1964 Democratic National Convention in the context of Hubert H. Humphrey

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1964, less than a year following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who won the previous presidential election. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senator Hubert Humphrey defeated the Republican ticket of Senator Barry Goldwater and Congressman William E. Miller in a landslide victory. Johnson won 61.1% of the popular vote which, to date, remains the highest popular vote percentage of any candidate since the advent of widespread popular elections in 1824.

Johnson took office on November 22, 1963, following Kennedy's assassination, and generally continued his policies, except with greater emphasis on civil rights. He easily defeated a primary challenge from segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace to win the nomination. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Johnson selected liberal Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey as his running mate. In the narrow Republican contest, conservative Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater defeated liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton.

Kwame Ture (/ˈkwɑːmeɪ ˈtʊəreɪ/ KWAH-may TOOR-ay; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; June 29, 1941 – November 15, 1998) was a Trinidadian-American activist who played a major role in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, he grew up in the United States from age 11 and became an activist while attending the Bronx High School of Science. Ture was a key leader in the development of the Black Power movement, first while leading the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), then as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party and as a leader of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP).

Carmichael was one of the original SNCC Freedom Riders of 1961 under Diane Nash's leadership. He became a major voting rights activist in Mississippi and Alabama after being mentored by Ella Baker and Bob Moses. Like most young people in the SNCC, he became disillusioned with the two-party system after the 1964 Democratic National Convention failed to recognize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as official delegates from the state. Carmichael eventually decided to develop independent all-black political organizations, such as the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and, for a time, the national Black Panther Party. Inspired by Malcolm X's example, he articulated a philosophy of black power, and popularized it both by provocative speeches and more sober writings. The author Richard Wright is credited with coining the phrase in his 1954 book Black Power.