Strength and Moderation

Blue-tinted photographs of Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey with blue text in center of button.  White text on illustration of red ribbon along top of button.  White text on blue portion of button on bottom of button.

Lyndon Baines Johnson or LBJ was sworn in as president following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November of 1963. When he ran with Hubert Humphrey against Senator Barry Goldwater a year later he won in a landslide victory. Barry Goldwater and William (Bill) Edward Miller ran together and lost the presidential election of 1964, representing the Republican ticket.

Goldwater, an Arizona Senator at the time, picked Miller as his vice presidential candidate and the two ran on a campaign of staunch conservatism and anti-communism. Johnson on the other hand fought for an increase in social programs and was seen as a moderate while Goldwater was portrayed as an extremist. This was really highlighted in the Johnson campaign ad "Daisy Girl" which shows a little girl picking petals off a daisy and counting them. Her countdown segues into a launch countdown and nuclear explosion. The ad was in reference to Goldwater's nonchalance of nuclear weaponry and his advocacy of nuclear weapons as standardized tactic in Vietnam.