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Forgotten History: LBJ Spying on His Opponent in the 1964 Presidential Election By Dylan Price10/25/2019 This is a series that will be featured in the Tiger Prowl every other edition about history that is not well-known to many people.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. As a result, Lyndon B. Johnnson was sworn in as President. With the 1964 election around the corner, LBJ wanted to win in a landslide since he took office on tragic circumstances. Furthermore, he wanted a major win which would give him momentum to push the Great Society through Congress during his second term and be remembered as one of the greatest Presidents. The latter never happened. Barry Goldwater, a conservative Senator from Arizona, was his opponent. Johnson ordered the FBI to conduct extensive wiretapping of Goldwater’s campaign and illegally directed the FBI to administer security checks on Goldwater's Senate staffers. In addition to FBI spying, Johnson ordered the CIA to plant a spy on the Goldwater campaign. This enabled the Johnson campaign to know of Goldwater’s travel plans and remarks/speeches ahead of time. William Cooper, who was CIA Director at the time, admitted that a female secretary of the Goldwater campaign turned information over to the CIA. Then this information would be turned over to White House aide Chester Cooper. CIA Agent E. Howard Hunt was in charge of the CIA portion of the operation. Hunt would later be involved in Watergate and use this instance of spying to justify his actions during Watergate. The culmination of these actions were part of “Anti-Campaign” to smear and besmirch Goldwater, similar to a campaign war room. The so called “Anti-Campaign” was run by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was the Assistant Secretary of Labor, out of the second floor of the West Wing. Moynihan went on to become New York’s Senator and later retired in 2000 to allow First Lady Hillary Clinton to replace him. Another who was involved in this “Anti-Campaign” was Leonard Marks who was rewarded in 1965 by being appointed Director of U.S. Information Agency. One of the most egregious examples of spying was when there was a private call between two GOP leaders over a potential campaign stop for Goldwater in Chicago. Within hours, a reporter asked the campaign for details of the visit, despite the visit not being made public yet. The reporters knew since LBJ’s campaign often leaked the stolen information to the press. GOP Leaders had a feeling they were being bugged and their suspicions were confirmed when Goldwater’s campaign plane was bugged too. Even more abhorrent, was on September 9, 1964, Johnson was alerted that Goldwater was announcing that he was creating the Peace and Freedom Task Force, with former Vice President Richard Nixon being placed in charge. This would have quelled fears that Goldwater was dangerous on foreign policy or lacked sufficient experience. However, upon hearing this, LBJ announced in a press conference that he was creating a panel of “distinguished citizens” to advise him on foreign affairs. The media coverage of this overshadowed Goldwater’s announcement. Another instance of spying is when two reporters asked Goldwater about a proposal, not-yet made public. The proposal was to send former President and WWII general Dwight Esienhower to Vietnam to assess the situation. Once again, this proposal was leaked to reporters by LBJ based on information obtained from wiretapping. In the end, Johnson defeated Goldwater in a landslide victory. Johnnson had 486 electors while Goldwater had 52 for the Electoral College. Senator Goldwater did start a Conservative movement in the United States, which eventually propelled Ronald Reagan to office in the 1980s. When Barry Goldwater retired, he was succeeded by John McCain. On the other hand, Johnson did implement the Great Society and the War on Poverty which cost $22 trillion over 50 years and left the poverty rate nearly unchanged. In 1968, Johnson decided not to seek re-election after his upset loss in New Hampshire and after his lack of clear strategy to win the Vietnam War, that he escalated. Ultimately, Johnson’s Presidency went down in flames. Sources: Usdin, Steve, et al. “When the CIA Infiltrated a Presidential Campaign.” POLITICO Magazine, 22 May 2018, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/05/22/cia-fbi-spy-presidential-campaign-trump-goldwater-218415. Edwards, Lee. “The FBI Spied for LBJ's Campaign.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 24 May 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/the-fbi-spied-for-lbjs-campaign-1527201701. “Lyndon Johnson's Watergate.” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/commentary/lyndon-johnsons-watergate. “1964 United States Presidential Election.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_United_States_presidential_election. Rector, Robert. “The War on Poverty: 50 Years of Failure.” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/marriage-and-family/commentary/the-war-poverty-50-years-failure.
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