The United States presidential election of 1964 was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Democratic candidate and incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's popularity, won 61.1% of the popular vote, the highest won by a candidate since James Monroe's re-election in 1820. It was the most lopsided US presidential election in terms of popular votes, and the sixth-most lopsided presidential election in the history of the United States in terms of electoral votes. No candidate for president since has equalled or surpassed Johnson's percentage of the popular vote, and since 1820, on