Johnson first became president when John F. Kennedy was assinated. This being the case he could run twice, but only ran one time. Johnson easily won over Goldwater, while riding the coatails of Kennedy's success. He easily won the popular vote by over 15 million, and earning over 61% of the popular vote. Electoral votes weren't even close Johnson had 9 times the amount of electoral votes than Goldwater. Johnson had 486 to Goldwater's 52.
Johnson ran on the platform for civil rights, and contuining the containment of communism. He called out Goldwater saying that he wanted to use nuclear weapons to try and end the vietnam war. This made many Americans weary of voting for him.
After success with the election of 1964 you would figure that Johnson would have no problem getting re-elected in 1968, but a decrease in his popularity made him withdraw his name from even getting nominated to run for president.
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