A conference of western Republicans was held in Eugene , Oregon on October 12 . Both Rockefeller and Goldwater attended . Rockefeller challenged Goldwater to a debate on " how our party can best deal with the vital issues before the American people today . " Goldwater said he did not favor a Republican debate , which he believed would tarnish the party 's unity . Rockefeller began his semi-official campaigning soon thereafter . He spent two days in New Hampshire , visiting with local Republicans and answering the question how he would govern differently from President Kennedy . The following week , Henry C. Lodge declined to enter the New Hampshire primary , apparently opening the way for Rockefeller to consolidate moderate Republicans there against Goldwater . On November 7 , Rockefeller became the first candidate to officially enter the race . The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22 rattled the Republican field . Senator Goldwater was attending the funeral of his mother-in-law when he heard the news . Governors Rockefeller and Scranton announced a one-month period of mourning . During this month , Republican leaders looked at the electoral map to see if Goldwater could win . At the time , they reasoned that Goldwater would probably be locked out of the northeast and would split the South with Lyndon Johnson . Former President Dwight Eisenhower came out on December 7 and called on Lodge to enter the race as a compromise candidate . As the election year dawned , the field became clearer . Goldwater announced his candidacy on January 3 , and on the following day , Lodge renounced the efforts to draft him . Former Vice-President Richard Nixon was still mentioned as a possibility , as were Scranton and Romney . Harold Stassen entered the race on January 20 but was never a factor . Senator Margaret Chase Smith jumped in seven days later as the first prominent woman to run for president . The first test for the candidates came in the New Hampshire primary . There , a poll a few weeks before the primary showed that 60 % of the Republicans had not made up their minds . The stakes were quite high . Goldwater 's staff wanted to soft-pedal his right-wing philosophy there . He did say that he wanted to use a newly revealed spy plane for reconnaissance over the Soviet Union , and he denied rumors that he would abolish the Social Security program . Goldwater spent twenty-one days campaigning continuously in New Hampshire , leaving the state on March 7 with the prediction " I have it made . " For part of that time , he campaigned while wearing a cast ( he had surgery on his right foot to remove a calcium spur ) . One reason for his optimism was that moderate Republicans were divided three ways : among Rockefeller and write-in efforts for Lodge and Nixon . The movement for Lodge received a boost the day before the primary when it was announced that Lodge did not have his name removed from the Oregon primary ballot . This bit of information was received as a declaration of candidacy for moderate Republicans , and in a record turnout they gave him a solid victory with 36 % of the vote to 22 % for Goldwater , 21 % for Rockefeller , and 17 % for Nixon . The voters on the sleety and snowy primary day also selected a solid slate of delegates pledged to Lodge , defeating several well-known state politicians . In the four-week lull after New Hampshire , Goldwater and Rockefeller both worked on trying to win endorsements in various states . Both worked on a Republican volunteer organization in California , where the two were scheduled to appear on the ballot in the primary on June 2 . The Field Research Associates released a poll showing Lodge in the lead in the state with 31 % to 25 % for Goldwater , 21 % for Nixon , and just 12 % for Rockefeller . Upon hearing the poll results , Goldwater said that Lodge would not do what was needed to win the nomination , and if chosen he would not work hard enough to win the election . Soon thereafter , both Gallup and Harris released polls showing Lodge as the front-runner with Nixon second and Goldwater a poor third . Scranton stated on April 10 that he was not a candidate , thus reducing the field . Illinois held its primary on April 14 . With the state Republican leadership almost solidly behind Goldwater , only Margaret C. Smith chose to file for the primary against Goldwater . During the campaign , Nixon and Lodge asked followers not to mount a campaign there . Goldwater defeated Smith 62-25 % , which was far and away Smith 's best primary performance . Lodge placed third on write-ins and Nixon fourth . The delegate count : Goldwater 159 , Rockefeller 90 , Lodge 14 . New Jersey voted on April 21 . No candidates filed , so all votes were write-ins . Lodge again placed first with 42 % to Goldwater 28 % , Nixon 22 % , and only 8 % for all others . Massachusetts and Pennsylvania voted on April 28 . No candidate appeared on the ballot in either . On the day before the two primaries , Rockefeller took the controversial stand of calling for US air strikes into Laos and Cambodia to help the government of South Vietnam . Lodge won Massachusetts with 77 % of the vote to 10 % for Goldwater and only 6 % for Nixon . Scranton won his home state with 52 % to Lodge 21 % , Nixon 10 % , and Goldwater 9 % . It was clear that the Republican voters were not lining up behind either Goldwater or Rockefeller , who at this point had won together just 35 % of the primary vote . In fact , if Illinois is taken out of the numbers , Lodge had received three write-in votes for every Goldwater vote at this stage of the campaign , with Nixon 's write-ins very close behind Goldwater
assassination of President Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
1964 Republican Party presidential primaries