Timeline: 1963-1969 (Camelot Uninterrupted)

This article covers the section of the timeline Camelot Uninterrupted that ranges from approximately November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969. This covers President John F. Kennedy's successful re-election campaign launch in Dallas, Texas to the inauguration of his successor, George Romney, as President of the United States.

The Election of 1964
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, his wife Jackie, and his various advisers landed in Dallas, Texas for the launch of President Kennedy's re-election campaign. Kennedy was under immense pressure due to recent developments in Vietnam, where his refusal to intervene spelled certain death for South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. Just twenty days earlier, Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, had been shot and buried in unmarked graves in Saigon. On top of this, Kennedy was facing an energized opponent from his right, Senator Barry Goldwater, with whom his advisers had begun planning a series of presidential debates in anticipation of Goldwater's likely winning of the 1964 Republican nomination. That morning, Kennedy landed in Fort Worth, where he was met by a cheering crowd of onlookers and a flurry of journalists. Kennedy hopped into his car with his Secret Service detail and chugged along to the Hotel Texas, where he gave a speech in front of the local Chamber of Commerce. Afterwards Kennedy and his entourage travelled to Dallas itself, where the trial of one Lee Harvey Oswald, a communist agitator who had assassinated former Major General Edwin Walker just seven months prior. "Thank god Texas has the death penalty," John remembered his brother and Attorney General Bobby saying before they left. The remark hung on Jack's mind for much of the trip.

Kennedy, his wife Jackie, as well as Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie, rode through Dallas on their way to Trade Mart. There Kennedy was speak to the Dallas Citizens Council, the Dallas Assembly, and members of the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest. The speech, central to his new campaign, was to focus on the many ways in which the United States would be pushing to achieve strength abroad and at home. Two sentences raced through his mind in equal measure: "Our adversaries have not abandoned their ambitions, our dangers have not diminished, our vigilance cannot be relaxed" and a line about "Peace on earth, good will toward men." The former was part of an edge that Kennedy had felt throughout the day, thoughts forced to dive down as he put on a smile and waved to his adoring public. The latter was to be central to his re-election campaign: it played on the central theme of his American University commencement address, delivered June 10, and in contrast to Senator Goldwater, whose aggressive stance toward the Soviet Union would be an excellent contrast with Kennedy's diplomatic image.

After the successful motorcade through Dallas and delivering the Trade Mart speech, the Kennedys took another plane to Austin, the Texas state capital. There, Kennedy delivered yet another speech, this time to a fundraiser at the Austin Municipal Auditorium. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand, and then feeding his campaign out of the bottom of their wallets. He now finally allowed himself a couple drinks to take the edge off, and then him and Jackie made their way to their car. There was an hour-long ride to Johnson City, named for Lyndon's uncle James Polk Johnson, and the location of Lyndon Johnson's ranch. They arrived late in the evening, where Jack and Jackie met Lyndon and Lady Bird, who had driven alongside them, and soon started sharing drinks and talking strategy for the campaign going forward. Johnson asked Jack what he thought about Texas. Kennedy replied "It's not as green as Ireland."

Kennedy and Johnson discussed the men who they were likely to face in 1964: Barry Goldwater was gunning for the nomination and was the odds-on favorite. "He's fucking nuts," Johnson said at the first mention of Goldwater's name, fleshing out an animosity between the two Senators that was mutual. The next name that came up was Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York. Kennedy and Johnson felt good about being able to beat Rockefeller. He was a liberal Republican, and Johnson felt strongly that he gave the ticket an edge in the South if the Republicans nominated the man synonymous with the Eastern Establishment. Kennedy agreed and they moved on to a third and more dangerous prospect: Michigan Governor George Romney. "That's the son-of-a-bitch I'm afraid of," Kennedy said. Romney had ended a fourteen-year streak of Democratic domination in the Wolverine State. He had opened up the governorship to the people, much like Kennedy had done with the presidency, promised Michigan an overhauled tax plan to "get the state rolling again." And while Kennedy had only met with Martin Luther King, Jr. behind closed doors after the March on Washington that August, Romney supported King's march in Detroit that June and walked side-by-side with members of the NAACP at part of the march. Even worse, Nixon's men were trying to push Romney as a national figure. Kennedy appreciated Romney's experience as a Mormon, which he felt was similar to his rise to the presidency despite public misgivings about his Catholicism. Still, Romney hadn't been in office long enough to accomplish much worth running on and Kennedy and Johnson agreed that Goldwater was their most likely opponent.

Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was the darling of a new branch of the conservative movement, one promoted by William F. Buckley, Jr. in National Review that seemed like it could connect with many Americans in reaction the Civil Rights movement. Johnson thought that Kennedy was crazy for agreeing to debate Goldwater on television. "It'd be like giving the town lunatic a microphone," he told Jack. But Johnson had troubles of his own to worry about. Two of Johnson's close friends had been arrested recently: aide Bobby Baker and Billie Sol Estes. The Senate Rules Committee, led by Republicans, had begun to investigate Baker for bribery using congressionally-appropriated funds and for arranging sexual favors in exchange for votes. He had resigned as Secretary to Majority Leader Mike Mansfield in October. Bobby Kennedy had worked with J. Edgar Hoover to keep the affair from reaching Johnson, hopefully providing dirt on the Senators leading the investigation. But public outcry for an expanded investigation was growing. Meanwhile, Estes, a friend of Johnson's, had been tried and convicted of using fraudulent ammonia tanks, and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Baker, called "Little Lyndon" by the press, was now the center of a growing scandal, while Life magazine managing editor George P. Hunt sent reporters to Texas, who were now scouring the state to find evidence of how Johnson had benefitted financially from his life in public service. "It's all bullshit," Johnson reassured Kennedy that night at the ranch. Kennedy knew it was not.

Hunt's reporters uncovered more and more evidence of LBJ's wrongdoings over the next several months. Insurance deals and overpaying for bonds that Life published under the title "Lyndon Johnson's Money" from November 1963 through January 1964. Johnson's position on the ticket became more and more tenuous as the investigation pressed on. Publicly Kennedy assured the public that he had full faith in Johnson as a Vice President and as a running mate, but privately he had his own reasons for wanting Johnson off the ticket that he only discussed with his brother Bobby. Throughout the Fall of 1963, Jack had tasked his Defense Secretary, Robert McNamara, with crafting a detailed plan for what the administration would do in Vietnam in the near future. Kennedy, ignoring the advice of some of his top generals, including Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay, wanted to forge ahead with a peace deal and a gradual withdrawal from Vietnam that would ensure the area's neutrality, akin to the deal he had reached for Laos the year before. Johnson, however, took a much more hawkish stance. He didn't want the administration to be seen as losing Indochina just as Truman had been accused of losing China to the communists. Johnson even took the initiative to try and work with Kennedy's military advisers and supportive members of the National Security Council to push the president in a more belligerent direction. Kennedy and Johnson began to clash more and more over the issue as the investigations into Johnson continued to expand. Soon, Kennedy was working with his closest advisers, Bobby, Pierre Salinger, and Kenneth O'Donnell to draw up ideas for replacing Johnson on the ticket.

As 1964 wore on, the Republican National Convention approached in July. Goldwater racked up victories in primaries over Nelson Rockefeller in Illinois, Texas, and Indiana. As it became increasingly clear to Goldwater that he would be the Republican nominee, he began to make more and more attacks against Johnson's character and political dealings. Goldwater's message, centered in anti-establishment rhetoric, made Johnson the perfect villain for his campaign. Seeing this and worried that Goldwater was gaining in the polls from these attacks, Kennedy finally made his move. On April 15, the day after Goldwater won the Illinois primary, he sat down Johnson and told him that he was not going to be forced to resign the Vice Presidency, but that his role would become extremely limited over the next few months. And on top of this, Kennedy told Johnson, he would be replaced on the ticket by Missouri Senator Stuart Symington. Johnson protested vigorously, but with little room to maneuver himself to avoid this fate, he was forced to accept it and the news of the replacement was delivered by Kennedy via press conference on April 16. Lyndon Johnson's days in politics were over.