How did nuclear tensions influence johnson's win over republican candidate barry goldwater?

Lyndon Johnson's campaign portrayed Barry Goldwater as a dangerous warmonger who would be too quick to make use of nuclear weapons.

The Johnson campaign created a television ad that is known as the "Daisy" ad. A little girl is seen plucking the petals of a daisy and counting them - - up to nine. Then an adult voice picks up at ten and starts a countdown from 10 downward, like the countdown for a missile launch. The camera zooms to the girl's eye until just her eye and then her pupil fills the screen, and a nuclear mushroom cloud explosion is seen in the blackness. Lyndon Johnson's voice is heard, saying, " These are the stakes. To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die."

The ad aired only once but had a strong impact, and the footage was shown again and talked about on news programs. It remains a controversial ad in US political history, but is considered a major factor in Johnson's landslide victory over Goldwater in 1964.