Goldwater and Miller in '64

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This button was issued for the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater, U.S. Senator from Arizona, and William E. Miller, who served New York's 40th district in the House of Representatives. Running on a conservative platform, Goldwater, a Republican, faced incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson. In his acceptance speech, Goldwater paraphrased the Roman orator Cicero by saying "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue," a phrase for which Goldwater is remembered.

On September 7, 1964, Johnson's campaign broadcast the "Daisy ad," which portrayed a little girl picking petals from a daisy, counting to 10 until a nuclear bomb exploded. It intended to suggest that as president, Goldwater would put the country at risk of nuclear war. Goldwater and Miller lost the election to Johnson and Hubert H. Humphrey. Johnson received 486 electoral votes, while Goldwater won only 52 and just six states. Goldwater represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate from 1953-1965 and 1969-1987.