October 27, 1964. The election is still more than a week away, and LBJ’s hands are already painful from all the handshakes on the campaign trail. At noon today he meets British politician Patrick Gordon Walker, who remarks:
“I don’t know if I should shake hands with you…I hear your hands are in bad shape…”
LBJ is no stranger to strenuous campaigning, going all the way back to the days of his House and Senate races in the ‘30s and 40’s. In his first campaign, in 1937, he campaigned until he collapsed with appendicitis and had to be hospitalized. But he won the race.
Despite his sore hands, his presidential campaign continues today in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Evansville. The President spends the night in Albuquerque, where he will continue the campaign tomorrow.
Follow along on the campaign route here.
LBJ Library photos 432-7-WH64, 432-141-WH64, 432-140-WH64, and 432-217-WH64; images are in the public domain.
October 24, 1964. Today President Johnson visits Memphis, Chattanooga, and Baltimore. In Memphis, President Johnson urges citizens to vote:
“And whether you are Democrats or Republicans, you go in that polling booth and do what you know is right in your heart.”
Follow the campaign with our On the Road with LBJ map, updated daily!
LBJ Library photos 430-2-WH64, 430-82-WH64, 430-86-WH64, 430A-59A-WH64, 430A-127A-WH64; images are public domain.
November 8, 1966. Election Day. LBJ casts his vote at the Pedernales Electric Coop, Johnson City, Texas.
The campaigning in these midterm elections has been fierce: after the 1964 Demoratic sweep, the Republicans have rebounded and are focused on issues of inflation; the costs of the Great Society programs, and those programs’ failures and disappointments; crime; racial strife and riots; a stalled Vietnam War effort, as well as its rising toll in money and lives; and the perceived "credibility gap“ of the Johnson administration on many of these issues.
Democrats had enjoyed two years of a 295/140 majority in the House, and 67/33 majority in the Senate, and have controlled the majority of state governors and legislatures. Few Democrats expect to keep all of their contested seats: the question is how many they will lose. LBJ, for his part, was too good a student of politics to not expect a backlash against his policies–as early as February 1965 he warned his staff that their days of effective leadership were numbered.
LBJ Presidential Library photo #3849-30a. Public domain.
November 3, 1966. 6:33 PM. LBJ speaks with House Minority Leader Gerald Ford (after Ford waits on hold for 2 minutes) to tell him about the results of the Manila conference on Vietnam. Ford interrupts him to express concern about LBJ’s upcoming surgery, which the President explains in detail. LBJ then relays the positions of the leaders he met from the seven represented countries, summarizing, “Those closest to the danger feared the aggression the most.” (at about 7:15)
One interesting side note about his trip (at about 15:30) is LBJ complaining about the 60 Communists “ordered from New York” who carried signs supporting Senator Robert Kennedy for President in 1968. There were also protests of about 1,000 people in the Phillipines and several hundred in Sydney–“but it wasn’t near as bad as Berkeley."
LBJ Presidential Library Photo #A2602-35.
Nov. 3, 1964. Bill Moyers gets a call from a very tired LBJ–who then waits on hold for 30 seconds–about today’s election results. The returns are looking good, Moyers says, and turnout has been heavy. He also reports on his visit to Walter Jenkins.
LBJ ends up winning in a landslide, 61.1% to 38.5%.
June 4, 1952. Dwight David Eisenhower announces his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination for President in Abilene, Kansas. He had resigned from active service on May 31, 1952, and resigned his commission July 1952.
Photo: courtesy of the Eisenhower Library.
September 1948. The legal wrangling over the Texas Senate Democratic primary reaches all the way to the Supreme Court, and relevant legal documents are given to Justice Hugo Black for review. On September 29, 1948, Justice Black signs an order staying the temporary injunction, thus clearing the way for LBJ’s name to be put on the ballot. Black’s order marks the end of the fight for the Democratic nomination.
Meanwhile, LBJ rides with President Truman as he campaigns in Texas by train from San Antonio to Dallas. On to the election!
Find more on President Truman’s 1948 campaign on the Truman Library web site. More on Justice Black here.
After the Alice hearing, the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee meets in Fort Worth to certify the Democratic nominee for the coming Senate election. The 56 members of the committee will have to decide if the questionable results from Precinct 13 and, indeed, across the state, will be allowed to stand. Accusations of fraud fly, from both sides.
The Committee vote is first 29-27 in favor of LBJ. Then, a delegate from Conroe, Texas, reverses herself. The vote is now tied 28-28.
The Executive Committee gives the six absent members one more chance to vote before the chairman will be forced to cast the tiebreaker between Stevenson and LBJ.
“None of the first five responded, but as [state party secretary Vann] Kennedy shouted the name of Charlie Gibson of Amarillo, the last one on the list, Gibson, who some claim was drunk and had to be rushed to the ballroom, ran in the back of the hall, climbed on a chair, and asked what motion was being considered. After being told, he cast the deciding vote for Johnson. The hall erupted in cheers and boos, while someone kicked over Gibson’s chair.”
Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times. New York: Oxford Press, 1991, p. 335.
September 13, 1948. There is a hearing in Alice, Texas, about the Senate Democratic primary results. Gov. Coke Stevenson, seated at the table holding a cigar, awaits the outcome. The buckets at front left are full of ballots.
LBJ Library photo 48-9-1. The Johnson Library has no information about the original source of this item. Copyright restriction warnings may apply.
Alice made national headlines during the 1948 primary election for state senator. Lyndon Baines Johnson and Governor Coke Stevenson both ran for the Democratic party nomination. It was alleged that Johnson won the primary because he had stolen the election with the help of George B. Parr, political boss, who controlled both Duval and Jim Wells counties. Alice became the focal point of a federal investigation when it was alleged that Alice’s Precinct 13 ballot box had been stuffed.
Saturday night, August 28, 1948: Coke Stevenson leads LBJ by 2,119 votes according to the (unofficial) Texas Election Board.
Sunday, August 29, 1948: LBJ is up by 693 votes, with 11,000 still to be counted.
Monday, August 30, 1948: Stevenson leads by 119 votes with 400 votes to be counted.
Tuesday, August 31, 1948: Stevenson leads by 349 votes.
—Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times. New York: Oxford Press, 1991, pg. 327.
August 28, 1948: Primary election Day, Senate Campaign Election day. LBJ, Lady Bird, and their two young daughters at their house on Dillman St, Austin.
LBJ Library photo 48-8-22. The Johnson Library has no information about the original source of this item. Copyright restrictions may apply.
June 28, 1941: LBJ speaks with voters on one last campaign stop in Johnson City. The election was later that day.
LBJ Library photo 41-6-130, by the Austin American-Statesman. Use free with credit to the original source.
“Lyndon’s aggressive identification with Roosevelt, the stumbling campaigns of his opponents, his unrelenting efforts to be known in every corner of the district through personal appearances, newspaper ads, mailings, and radio talks gave him a surprisingly large victory margin on election day.”
Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, p. 154.