President Lyndon B. Johnson/Governor John F. Kennedy (Democratic) - 289 Electoral Votes (49.8%)
Governor Richard Nixon/Governor Nelson Rockefeller (Republican) – 249 Electoral Votes
(49.6%)
It was called one of the closest elections in history – and one of the dirtiest, with historical evidence suggesting the likelihood of voter fraud in Illinois, among other states.
Though President Johnson faced off against George Wallace for the Democratic Nomination for President, an overwhelming victory would keep the Dixiecrats down for the count in 1964. Needing a Vice Presidential candidate, he wanted to turn to Senator Hubert Humphrey, who had been instrumental in passing Civil Rights legislation. However, his team would advise him instead to pick a Governor, considering it was in the domestic policy arena that President Johnson was more popular, and John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts would be selected as a young, energetic campaigner who could help out in urban areas.
On the Republican side of the election, it would be a competition between newly elected Governor Richard Nixon facing off against Governor Nelson Rockefeller in a West Coast vs. East Coast race. Though Senator Goldwater would once again make a bid for the nomination, he would largely be sidelined by the campaign juggernauts in Nixon and Rockefeller.
At the Convention, when Nixon finally beat out Rockefeller for the nomination, he quickly turned around to offer him the Vice Presidential spot as reconciliation to unite the Party. The Republicans saw an in to win the election on Vietnam, and they wanted to be sure they rallied as much of the Party as possible on Election Day.
In the General Election, Nixon would hammer the President on Vietnam and call for “peace with dignity” in the region, explaining we could not run away from the conflict but that the President was “severely mishandling” the situation.
The Democrats, on the other hand would criticize Nixon for his true lack of domestic experience, having only been elected Governor in 1962, and Rockefeller for his recent divorce. On election day, the results would prove close, but in the end, the country would opt to stick by President Johnson.