1964_United_States_presidential_election_in_Georgia

1964 United States presidential election in Georgia

1964 United States presidential election in Georgia

Election in Georgia

The 1964 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held on that day throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 1964 United States presidential election
Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Georgia joined Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana in supporting the Arizona senator as a protest against the Civil Rights Act.[1]

Campaign

James H. Gray Sr., the chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, supported Goldwater.[2] Calvin F. Craig, the head of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, supported Goldwater as he saw the election as a battle between Goldwater's "Americanism" and Johnson's "socialism".[3] A "Democrats for Goldwater" group was also organized by the "Citizens' Council".[4]

The majority of opinion polls between July and early October[5] suggested that, despite this widespread opposition to Johnson's programs, Goldwater would not win Georgia. In fact, in early August, Georgia was viewed as alongside Arkansas and North Carolina as the most secure southern state for Johnson.[6] Nevertheless, those Democratic Party delegates who refused to support Goldwater because of his policies on rural electrification and subsidies to tobacco farmers were concerned that Goldwater could carry Georgia – and the entire South – as early as late August.[7]

Moreover, in Valdosta in the far south, the region where resistance to black civil rights was most extreme, white union workers in September had been polled as supporting Goldwater 315 to 19, with 1 vote for George Wallace who would carry the state in 1968.[8] By the end of September, it was clear that the state was bitterly divided, with the previously rock-solid Democratic south rooting for Goldwater but defections from Republican support during the previous election in the northern counties appearing to be almost as widespread,[9] because there was some hope Johnson could reverse large population declines and win support through his program of War on Poverty.[10] By the end of October, amidst much campaigning in the state by both Johnson and Goldwater, it was generally thought Georgia was leaning towards the Republicans.[11]

Compared to the previous election, Georgia swung to the Republicans by over 34%. Among the rural areas of the "black belt" and the south of the state, there were enormous swings to Goldwater.[12] Only 55% of those Georgian voters who supported Nixon in 1960 remained with Goldwater.[13] Goldwater received 65% of the white vote.[14]

During the concurrent House elections of 1964 in Georgia, Republicans picked up a seat from the Democrats, that being the Third District House seat won by Howard Callaway who became the first Republican to be elected to the House of Representatives from Georgia since Reconstruction.

Results

Pro-Union and almost entirely white Appalachia, which previously supported Republican candidates, gave Towns County to the Democrats for the first time since 1952, and nearly switched Gilmer and Pickens Counties. [15][16]

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Results by county

More information County, Barry Morris Goldwater Republican ...

References

  1. [1]
    Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 90-92 ISBN 0786422173
  2. [2]
    'Georgia Demos Will Support National Ticket'; Rome News-Tribune, November 10, 1967, p. 1
  3. [3]
    'Georgia KKK Endorses Barry For Presidency', Chicago Daily Defender, July 28, 196, p. 3
  4. [4]
    McMillen, Neil R.; The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64, p. 351 ISBN 0252064410
  5. [5]
    Grimes, Roy; 'Look Away, Look Away...'; The Victoria Advocate, October 11, 1964, p. 4A
  6. [6]
    Roberts, Chalmers M.; 'Goldwater Riding High in South, Survey Finds: Has Firm Hold on Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida; Texas Rates Tossup'; Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1964, p. 12
  7. [7]
    'South Ponders: "If Georgia Goes to Goldwater ...": Organization Noted'; The Christian Science Monitor, August 25, 1964, p. 1
  8. [8]
    'Goldwater Tops Johnson In a Georgia Union Poll' (Special to The New York Times); The New York Times, September 13, 1964; p. 57
  9. [9]
    Baird, Joseph H.; 'Georgia Vote Doubts Build: Opportunism Charged', Christian Science Monitor, September 16, 1964; p. 11
  10. [10]
    Hunter, Marjorie; 'Poverty Is Issue in Georgia Hills: Democrats Hope to Reverse Their G.O.P. Tradition' (Special to The New York Times); The New York Times, October 19, 1964, p. 26
  11. [11]
    Selover, William C.; 'Nationwide Poll of Polls Shows Wide Agreement on Outcome of Election: Georgia to Goldwater', The Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 1964, p. 6
  12. [12]
    Coleman, Kenneth (editor); A History of Georgia, p. 399 ISBN 082031269X
  13. [13]
    Gimpel, James G. and Schuknecht, Jason E.; Patchwork Nation: Sectionalism and Political Change in American Politics, p. 204 ISBN 0472022911
  14. [14]
    Black & Black 1992, p. 155.
  15. [15]
    Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote, 1896-1932, p. 172 ISBN 080471696X
  16. [16]
    Mickey, Robert; Paths out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America, p. 77 ISBN 1400838789
  17. [17]
    Georgia's Official Register, 1963-1964 (PDF). Atlanta, Georgia: Department of Archives and History. pp. 1500–1507, 1532–1533.

Works cited
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