Goldwater ran for real but Conservatism was new and the Party itself opposed him or apologized for him which was the same thing. Wilkie and Dewey I don’t know anything about. They were before my time. I do know that Ford, Bush I, Dole, and McCain ran as wimps and acted as if they did not to want to be President with McCain being the extreme- saying more good hings about the kenyan than about himself. I would not be surprised if Wilkie and Dewey ran also what has become a standard Republican presidential campaign. I suspect they wanted to win, though.
Willkie was probably still a registered Democrat when he ran.