.
The Johnson-Goldwater tussle offered a clear choice between the incumbent president, a centrist Democrat, and Goldwater, a staunchly conservative Republican. Johnson’s campaign tried to paint Goldwater as a dangerous war-monger, while Goldwater’s campaign attacked Johnson as being too liberal.
Goldwater had a couple of ties to the South Bay that brought him to the area in 1963, after he’d already made it clear that he was running for president. Members of the Peninsula Republican Men’s Club presented him with an award in April 1963 in Torrance, where he was helping his daughter with a project at her home. Social/political events also were held for another daughter, Mrs. Thomas H. Ross, who lived in Redondo Beach where her husband practiced medicine.
Once the campaign began in 1964, Goldwater established a strong South Bay presence.
The first Goldwater for President office in Torrance opened on Jan. 11, 1964, at 4729 Torrance Blvd., near where Scardino’s Italian restaurant currently stands.
His campaign later moved their headquarters to 1323 El Prado in Torrance, across the street from McCown’s Rexall drug store. The small storefront building still stands, just north of the Clutch and Coffee restaurant in downtown Torrance.
Goldwater had to cancel his first major South Bay campaign appearance scheduled for April 6, 1964, at Ascot Park near Gardena because he had to stay in Washington for the congressional debate on civil rights legislation.
On May 16, the Palos Verdes Young Republicans sponsored a one-day to cruise to Catalina Island, where those who paid $10 for a ticket got a chance to meet Goldwater in person.
Goldwater appeared at a major campaign rally at El Camino Stadium (later renamed Murdock Stadium) on the El Camino College campus on Aug. 22, 1964. The 7,000-seat venue was filled for the event, with tickets costing $1.50. Area Congressman Alphonso Bell introduced Goldwater.
Teenagers also got in on the local campaign. The group Torrance Teenagers for Goldwater held a bake sale fundraiser at 228th and Sepulveda in Torrance on Oct. 4.
At Torrance High School, history teacher James Armstrong engaged three of his classes in projects involving the presidential election. (Armstrong later would become one of Torrance’s most celebrated mayors, serving from 1978-1986. )
They spent a total of 18 hours participating in activities outside of the classroom related to the campaign, choosing the side with which they wanted to be involved.
Groups of South Bay and Harbor Area Goldwater supporters also made the pilgrimage to rallies at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on March 19, Dodger Stadium for another major rally on Sept. 16, and then, close to the Nov. 3 election, back to the Sports Arena.
As for Johnson, he had no such local ties. His local Democratic Headquarters office in Torrance didn’t open until October 11, 1964, less than a month before the election. It was located at 1876 Torrance Blvd., currently the site of a residential housing development.
South Bay Johnson supporters did greet Johnson when Air Force One arrived at Long Beach Airport on Oct. 11, the same day as the opening of his Torrance headquarters. From there, they accompanied Johnson to his public speech in South Gate, bypassing the South Bay.
Area newspapers offer no evidence that Johnson made any personal appearances in the South Bay during the campaign.
So how did it all turn out locally? Goldwater may have lost the national race by a large margin, but he won several cities in the South Bay.
According to near-complete results from selected cities reported in the Torrance Press-Herald, Goldwater won the city of Torrance by more than 1,000 votes, 24,293 to 23,241. Thanks to strong Republican support on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Goldwater won in Rolling Hills Estates, 2,351 to 868 votes. It was the largest margin for him in the area.
Johnson had victorious margins in Carson, Lomita and the Los Angeles city and county areas in the South Bay. He also won by more than 400,000 votes in Los Angeles County, and by more than 1 million in the state of California (59.11% to 40.79%).
Nationally, Johnson defeated Goldwater by almost 16 million votes, garnering 61.1% to Goldwater’s 38.5%. Johnson’s final margin in the electoral college was 486-52. He carried 44 states to Goldwater’s six.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Los Angeles Times archives.
“The Most Lopsided Presidential Elections in US History,” by Tom Murse, ThoughtCo. website, Jan. 15, 2020.
Palos Verdes Peninsula News archives.
Redondo Reflex archives.
Torrance Press-Herald archives.
Wikipedia.
1964 presidential campaign ads:
Lyndon Johnson (Credit: Library of Congress):
Barry Goldwater (Credit: JFK Library):
