How A Historic Loss Shaped The GOP

Published October 20, 2016 at 12:53 PM EDT

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Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater greets supporters during a whistle-stop tour of Rock Island, Ill., on Oct. 3, 1964. (Henry Burroughs/AP)

The Republican Party lost the 1964 presidential election by a nearly unprecedented margin.

Democrat Lyndon Johnson won a landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater — but the defeat had a silver lining. It sowed the seeds for the modern conservative movement that would eventually sweep Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980.

So how would a Donald Trump loss in the 2016 election affect the GOP? Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson discusses with historian Julian Zelizer.

Guest

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He tweets @julianzelizer.