Johnson selected Hubert Humphrey as running mate

By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

Sixty years have gone by since Lyndon Johnson faced Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. That campaign is remembered by many people, including senior citizens, residing here in Otter Tail County.

Johnson, nominated at the 1964 Democratic national convention, was the sitting president. He had assumed the office on Nov. 22, 1963, when he took the oath of office following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Johnson, a Texas native known as LBJ, had served as Kennedy’s vice president since January 1961.

LBJ selected Minnesota’s Sen. Hubert Humphrey as his running mate in 1964, approved by delegates at the national convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Goldwater, a U.S. senator from Arizona, was nominated at the 1964 Republican national convention in San Francisco. Many people remember the name of the convention center which was known as the Cow Palace. Goldwater’s running mate was William Miller.

LBJ, during the race for president, stressed civil rights and legislation to address social concerns, including the issue of poverty. Goldwater campaigned for limited government. Both candidates were guarded about how to address the evolving U.S. presence in the Vietnam War.

Johnson handily won the election in November 1964. However, he increased the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam in 1965 and by end of his term the war divided the nation. LBJ chose not to seek reelection in 1968.

Richard Nixon, who had served as vice president for President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, defeated Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey in the race for president in 1968.

Twelve years earlier, in 1956, Nixon spent an overnight at Glendalough near Battle Lake, several years before the property became a state park. Eisenhower had spent time at Glendalough in 1952.