Aug. 27, 1964 - Senator Barry Goldwater welcomed the nomination of Hubert Humphrey as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate today, saying it “destroys the myth that the Johnson Administration is conservative.”
The Republican Presidential nominee said he wanted to “thank” President Johnson for his choice of Humphrey and “for drawing the differences between us so sharply.”
Goldwater made his remarks by ship-to-shore telephone to his press secretary, Paul Wagner, from a yacht anchored in Smuggler’s Cove on Santa Cruz Island, Calif.
Goldwater and his wife, Margaret, are vacationing until Monday aboard an 83-foot PT boat converted into a yacht called the Sundance.
Goldwater, who watched last night’s nomination of Johnson and Humphrey on a portable television, said:
“I want to congratulation President Johnson for selecting Hubert Humphrey as his running mate. This move more emphatically emphasizes the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties than anything I can think of. It destroys the myth that the Johnson Administration is conservative.
“Hubert is a friend whose friendship I have enjoyed. He is very articulate and expresses the liberal point of view better than anyone in the Senate. His philosophy is that of the Americans for Democratic Action, which proposes bigger and bigger government programs and more and more government control. I welcome Hubert to the Democratic ticket and thank Lyndon for drawing the differences between us so sharply.”
Sources in the Goldwater camp appeared to be happy that Humphrey was chosen because they feel his nomination may help Goldwater in the South and among other voters hostile to the liberal point of view.
Goldwater’s statement indicated that he would almost certainly attempt to make a campaign issue out of Humphrey’s role as a founder of Americans for Democratic Action.
Goldwater has consistently called the ADA “socialistic” and has sometimes referred to that organization as an “extremist” group on the left of American political life.
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