Frank E. Vandiver

Chapter 2: A Tough Campaigning Year, 1964, p. 15:
Johnson had pioneered new kinds of politicking in Texas . . . In the upcoming campaign he planned to blend all kinds of exposure to present an image of responsible leadership. Campaign? Yes, he certainly would. . . .
He received providential help from his Republican opponent . . . in August, Goldwater staked out just about the most outrageous ground any politician could imagine: He assaulted public power in the United States, attacked the poverty and Medicare programs, said he would abolish social security, declared that the eastern seaboard should be sliced from the rest of the country, . . . A kind of dazed and uneasy jubilation ran through the White House. Goldwater seemed to be giving the election away, which worried Johnson and some of his old campaigners. Things looked too good.
Vietnam kept interfering.

Chapter 15: Requiem for a Tortured Soul, p. 339:
To the lonely man in the White House making ready to return to Texas, the last days of the presidency had deep, disturbing poignance. . . . He feared what he wanted with a fear that quenched him some and gave, too, a kind of hope. He wanted something he could not guarantee—he wanted well of history. The hope was that his record would weigh for him, the fear was that of the man that others saw.