Johnson took over as president after John F. Kennedy's assassination. The next year he was nominated to run for the Democratic Party for the presidency with Hubert Humphrey as his vice-president. He was opposed by Barry Goldwater. Johnson refused to debate Goldwater. Johnson easily won with 61% of the popular vote and 486 of the electoral votes. Johnson escalated the war in Vietnam and eventually had to turn to peace when the U.S. was unable to achieve victory. He is also remembered for his Great Society policies where Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed among other programs. Also during Johnson's administration, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/lyndonbjohnson
​Presidential Years: 1963-1969