1964 United States presidential election in Georgia

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United States presidential election in Georgia, 1964

← 1960 November 3, 1964 1968 →
 
Nominee Barry Goldwater Lyndon B. Johnson
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Arizona Texas
Running mate William E. Miller Hubert Humphrey
Electoral vote 12 0
Popular vote 616,584 522,557
Percentage 54.1% 45.9%

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

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 fifty states and The District of Columbia. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Background

During the 1960s the Deep South was in a state of turmoil due to upheavals resulting from the black Civil Rights movement. The Democratic Party had traditionally been the defender of white supremacy and segregation in the South, but ever since acquiring the support of northern blacks in the 1930s, wartime race riots in Detroit,[1] and the ascendancy of Henry A. Wallace to the vice-presidency its left wing had become strong supporters of moves to restore black political rights in the former Confederacy.[2] The growth of protests and marches demanding black civil rights in the region early in the 1960s led the reluctant John F. Kennedy[3] to submit “sweeping Civil Rights legislation to Congress”.[4] Following Kennedy’s assassination, new President Lyndon Johnson, although a Southerner, felt he had to act quickly with Civil Rights legislation, which produced the Civil Rights Act of July 1964.

The independence of county governance from the state legislature,[5] and the very large number of counties in the state, produced a split in policy between areas in and north of Atlanta versus the south of the state. In the south of Georgia, local officials behaved similarly to those of Mississippi and organised large-scale, violent “massive resistance” to desegregation and voter registration by blacks.[6] Although Governor Carl Sanders endorsed Johnson,[7] and was bitterly critical of Goldwater’s belief that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”,[8] he was alone among Georgia’s leading officials in doing so. Most state politicians, led by James H. Gray,[9] firmly preferred Republican nominee, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater because of his vote against the Civil Rights Act, as did Calvin F. Craig, who headed Georgia’s powerful Ku Klux Klan, because he saw the election as battle between Goldwater’s “Americanism” and Johnson’s “socialism”.[10] A “Democrats for Goldwater” group was also organized by the “Citizens’ Council”.[11]

Polls

The majority of opinion polls between July and early October[12] suggested that, despite this widespread opposition to Johnson’s programs, Goldwater would not take the Peach State. In fact, in early August Georgia was viewed as alongside Arkansas and North Carolina as the most secure southern state for Johnson.[13]

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.[14]

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 one vote for George Wallace who would carry the state in 1968.[15] 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,[16] because there was some hope Johnson could reverse large population declines and entrenched poverty.[17]

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.[18]

Vote

As it turned out Georgia joined Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana in supporting the Arizona senator as a protest against the Civil Rights Act,[19] although it did so by a smaller margin – 8.25 percentage points – than any other Deep South state Goldwater carried.[20] Compared to the previous election, Georgia swung to the Republicans by over 34 percentage points, though this masked enormous regional differences. Among the rural areas of the “black belt” and the south of the state, there were enormous swings to Goldwater as the whites – the only people who voted – totally deserted Johnson.[21] For instance, Miller County went from 94 percent for Kennedy to only 14 percent for Johnson, and Lee County from 69 percent for Kennedy to only 19 percent for Johnson. In contrast, only 55 percent of those Georgian voters who supported Nixon in 1960 remained with Goldwater,[22] resulting in Johnson claiming pro-Union Towns County – which Herbert Hoover won by 48 votes in 1932[23] whilst FDR won the state by 83.83 percentage points – for the Democrats for the first time since 1952, and nearly carrying Gilmer and Pickens Counties.

Goldwater’s victory in Georgia in 1964 was the Republican Party’s first ever victory in the state in any Presidential election. This was an incredible feat, especially given that Goldwater lost to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide. The Peach State had long been a Democratic stronghold, which it would remain, Presidential elections aside, well into the 1990s. Between 1852 and 1960, Georgia had supported the Democratic Presidential nominee in every election with the sole exception of 1864, when Georgia had seceded from the Union. However, from this election onward, the Peach State has supported Democrats only three times, and two of those occurred when Georgia native Jimmy Carter was on the ballot.

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

United States presidential election in Georgia, 1964.[20]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Barry Goldwater William E. Miller 616,584 54.12% 12
Democratic Lyndon B. Johnson Hubert Humphrey 522,557 45.87% 0
Write-ins 193 0.02% 0
Socialist Workers Clifton DeBerry (write-in) Ed Shaw 1 0% 0
Constitution[a] Joseph B. Lightburn (write-in) Theodore Billings 1 0% 0
Totals 1,139,336 100.00% 12
Voter turnout (Voting age) 40%

Results by county

County Goldwater# Goldwater% Johnson# Johnson% Write-ins# Write-ins% Total votes cast
Appling 2,597 62.44% 1,562 37.56% 4,159
Atkinson 1,157 58.76% 811 41.19% 1 0.05% 1,969
Bacon 2,136 64.43% 1,179 35.57% 3,315
Baker 914 60.33% 600 39.60% 1 0.07% 1,515
Baldwin 3,430 55.59% 2,740 44.41% 6,170
Banks 548 30.34% 1,258 69.66% 1,806
Barrow 2,316 50.42% 2,277 49.58% 4,593
Bartow 2,813 37.77% 4,635 62.23% 7,448
Ben Hill 2,089 57.82% 1,523 42.15% 1 0.03% 3,613
Berrien 4,073 60.51% 2,658 39.49% 6,731
Bibb 25,641 58.98% 17,831 41.02% 43,472
Bleckley 2,578 72.50% 978 27.50% 3,556
Brantley 1,231 57.52% 909 42.48% 2,140
Brooks 2,342 69.50% 1,027 30.47% 1 0.03% 3,370
Bryan 1,433 62.58% 857 37.42% 2,290
Bulloch 4,823 63.94% 2,720 36.06% 7,543
Burke 3,034 71.52% 1,208 28.48% 4,242
Butts 1,261 45.12% 1,534 54.88% 2,795
Calhoun 1,066 78.67% 289 21.33% 1,355
Camden 1,802 51.56% 1,693 48.44% 3,495
Candler 1,710 68.26% 795 31.74% 2,505
Carroll 4,984 50.96% 4,794 49.02% 2 0.02% 9,780
Catoosa 4,143 58.59% 2,922 41.32% 6 0.08% 7,071
Charlton 1,179 67.26% 574 32.74% 1,753
Chatham 33,141 58.85% 23,176 41.15% 1 0.00% 56,318
Chattahoochee 246 56.29% 191 43.71% 437
Chattooga 1,476 27.01% 3,986 72.94% 3 0.05% 5,465
Cherokee 3,398 51.59% 3,189 48.41% 6,587
Clarke 4,875 39.33% 7,519 60.67% 12,394
Clay 544 60.04% 360 39.74% 2 0.22% 906
Clayton 10,488 64.08% 5,869 35.86% 10 0.06% 16,367
Clinch 1,084 60.56% 706 39.44% 1,790
Cobb 20,863 55.62% 16,647 44.38% 1 0.00% 37,511
Coffee 4,392 61.76% 2,719 38.24% 7,111
Colquitt 6,493 71.67% 2,563 28.29% 4 0.04% 9,060
Columbia 2,575 64.33% 1,428 35.67% 4,003
Cook 2,058 60.62% 1,337 39.38% 3,395
Coweta 3,656 49.62% 3,712 50.38% 7,368
Crawford 957 56.96% 723 43.04% 1,680
Crisp 3,337 65.52% 1,756 34.48% 5,093
Dade 1,378 52.84% 1,227 47.05% 3 0.12% 2,608
Dawson 639 40.67% 932 59.33% 1,571
Decatur 5,060 71.55% 2,011 28.44% 1 0.01% 7,072
DeKalb 49,448 57.10% 37,154 42.90% 86,602
Dodge 3,285 58.03% 2,376 41.97% 5,661
Dooly 1,662 53.05% 1,471 46.95% 3,133
Dougherty 12,776 70.88% 5,248 29.12% 18,024
Douglas 3,315 57.00% 2,501 43.00% 5,816
Early 2,398 75.67% 771 24.33% 3,169
Echols 399 68.44% 184 31.56% 583
Effingham 2,676 79.74% 680 20.26% 3,356
Elbert 1,887 37.30% 3,172 62.70% 5,059
Emanuel 3,311 59.23% 2,279 40.77% 5,590
Evans 1,572 66.30% 799 33.70% 2,371
Fannin 3,433 54.77% 2,834 45.21% 1 0.02% 6,268
Fayette 1,349 59.98% 896 39.84% 4 0.18% 2,249
Floyd 9,849 52.85% 8,750 46.95% 37 0.20% 18,636
Forsyth 1,471 46.64% 1,682 53.33% 1 0.03% 3,154
Franklin 864 23.84% 2,758 76.10% 2 0.06% 3,624
Fulton 73,205 43.90% 93,540 56.09% 11 0.01% 166,756
Gilmer 2,167 50.09% 2,159 49.91% 4,326
Glascock 836 86.19% 134 13.81% 970
Glynn 7,341 56.22% 5,712 43.75% 4 0.03% 13,057
Gordon 2,317 41.55% 3,260 58.45% 5,577
Grady 2,983 61.25% 1,887 38.75% 4,870
Greene 1,093 28.83% 2,698 71.17% 3,791
Gwinnett 6,823 50.42% 6,705 49.55% 3 0.02% 13,531
Habersham 1,595 31.84% 3,412 68.12% 2 0.04% 5,009
Hall 4,296 34.90% 8,003 65.01% 11 0.09% 12,310
Hancock 925 46.27% 1,074 53.73% 1,999
Haralson 3,129 58.85% 2,186 41.11% 2 0.04% 5,317
Harris 2,166 69.74% 940 30.26% 3,106
Hart 1,166 27.00% 3,142 72.77% 10 0.23% 4,318
Heard 807 43.18% 1,061 56.77% 1 0.05% 1,869
Henry 3,125 46.58% 3,583 53.41% 1 0.01% 6,709
Houston 6,532 60.53% 4,258 39.46% 1 0.01% 10,791
Irwin 2,017 73.16% 740 26.84% 2,757
Jackson 1,664 29.62% 3,953 70.38% 5,617
Jasper 1,075 55.90% 848 44.10% 1,923
Jeff Davis 1,875 71.56% 745 28.44% 2,620
Jefferson 2,950 70.15% 1,253 29.80% 2 0.05% 4,205
Jenkins 1,509 62.43% 908 37.57% 2,417
Johnson 1,940 73.99% 682 26.01% 2,622
Jones 1,805 56.67% 1,380 43.33% 3,185
Lamar 1,570 50.30% 1,548 49.60% 3 0.10% 3,121
Lanier 719 52.10% 661 47.90% 1,380
Laurens 5,457 58.76% 3,828 41.22% 2 0.02% 9,287
Lee 1,041 81.01% 244 18.99% 1,285
Liberty 1,458 39.73% 2,212 60.27% 3,670
Lincoln 943 72.76% 353 27.24% 1,296
Long 246 15.55% 1,336 84.45% 1,582
Lowndes 6,811 60.95% 4,363 39.04% 1 0.01% 11,175
Lumpkin 855 41.81% 1,189 58.14% 1 0.05% 2,045
McDuffie 2,657 70.27% 1,124 29.73% 3,781
McIntosh 795 39.99% 1,193 60.01% 1,988
Macon 1,723 61.56% 1,076 38.44% 2,799
Madison 1,190 33.70% 2,341 66.30% 3,531
Marion 719 66.27% 365 33.64% 1 0.09% 1,085
Meriwether 2,250 48.14% 2,423 51.84% 1 0.02% 4,674
Miller 1,658 85.82% 274 14.18% 1,932
Mitchell 3,265 73.17% 1,197 26.83% 4,462
Monroe 1,665 51.33% 1,578 48.64% 1 0.03% 3,244
Montgomery 1,409 61.61% 878 38.39% 2,287
Morgan 1,485 47.31% 1,654 52.69% 3,139
Murray 1,064 30.44% 2,426 69.41% 5 0.14% 3,495
Muscogee 21,025 62.81% 12,446 37.18% 3 0.01% 33,474
Newton 2,678 42.52% 3,620 57.48% 6,298
Oconee 1,241 53.63% 1,073 46.37% 2,314
Oglethorpe 1,126 56.58% 864 43.42% 1,990
Paulding 1,914 43.23% 2,513 56.77% 4,427
Peach 1,970 55.40% 1,585 44.57% 1 0.03% 3,556
Pickens 1,955 50.32% 1,930 49.68% 3,885
Pierce 1,981 66.86% 982 33.14% 2,963
Pike 1,064 52.94% 946 47.06% 2,010
Polk 3,282 41.86% 4,555 58.10% 3 0.04% 7,840
Pulaski 1,768 64.86% 953 34.96% 5 0.18% 2,726
Putnam 1,196 54.02% 1,018 45.98% 2,214
Quitman 377 62.11% 230 37.89% 607
Rabun 551 23.48% 1,796 76.52% 2,347
Randolph 1,656 63.18% 962 36.70% 3 0.11% 2,621
Richmond 21,481 61.32% 13,545 38.67% 3 0.01% 35,029
Rockdale 1,503 43.25% 1,972 56.75% 3,475
Schley 577 60.48% 377 39.52% 954
Screven 2,260 60.98% 1,446 39.02% 3,706
Seminole 1,294 75.19% 427 24.81% 1,721
Spalding 4,763 46.56% 5,466 53.44% 10,229
Stephens 1,371 28.24% 3,483 71.76% 4,854
Stewart 1,037 73.39% 373 26.40% 3 0.21% 1,413
Sumter 3,774 68.61% 1,727 31.39% 5,501
Talbot 679 51.99% 627 48.01% 1,306
Taliaferro 337 34.92% 628 65.08% 965
Tattnall 3,264 66.45% 1,648 33.55% 4,912
Taylor 1,372 55.55% 1,097 44.41% 1 0.04% 2,470
Telfair 1,914 50.55% 1,872 49.45% 3,786
Terrell 1,921 77.15% 569 22.85% 2,490
Thomas 6,306 65.94% 3,257 34.06% 9,563
Tift 4,650 67.04% 2,286 32.96% 6,936
Toombs 3,543 67.77% 1,685 32.23% 5,228
Towns 1,140 46.88% 1,289 53.00% 3 0.12% 2,432
Treutlen 722 35.15% 1,331 64.80% 1 0.05% 2,054
Troup 5,277 46.66% 6,032 53.34% 11,309
Turner 1,672 69.93% 719 30.07% 2,391
Twiggs 1,178 59.98% 786 40.02% 1,964
Union 1,473 40.83% 2,135 59.17% 3,608
Upson 3,103 48.61% 3,275 51.30% 6 0.09% 6,384
Walker 5,939 52.09% 5,454 47.84% 8 0.07% 11,401
Walton 2,874 54.99% 2,350 44.97% 2 0.04% 5,226
Ware 4,948 48.81% 5,189 51.19% 10,137
Warren 1,070 73.59% 384 26.41% 1,454
Washington 2,296 55.63% 1,830 44.34% 1 0.02% 4,127
Wayne 3,619 62.39% 2,182 37.61% 5,801
Webster 457 76.04% 144 23.96% 601
Wheeler 849 46.42% 980 53.58% 1,829
White 840 35.55% 1,520 64.33% 3 0.13% 2,363
Whitfield 4,546 38.27% 7,330 61.70% 4 0.03% 11,880
Wilcox 1,794 66.59% 900 33.41% 2,694
Wilkes 1,652 53.48% 1,437 46.52% 3,089
Wilkinson 2,172 69.28% 963 30.72% 3,135
Worth 3,157 78.55% 862 21.45% 4,019
Totals 616,584 54.12% 522,556 45.87% 195 0.02% 1,139,335

References

  1. ^ Scher, Richard K.; Politics in the New South: Republicanism, Race and Leadership in the Twentieth Century, p. 95 ISBN 1563248484
  2. ^ Frederickson, Karl A.; The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968, p. 39 ISBN 0807849103
  3. ^ Bolton, Charles C.; William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography, p. 113 ISBN 1617037877
  4. ^ Tate, Katherine; From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections, p. 53 ISBN 0674325400
  5. ^ Mickey, Robert; Paths out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America, p. 77 ISBN 1400838789
  6. ^ Mickey; Paths out of Dixie, pp. 30, 316
  7. ^ Henderson Harold P.; Ernest Vandiver, Governor of Georgia, p. 200 ISBN 0820322237
  8. ^ ‘Georgia Governor Hits Goldwater “Extremism”’, Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1964, p. 14
  9. ^ ‘Georgia Demos Will Support National Ticket’; Rome News-Tribune, November 10, 1967, p. 1
  10. ^ ‘Georgia KKK Endorses Barry For Presidency’, Chicago Daily Defender, July 28, 196, p. 3
  11. ^ McMillen, Neil R.; The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64, p. 351 ISBN 0252064410
  12. ^ Grimes, Roy; ‘Look Away, Look Away...’; The Victoria Advocate, October 11, 1964, p. 4A
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ ‘South Ponders: “If Georgia Goes to Goldwater ...”: Organization Noted’; Christian Science Monitor, August 25, 1964, p. 1
  15. ^ ‘Goldwater Tops Johnson In a Georgia Union Poll’ (Special to The New York Times); New York Times, September 13, 1964; p. 57
  16. ^ Baird, Joseph H.; ‘Georgia Vote Doubts Build: Opportunism Charged’, Christian Science Monitor, September 16, 1964; p. 11
  17. ^ Hunter, Marjorie; ‘Poverty Is Issue in Georgia Hills: Democrats Hope to Reverse Their G.O.P. Tradition’ (Special to the New York Times); New York Times, October 19, 1964, p. 26
  18. ^ 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
  19. ^ Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 90-92 ISBN 0786422173
  20. ^ a b Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1964 Presidential General Election Results – Georgia
  21. ^ Coleman, Kenneth (editor); A History of Georgia, p. 399 ISBN 082031269X
  22. ^ Gimpel, James G. and Schuknecht, Jason E.; Patchwork Nation: Sectionalism and Political Change in American Politics, p. 204 ISBN 0472022911
  23. ^ Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote, 1896-1932, p. 172 ISBN 080471696X

Notes

  1. ^ The Constitution Party of the 1950s and 1960s should not be confused the modern Constitution Party.