The Political Legacy of 1964

David Schribman has an interesting article on the political legacy of 1964, arguing that it was that election, not the 1960 election, that revolutionized American national politics from what it had been to what it is today.

It's customary to think that modern American politics began in 1960. That's the year John F. Kennedy harnessed the power of television to win the presidency, the year American politics turned from a referendum on the past to a debate about the future, the year modern polling and modern media began their slow climb to dominance in our politics.

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And so I'd like to adjust the old theory and move the marker up four years -- within the historical margin of error, I suppose, but a significant change nonetheless. The forces that shape our politics today can be traced not to the 1960 election but instead to the 1964 election, when President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas trounced Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

Schribman's argument basically comes down to two points.

First, Goldwater, though he lost, established a strong Republican base in the old South, previously staunchly Democrat, which is today the heart of red state America. In pursuing a civil rights agenda, Johnson alienated the southern white Democrats, who then switched to the Republican party.

Secondly, both Johnson and Goldwater transformed their parties, both of which up to that point refused easy classification as liberal or conservative, into the ideological animals we know today.

This is an interesting argument. As Schribman says, the 1960 election is viewed as a turning point because of the impact of television. But it would 20 years before another TV-savvy president would be elected. Nixon, who is supposed to have lost because of his lack of television appeal, went on to win two landslide victories. Carter (Mr. Malaise) could hardly be described as a charismatic TV presence. It wasn't until Reagan that someone commanded the television screen with the presence Kennedy had. The most one can say, perhaps, is that the 1960 election set the stage for the revolution that came four years later.