On this day in 1964 Lyndon Johnson who became POTUS less than a year earlier with the assassination of President Kennedy, destroyed Republican challanger Barry Goldwater in the presidential election. This was one of those no chance elections. There was no way that the people of the United States after losing Kennedy was going to elect Goldwater and have 3 presidents in the period of 14 months.

Johnson won 44 of the 50 states and won 61.1 % of the popular vote. A number of times following landslide elections the winner who is riding high hits hard times. For Johnson it would be Vietnam. 4 years later he wouldn’t even stand for election. He would leave office one of the most unpopular presidents in American history. His reputation has been on the upswing in recent years though.