The Man Behind the Movement: Goldwater’s Ultimate Victory

Atlantic Unbound ^ | 8 August 2001 | Jack Beatty

[Publius]

Ah, there’s nothing like the smell of liberal angst in the morning. Almost as good as bacon burps.

This article, written from the perspective of the Left, is a bit hysterical but on the mark. Goldwater lost the battle but won the war. And he lived long enough to savor the taste of victory.

Some comments…

In two years Brown would lose his seat to Ronald Reagan…

And although Johnson buried Goldwater in California, the Republican George Murphy easily beat Kennedy icon Pierre Salinger for the Senate seat to which Brown had appointed him upon the death of Clair Engel in a year earlier.

Nearly 4 million Americans volunteered to work for his campaign.

Yup. My virgin effort in politics as a high school student back in New Jersey.

[KirklandJunction]

If there was an election today in Arizona, Barry would get votes.
I'd pay plenty for a Goldwater bumper sticker!

[ConservativeLibrarian]

Great article, so true! Makes me proud.

My mother was a Goldwater Girl. She still has her elephant pin with the Goldwater glasses. I cannot wait to pass that pin on to my own daughter.

"In our hearts, we knew he was right."

[Publius]

It's an honor to meet the child of a Goldwater Girl.

Last June, I attended a dinner in Wenatchee for a rail event and met a Washington state senator who was also a Goldwater Girl. She was in college in New England, while I was in high school. We both labored for the cause.

And our cause won.

[stylin19a]

careful........Chillary Clintoon was "Goldwater Girl"

[Publius]

If there was an election today in Arizona, Barry would get votes.

But only from people who don't know he's dead.

"In your heart, you know he's right," disguises the ultimate irony about Barry. Even when he's dead, he's right.

[Publius]

Chillary Clintoon was "Goldwater Girl"

Bite your tongue! Or as my late father would have said in Italian, "Infamia!"

[ConservativeLibrarian]

Ah, as much as it pains me, you are correct. I went to her website in order to disprove your assertion, but was referred to a newspaper article that makes the same claim.

Did you have to burst my bubble so?

Still, as my mother always said, "Breeding will out." The Hildabeast may have been a Goldwater girl for a brief moment, but that doesn't change the legacy of one of our greatest American statesmen. God Bless You, Barry Goldwater.

[VoodooEconomist]

Go back and read Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative," a very brief (100 pages) but powerful book of conservative ideas for defeating communism, turning back big government, and empowering people. Quite simple, the man was ahead of his time ... by about fifty years. Reagan pretty much followed his anti-communist strategy to a T. Goldwater was talking welfare reform and social security reform long before anyone else took it seriously. An amazing visionary, to say the least. Of course, the liberals derided him all along the way. But if there is anything we know about "progressives," it is that they are reactionaries living in and protecting the past.

[Publius]

Conscience of a Conservative was ghost-written for Goldwater by the elder L. Brent Bozell, father (or grandfather) of the present L. Brent Bozell. But no matter who wrote it, it enscapsulates everything that conservatives have run on -- and won on -- since the day Barry went down in flames. Goldwater was a prophet.

[Publius]

Goldwater bump.

[Publius]

PM crowd bump.

[Publius]

Weekend bump.

[Publius]

Sunday bump.

[catpuppy]

He was a boring speaker who numbed even audiences of the faithful.

Not really. When you left a Goldwater rally you left knowing that you had just heard an honest man who had told you what you needed to hear, not necessarily what you wanted to hear. He was not a Reagan or a Kennedy but he was a far better speaker than Nixon, Ford, Carter or George H. W. Bush. And compared with Johnson, Goldwater was pure eloquence.

The campaign was "poor" in the sense that Goldwater pandered to no one. But that was not what doomed his campaign. As was observed at the time, the bullet that killed Kennedy killed any chance that Goldwater had to become president. Had Kennedy not been shot, the 1964 election definitely would have been closer and may have resulted in a Goldwater victory.

[Publius]

Back in the Twenties, Goldwater's Uncle Moe ran for mayor of Phoenix. He and his opponent -- good friends all -- ran an interesting campaign. First, Moe and his opponent would go to a rally in Moe's car, imbibing along the way (it was during Prohibition). At the rally Moe would speak first, calling his opponent a sonofabitch, and then his opponent would speak, calling Moe a sonofabitch. Then they'd hop into Moe's car, drink some more, go to the next rally, but this time Moe's opponent would speak first, and the order would be reversed.

In 1963, Goldwater suggested to Kennedy that the 1964 campaign be conducted under the same rules. The two would campaign from city to city in Air Force I, sipping bourbon and honing their arguments against each other along the way. Kennedy and Goldwater were very close friends, and Goldwater saw this as a chance to have a great debate on the issues. If he was going to go down in flames to his friend Kennedy, it would be on the issues in one of the country's greatest campaigns. (According to Kenny O'Donnell, Kennedy's press secretary after Pierre Salinger, Kennedy agreed to the arrangement because he felt Goldwater would be easy to beat.)

It would have been a magnificent campaign had Kennedy been permitted to let it happen that way. And Goldwater might have pulled it off.

[Publius]

For your enjoyment.

[Publius]

This was before your time, but I thought you might like the political analysis.

[Pilsner]

I'd pay plenty for a Goldwater bumper sticker!

I've seen reproductions for sale the L.B.J. library on the campus of U.T. in Austin. A few years ago the Texas Republican Party took to renting conference space there for campaign and election schools! I found the irony almost too sweet for words.

[A.J.Armitage]

Thanks. It's interesting. Too bad what you described in #16 didn't happen.