Goldwater signaled the end of that Republican establishment. It was fully dead 11 years later, with Nixon's resignation. 16 years later, Ronald Reagan established the next version. Seems like a long time, but it's a big shift.

Goldwater still carried 38% of the popular vote.

And Johnson was unable to prosecute the advantage of that momentum inherited from Kennedy. It was a very turbulent time.

> And Johnson was unable to prosecute the advantage of that momentum inherited from Kennedy.

Objectively, he passed the Civil Rights Act and, after the election vs Goldwater, passed the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, reformed Social Security, etc. Not sure how much more prosecution you could ask for.

And, perhaps you meant "inherited from Kennedy's murder", because in truth there was no legislative momentum under Kennedy. Kennedy may have introduced the Civil Rights legislation but Johnson passed it.

I think he'd have done more good in the Senate on those bills. I mean that it all ended in the "I will not run... " abdication on national TV. Since we were more or less talking about elections, I was over-focused on that.

Johnson's complicated - Robert Caro has made him his life's work. I wont do it justice here.