1964 Johnson VS. Goldwater

"Ike at Gettysburg"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate - Transcript
"Ike at Gettysburg," Goldwater, 1964

MALE NARRATOR: Senator Barry Goldwater, speaking with General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Gettysburg.

GOLDWATER: We keep getting back to the subject of war and peace, and in this campaign that Congressman Bill Miller and I are engaged in - for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency - because we constantly stress the need for a strong America, our opponents are refering to us as warmongers, and I'd like to know what your opinion of that would be. You've known me a long time and you've known Congressman Miller a long time.

EISENHOWER: Well, Barry, in my mind, this is actual tommyrot. Now, you've known about war; you've been through one. I'm older than you; I've been in more. But I'll tell you, no man that knows anything about war is going to be reckless about this.

MALE NARRATOR: Vote for Barry Goldwater. In your heart you know he's right.

Credits

"Ike at Gettysburg," Republican National Committee, 1964

Maker: Interpublic: Erwin Wasey, Ruthrauff and Ryan, Inc.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/ike-at-gettysburg (accessed May 31, 2025).

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1964 Johnson Goldwater Results

President Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office following John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, enhanced his image as a tough legislator by winning a hard-fought battle to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which guaranteed African-Americans access to all public facilities, and banned discrimination by race, religion, or sex. The Vietnam War was escalating, but had yet to become a real liability for Johnson.

The margin of Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964 was partly a repudiation of Barry Goldwater’s extreme right-wing views. Goldwater, an Arizona senator and author of the best-selling book The Conscience of a Conservative, won the Republican nomination after a bitter primary campaign against moderate New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. In his acceptance speech, Goldwater made the infamous statement, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." The assertion, meant as a defense of conservatism, merged in the public consciousness with statements in which Goldwater advocated the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam and argued that Social Security be made voluntary.

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