Better running mate for Goldwater?
- Thread starter Blair
- Start date
Goldwater seemed to picked Miller simply because he was a good party man. He said that Miller "drives Johnson nuts", but it's unlikely Johnson had any idea who he was. It seems to be a Nixon/Agnew issue: no one knows who the running mate is, but that is the point because he does not detract from the main candidate. On the other hand, not many other Republicans would be willing to run with Goldwater, which is another reason he likely went with Miller.
Goldwater had actually considered Scranton for a while: "He [Goldwater] and Scranton used to be friends; he had considered Bill Scranton as his running mate. Scranton was a pilot, had served in Goldwater's National Guard unit, sat with him for long bull sessions on tours of duty abroad..." https://books.google.com/books?id=6jb9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 But the so-called Scranton letter to the convention, which Scranton apparently never actually saw before it was released https://books.google.com/books?id=3bOJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA172) put an end to that. It made Scranton as hated by conservatives as Rockefeller. (Ironically, unlike many other moderates, Scranton would campaign for Goldwater in the fall.)
With moderates out of the way, the only alternatives were conservatives just as colorless as Miller. Senators John Williams of Delaware and Carl Curtis and Roman Hruska of Nebraska have been mentioned. https://books.google.com/books?id=SdtdAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT46 About the only thing that can be said for any of them is that the Nebraskans might have helped him carry that state with its five electoral votes. But I doubt they could even do that; Nebraska was one of Goldwater's best states, but he still lost it by more than five points. http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/u/usa/pres/1964.txt
With moderates out of the way, the only alternatives were conservatives just as colorless as Miller. Senators John Williams of Delaware and Carl Curtis and Roman Hruska of Nebraska have been mentioned. https://books.google.com/books?id=SdtdAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT46 About the only thing that can be said for any of them is that the Nebraskans might have helped him carry that state with its five electoral votes. But I doubt they could even do that; Nebraska was one of Goldwater's best states, but he still lost it by more than five points. http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/u/usa/pres/1964.txt