The Election: Anatomy of Triumph

When the land suddenly slides, most of the old familiar patterns are ob- literated—and Johnson's triumph was achieved by smashing across regional, economic and ideological lines that had long held firm for the G.O.P. At the same time, he drew massive support from all of the traditional Democratic voting blocs and metropolitan machines to rack up huge pluralities in the big cities.

Only a massive defection of Republicans to Johnson—based generally on the fear that Goldwater was simply too unpredictable to be trusted with one of the highest positions of leadership in the free world—could...