50 Years Ago: 1964 Election

With the 2014 election right around the corner, I thought I would look back to see what North Carolina was up to 50 years ago with the 1964 election.   Nationally, Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat) was running against Barry Goldwater (Republican) for president, and the Civil Rights Act.  Edward McCauley, a former photographer for Burlington Times-News who donated his collection to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, captured the opening of Goldwater’s campaign office in Burlington and Lady Bird Johnson speaking at Burlington at a whistle stop campaign event.

http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/mccauley/id/1023/rec/21
1964 U.S. presidential election: U.S. First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, appearing on behalf of her husband at a “whistle stop” campaign event at the Burlington, N.C. train station
Edward J. McCauley Photographs (P0082)
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/mccauley/id/1148/rec/5
1964 U.S. presidential campaign: Opening of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater presidential campaign office in Burlington, N.C.
Edward J. McCauley Photographs (P0082)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here in North Carolina, Dan Moore (Democrat) and Robert Gavin (Republican) were running for governor. NCC has some campaign literature from that election (see a campaign flier for Dan Moore below) .

http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb3398688
Dan Moore campaign flier.
Statesville Recorder. Wednesday, Nov 4, 1964.
Statesville Recorder. Wednesday, Nov 4, 1964.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Moore won by 171,857 votes, according to the Statesville Recorder.

 

Jesse Helms had not started his Senate career yet. He was vice-president of news and public affairs programming at WRAL-TV and shared his views on politics and other issues through his “Viewpoint” commentaries on the evening news. Here’s a transcript of his editorial on the election.

http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb4222760
Viewpoint editorial. Nov 4, 1964.

1,424,983 North Carolinians voted in the 1964 election.  Don’t forget to cast your vote on Tuesday.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *