Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and
United States Air Force officer who was a five-term
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
nominee for
president of the United States in 1964. Goldwater is the politician most often credited with having sparked the resurgence of the
American conservative political movement in the 1960s. Despite his loss of the
1964 U.S. presidential election
The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nomine ...
in a landslide, many political pundits and historians believe he laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow, as the grassroots organization and conservative takeover of the Republican party began a long-term realignment in American politics, which helped to bring about the "
Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s. He also had a substantial impact on the
American libertarian movement
In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as ''conservative'' on economic iss ...
.
Goldwater was born in Phoenix in what was then the Arizona Territory, where he helped manage his family's department store. Upon the U.S. entry into
World War II, Goldwater received a reserve commission in the United States Army Air Force. He trained as a pilot and was assigned to the Ferry Command, a newly formed unit that flew aircraft and supplies to war zones worldwide. After the war, Goldwater was elected to the Phoenix City Council in 1949 and won election to the U.S. Senate in 1952.
In the Senate, Goldwater rejected the legacy of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
and, along with the
conservative coalition
The conservative coalition, founded in 1937, was an unofficial alliance of members of the United States Congress which brought together the conservative wings of the Republican and Democratic parties to oppose President Franklin Delano Rooseve ...
, fought against the
New Deal coalition. Goldwater also had a reputation as a "maverick" for challenging his party's
moderate to liberal wing on policy issues. A member of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
and active supporter of desegregation in Phoenix,
Goldwater supported the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
and the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but, in a decision that he later said anguished him because of his belief in racial equality, he opposed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
on the basis that two of its provisions, specifically
Title II and
Title VII, were unconstitutional and a potential overreach of the federal government.
In 1964, Goldwater mobilized a large conservative constituency to win the Republican presidential primaries. Although raised as an
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
, Goldwater was the first candidate of
Jewish descent (through his father) to be nominated for president by a major American party. Goldwater's platform ultimately failed to gain the support of the electorate and he lost the 1964 presidential election to incumbent
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Lyndon B. Johnson by one of the largest margins in history. Goldwater returned to the Senate in 1969 and specialized in defense and foreign policy. As an elder statesman of the party, Goldwater, who was respected by his colleagues for his honor and dedication to principle, successfully urged President
Richard Nixon to resign in 1974 when evidence of a cover-up in the
Watergate scandal became overwhelming and
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
was imminent.
Goldwater narrowly won re-election in 1980 for what would be his final and most influential term in the Senate. In 1986, Goldwater oversaw passage of the
Goldwater–Nichols Act
The Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of October 4, 1986 , (signed by President Ronald Reagan), made the most sweeping changes to the United States Department of Defense since the department was established in the ...
, arguably his most significant legislative achievement, which strengthened civilian authority in the
Department of Defense. The following year, he retired from the Senate and was succeeded by Congressman
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
, who praised his predecessor as the man who "transformed the Republican Party from an Eastern elitist organization to the breeding ground for the election of Ronald Reagan". Goldwater strongly supported the
1980 presidential campaign of Reagan, who had become the standard-bearer of the conservative movement after his "
A Time for Choosing
"A Time for Choosing", also known as "The Speech", was a speech presented during the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign by future president Ronald Reagan on behalf of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. 'A Time For Choosing' launched R ...
" speech. Reagan reflected many of the principles of Goldwater's earlier run in his campaign. ''
The Washington Post'' columnist
George Will took note of this, writing: "We ... who voted for him in 1964 believe he won, it just took 16 years to count the votes".
Goldwater's views on social and cultural issues grew increasingly libertarian as he neared the end of his career. After leaving the Senate, Goldwater's views on social issues cemented as libertarian. He criticized the "money-making ventures by fellows like
Pat Robertson and others
n the Republican Party
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
who are trying to ... make a religious organization out of it." During his winter years, he supported
homosexuals serving openly in the military,
environmental protection,
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , 3 ...
,
abortion rights,
adoption rights for same-sex couples, and the legalization of
medicinal marijuana.
Early life and family background
Goldwater was born in
Phoenix in what was then the
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...
, the son of Baron M. Goldwater and his wife, Hattie Josephine "JoJo" Williams. His father's family founded
Goldwater's Department Store, a leading upscale
department store in Phoenix. Goldwater's paternal grandfather, Michel Goldwasser, a
Polish Jew, was born in 1821 in
Konin, then part of
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
. He emigrated to London following the
Revolutions of 1848. Soon after arriving in London, Michel
anglicized his name to Michael Goldwater. Michel married Sarah Nathan, a member of an
English-Jewish family, in the
Great Synagogue of London. The Goldwaters later emigrated to the United States, first arriving in San Francisco, California before finally settling in the Arizona Territory, where Michael Goldwater opened a small department store that was later taken over and expanded by his three sons, Henry, Baron and Morris.
Morris Goldwater
Morris Goldwater (January 16, 1852 – April 11, 1939) was an American businessman and politician.
Background
Goldwater was born in London, England. In 1854, Goldwater and his family emigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco ...
(1852–1939) was an Arizona territorial and state legislator, mayor of
Prescott, Arizona, delegate to the Arizona Constitutional Convention and later President of the Arizona State Senate.
Goldwater's father, Baron, was Jewish; but he was raised in his mother's
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
faith. Hattie Williams came from an established
New England family that included the theologian
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
of
Rhode Island. Goldwater's parents were married in an Episcopal church in Phoenix; for his entire life, Goldwater was an Episcopalian, though on rare occasions he referred to himself as Jewish.
While he did not often attend church, he stated that "If a man acts in a religious way, an ethical way, then he's really a religious man—and it doesn't have a lot to do with how often he gets inside a church." His first cousin was
Julius Goldwater
Julius A. Goldwater (09 February 1908 - 11 June 2001) was an American Buddhist clergyman noted for his services to Japanese Americans during the period of internment during World War II.
Early life
Goldwater was born in Los Angeles to Benjamin Go ...
, a convert to Buddhism and
Jodo Shinshu priest who assisted interned Japanese Americans during World War II.
After he did poorly as a freshman in high school, Goldwater's parents sent him to
Staunton Military Academy in Virginia where he played varsity football, basketball, track and swimming, was senior class treasurer and attained the rank of captain.
He graduated from the academy in 1928 and enrolled at the
University of Arizona.
but dropped out after one year. Barry Goldwater is the most recent non-college graduate to be the nominee of a major political party in a presidential election. Goldwater entered the family's business around the time of his father's death in 1930. Six years later, he took over the department store, though he was not particularly enthused about running the business.
Military career

With America's entry into
World War II, Goldwater received a reserve commission in the
United States Army Air Force. Goldwater trained as a pilot and was assigned to the Ferry Command, a newly formed unit that flew aircraft and supplies to war zones worldwide. He spent most of the war flying between the U.S. and
India, via the
Azores and North Africa or South America,
Nigeria, and Central Africa. Goldwater also
flew "the hump", one of the most dangerous routes for supply planes during WWII, as it required aircraft to fly directly over the
Himalayas in order to deliver desperately needed supplies to the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
.
Following World War II, Goldwater was a leading proponent of creating the
United States Air Force Academy, and later served on the academy's Board of Visitors. The visitor center at the academy is now named in his honor. Goldwater remained in the Army Air Reserve after the war and in 1946, at the rank of Colonel, Goldwater founded the
Arizona Air National Guard. Goldwater ordered the Arizona Air National Guard
desegregated, two years before the rest of the U.S. military. In the early 1960s, while a senator, he commanded the
9999th Air Reserve Squadron
The 9999th Air Reserve Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve squadron in Washington, DC. It often consisted of many high-ranking officers and air force reservists who were also serving in the United States Congress. as a major general. Goldwater was instrumental in pushing the Pentagon to support the desegregation of the armed services.
Goldwater remained in the Arizona
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
until 1967, retiring as a
Command Pilot with the rank of
major general. By that time, he had flown 165 different types of aircraft. As an Air Force Reserve major general, he continued piloting aircraft, including the
B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
, until late in his military career.
As a U.S. Senator, Goldwater had a sign in his office that referenced his military career and mindset: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."
Early political career
In a heavily Democratic state, Goldwater became a conservative Republican and a friend of
Herbert Hoover. He was outspoken against
New Deal liberalism, especially its close ties to
labor unions. A pilot, amateur radio operator, outdoorsman and photographer, he criss-crossed Arizona and developed a deep interest in both the natural and the human history of the state. He entered
Phoenix politics in 1949, when he was elected to the
City Council as part of a nonpartisan team of candidates pledged to clean up widespread prostitution and gambling. The team won every mayoral and council election for the next two decades. Goldwater rebuilt the weak Republican party and was instrumental in electing
Howard Pyle as
Governor in 1950.
Local support for civil rights
Barry Goldwater was fundamentally a staunch supporter of racial equality. Goldwater integrated his family's business upon taking over control in the 1930s. A lifetime member of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, Goldwater helped found the group's Arizona chapter. Goldwater saw to it that the
Arizona Air National Guard was racially integrated from its inception in 1946, two years before
President Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
ordered the military as a whole be integrated (a process that was not completed until 1954). Goldwater worked with Phoenix civil rights leaders to successfully integrate public schools a year prior to ''
Brown v. Board of Education''.
Goldwater was an early member and largely unrecognized supporter of the
National Urban League Phoenix chapter, going so far as to cover the group's early operating deficits with his personal funds.
[''Edwards''] Though the NAACP denounced Goldwater in the harshest of terms when he ran for president, the Urban League conferred on Goldwater the 1991 Humanitarian Award "for 50 years of loyal service to the Phoenix Urban League." In response to League members who objected, citing Goldwater's vote on the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, the League president pointed out that Goldwater had saved the League more than once, saying he preferred to judge a person "on the basis of his daily actions rather than on his voting record."
Senator
Running as a Republican, Goldwater won a narrow upset victory seat in the
1952 Arizona Senate election against veteran Democrat and Senate Majority Leader
Ernest McFarland. He won largely by defeating McFarland in his native
Maricopa County by 12,600 votes, almost double the overall margin of 6,725 votes. As a measure of how Democratic Arizona had been since joining the Union 40 years earlier, Goldwater was only the second Republican ever to represent Arizona in the Senate.
Goldwater defeated McFarland by a larger margin when he ran again in
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
. Following his strong re-election showing, he became the first Arizona Republican to win a second term in the U.S. Senate. Goldwater's victory was all the more remarkable since it came in a year Democrats gained 13 seats in the Senate. He did not seek re-election for the Senate in 1964, deciding to focus instead on his presidential campaign.
During his Senate career, Goldwater was regarded as the "Grand Old Man of the Republican Party and one of the nation's most respected exponents of conservatism".
Criticism of the Eisenhower administration
Goldwater was outspoken about the
Eisenhower administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following a landslide victory ov ...
, calling some of the policies of the Eisenhower administration too liberal for a Republican president. "Democrats delighted in pointing out that the junior senator was so headstrong that he had gone out his way to criticize the president of his own party." There was a Democratic majority in Congress for most of Eisenhower's career and Goldwater felt that
President Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
was compromising too much with Democrats in order to get legislation passed. Early on in his career as a senator for Arizona, he criticized the $71.8 billion budget that President Eisenhower sent to Congress, stating "Now, however, I am not so sure. A $71.8 billion budget not only shocks me, but it weakens my faith." Goldwater opposed Eisenhower's pick of
Earl Warren
Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...
for
Chief Justice of the United States. "The day that Eisenhower appointed Governor Earl Warren of California as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Goldwater did not hesitate to express his misgivings." However, Goldwater was present in the United States Senate on March 1, 1954, when Warren was unanimously confirmed, voted in favor of
Eisenhower's nomination of
John Marshall Harlan II on March 16, 1955, was present for the unanimous nominations of
William J. Brennan Jr.
William Joseph "Bill" Brennan Jr. (April 25, 1906 – July 24, 1997) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest serving justice ...
and
Charles Evans Whittaker on March 19, 1957, and voted in favor of the nomination of
Potter Stewart on May 5, 1959.
Stance on civil rights
In his first year in the Senate, Goldwater was responsible for the desegregation of the Senate cafeteria after he insisted that his black legislative assistant, Katherine Maxwell, be served along with every other Senate employee.
[Edwards, Lee (1995) Goldwater: The Man Who Made a Revolution p.231]
Goldwater and the Eisenhower administration supported the integration of schools in the South, but Goldwater felt the states should choose how they wanted to integrate and should not be forced by the federal government. "Goldwater criticized the use of federal troops. He accused the Eisenhower administration of violating the
Constitution by assuming powers reserved by the states. While he agreed that under the law, every state should have integrated its schools, each state should integrate in its own way." There were high-ranking government officials following Goldwater's critical stance on the Eisenhower administration, even an Army General. "Fulbright's startling revelation that military personnel were being indoctrinated with the idea that the policies of the Commander in Chief were treasonous dovetailed with the return to the news of the strange case of General
Edwin Walker."
Goldwater voted in favor of both the
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...
and the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but did not vote on the
Civil Rights Act of 1960 because he was absent from the chamber while
Senate Minority Whip Thomas Kuchel (R–CA) announced that Goldwater would have voted in favor if present.
While he did vote in favor of it while in committee, Goldwater reluctantly voted against the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
when it came to the floor.
Later, Goldwater would state that he was mostly in support of the bill, but he disagreed with Titles II and VII, which both dealt with employment, making him infer that the law would end in the government dictating hiring and firing policy for millions of Americans.
Congressional Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill, with Goldwater being joined by only 5 other Republican senators in voting against it.
[Charles S Bullock III, and Mark J. Rozell, ''The Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics'' (2012) p. 303] It is likely that Goldwater significantly underestimated the effect this would have, as his vote against the bill hurt him with voters across the country, including from his own party. In the 1990s, Goldwater would call his vote on the Civil Rights Act, "one of his greatest regrets."
Goldwater was absent from the Senate during President
John F. Kennedy's nomination of
Byron White on April 11, 1962, but was present when
Arthur Goldberg was unanimously confirmed.
1964 presidential election
Goldwater's maverick and direct style had made him extremely popular with the Republican Party's suburban conservative voters, based in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
and the senator's native
West. Following the success of ''
Conscience of a Conservative
''The Conscience of a Conservative'' is a 1960 book published under the name of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater who was the 1964 Republican presidential candidate. It helped revive the American conservative movement and make Goldwater a political ...
'', Goldwater became the frontrunner for the GOP Presidential nomination to run against his close friend
John F. Kennedy. Despite their disagreements on politics, Goldwater and Kennedy had grown to become close friends during the eight years they served alongside each other in the Senate. With Goldwater the clear GOP frontrunner, he and Kennedy began planning to campaign together, holding
Lincoln-Douglas style debates across the country and avoiding a race defined by the kind of negative attacks that were increasingly coming to define American politics.
Republican primary

Goldwater was grief-stricken by the
assassination of Kennedy and was greatly disappointed that his opponent in 1964 would not be Kennedy but instead his vice president, former Senate Majority Leader
Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas.
Goldwater disliked Johnson, later telling columnist John Kolbe he "used every dirty trick in the bag." Goldwater struggled to emotionally recover for a campaign against Lyndon Johnson. The fallout from Kennedy's assassination, coupled with Goldwater's vote against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, greatly reduced his viability as a national candidate, as well as his popularity within the Republican party.
At the time of Goldwater's presidential candidacy, the Republican Party was split between its conservative wing (based in the West and South) and moderate/liberal wing, sometimes called
Rockefeller Republicans (based in the Northeast and Midwest). Goldwater alarmed even some of his fellow partisans with his brand of staunch
fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
and militant
anti-communism. He was viewed by many moderate and liberal Republicans as being too far on the right wing of the political spectrum to appeal to the mainstream majority necessary to win a national election. As a result, moderate and liberal Republicans recruited a series of opponents, including
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
Governor
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
,
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
, of
Massachusetts and
Pennsylvania Governor
William Scranton, to challenge him. Goldwater received solid backing from most of the few Southern Republicans then in politics. A young
Birmingham lawyer,
John Grenier
John Edward Grenier (August 24, 1930 – November 6, 2007) was a figure in the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. Grenier is one of the figures credited with using the Southern Strategy in that campaign and one of the figures responsib ...
, secured commitments from 271 of 279 Southern convention delegates to back Goldwater. Grenier would serve as executive director of the national GOP during the Goldwater campaign, the number two position to party chairman
Dean Burch of Arizona. Goldwater fought and won a multi-candidate race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Goldwater's main rival was New York Governor
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
, whom he defeated by a narrow margin in California's winner-take-all primary, a win that secured Goldwater's victory for the nomination.
1964 Republican National Convention
Eisenhower gave his support to Goldwater when he told reporters, "I personally believe that Goldwater is not an extremist as some people have made him, but in any event we're all Republicans." His nomination was staunchly opposed by the so-called
Liberal Republicans, who thought Goldwater's demand for
active measures to defeat the
Soviet Union would foment a
nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
. In addition to Rockefeller, prominent Republican office-holders refused to endorse Goldwater's candidacy, including both Republican Senators from New York
Kenneth B. Keating
Kenneth Barnard Keating (May 18, 1900 – May 5, 1975) was an American politician, diplomat, and judge who served as a United States Senator representing New York from 1959 until 1965. A member of the Republican Party, he also served in the ...
and
Jacob Javits,
Pennsylvania governor
William Scranton, Michigan governor
George Romney and Congressman
John V. Lindsay
John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...
(
NY-17). Rockefeller Republican
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
walked out of the convention in disgust over Goldwater's nomination.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
, who was
Richard Nixon's running mate in 1960, also opposed Goldwater, calling his proposal of realigning the Democrat and Republican parties into two Liberal and Conservative parties "totally abhorrent" and thought that no one in their right mind should oppose the federal government in having a role in the future of America.
In the face of such opposition, Goldwater delivered a well-received acceptance speech. According to the author
Lee Edwards: "
oldwaterdevoted more care
o it
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...
than to any other speech in his political career. And with good reason: he would deliver it to the largest and most attentive audience of his life." Journalist John Adams commented: "his acceptance speech was bold, reflecting his conservative views, but not irrational. Rather than shrinking from those critics who accuse him of extremism, Goldwater challenged them head-on" in his acceptance speech at the 1964 Republican Convention. In his own words:
His paraphrase of
Cicero was included at the suggestion of
Harry V. Jaffa
Harry Victor Jaffa (October 7, 1918 – January 10, 2015) was an American political philosopher, historian, columnist, and professor. He was a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate University, and a distinguish ...
, though the speech was primarily written by
Karl Hess. Because of President Johnson's popularity, Goldwater refrained from attacking the president directly. He did not mention Johnson by name at all in his convention speech.
General election campaign

After securing the Republican presidential nomination, Goldwater chose his political ally,
RNC RNC may refer to:
Technology and sciences
*Radio Network Controller, a governing element of a mobile phone network
*Ribosome-nascent chain complex, in biology
*Romanian National R&D Computer Network, registry for the .ro top-level domain
* file ex ...
Chairman
William E. Miller
William Edward Miller (March 22, 1914 – June 24, 1983) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York as a Republican. During the 1964 presidential election, he was the Republican nominee fo ...
to be his running mate. Goldwater joked he chose Miller because "he drives Johnson nuts".
In choosing Miller, Goldwater opted for a running mate who was ideologically aligned with own conservative wing of the Republican party. Miller
balanced the ticket in other ways, being a practicing Catholic from the East Coast.
Miller had low name recognition
but was popular in the Republican party and viewed as a skilled political strategist.
Former U.S. Senator
Prescott Bush
Prescott Sheldon Bush (May 15, 1895 – October 8, 1972) was an American banker as a Wall Street executive investment banker, he represented Connecticut in the from 1952 of the Bush family, he was the father of former Vice President and Pre ...
, a
moderate Republican Moderate Republicans may refer to:
* Within the United States Republican Party:
** Moderate Republicans (Reconstruction era), active from 1854 to 1877
** Moderate Republicans (United States, 1930s–1970s) or Rockefeller Republicans
** Moderate Rep ...
from
Connecticut, was a friend of Goldwater and supported him in the general election campaign. Bush's son,
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
(then running for the Senate from Texas against Democrat
Ralph Yarborough), was also a strong Goldwater supporter in both the nomination and general election campaigns.
Future Chief Justice of the United States and fellow Arizonan
William H. Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from 1 ...
also first came to the attention of national Republicans through his work as a legal adviser to Goldwater's presidential campaign. Rehnquist had begun his law practice in 1953 in the firm of
Denison Kitchel of Phoenix, Goldwater's national campaign manager and friend of nearly three decades.
Goldwater was painted as a dangerous figure by the Johnson campaign, which countered Goldwater's slogan "In your heart, you know he's right" with the lines "In your guts, you know he's nuts," and "In your heart, you know he might" (that is, he might actually use nuclear weapons as opposed to using only
deterrence). Johnson himself did not mention Goldwater in his own acceptance speech at the
1964 Democratic National Convention
The 1964 Democratic National Convention of the Democratic Party, took place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey from August 24 to 27, 1964. President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for a full term. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnes ...
.
Goldwater's provocative advocacy of active interventionism to prevent the spread of communism and defend American values and allies led to effective counterattacks from
Lyndon B. Johnson and his supporters, who said that Goldwater's militancy would have dire consequences, possibly even nuclear war. In a May 1964 speech, Goldwater suggested that nuclear weapons should be treated more like conventional weapons and used in
Vietnam, specifically that they should have been used at
Dien Bien Phu in 1954 to defoliate trees. Regarding Vietnam, Goldwater charged that Johnson's policy was devoid of "goal, course, or purpose," leaving "only sudden death in the jungles and the slow strangulation of freedom". Goldwater's rhetoric on nuclear war was viewed by many as quite uncompromising, a view buttressed by off-hand comments such as, "Let's lob one into the men's room at the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
." He also advocated that field commanders in Vietnam and Europe should be given the authority to use
tactical nuclear weapons (which he called "small conventional nuclear weapons") without presidential confirmation.

Goldwater countered the Johnson attacks by criticizing the administration for its perceived ethical lapses, and stating in a commercial that "we, as a nation, are not far from the kind of moral decay that has brought on the fall of other nations and people.... I say it is time to put conscience back in government. And by good example, put it back in all walks of American life." Goldwater campaign commercials included statements of support by actor
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...
and moderate Republican senator
Margaret Chase Smith
Margaret Madeline Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the firs ...
.
Before the 1964 election, ''
Fact
A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...
'' magazine, published by
Ralph Ginzburg, ran a special issue titled, "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A Special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater". The two main articles contended that Goldwater was mentally unfit to be president. The magazine supported this claim with the results of a poll of board-certified psychiatrists. ''Fact'' had mailed questionnaires to 12,356 psychiatrists, receiving responses from 2,417, of whom 1,189 said Goldwater was mentally incapable of holding the office of president. Most of the other respondents declined to diagnose Goldwater because they had not clinically interviewed him but said that, although not psychologically unfit to preside, Goldwater would be negligent in the role.
After the election, Goldwater sued the publisher, the editor and the magazine for libel in ''
Goldwater v. Ginzburg
''Goldwater v. Ginzburg'' was a 1969 United States court ruling on defamation.
Background
''Fact'' Magazine (''Fact'') was a corporation in New York. The defendant, Ralph Ginzburg, was the editor and publisher of ''Fact'', and Warren Boroson, a ...
''. "Although the jury awarded Goldwater only $1.00 in compensatory damages against all three defendants, it went on to award him punitive damages of $25,000 against Ginzburg and $50,000 against ''Fact'' magazine, Inc." According to
Warren Boroson
Warren Boroson (born January 22, 1935) is an American author and journalist. He has written over 20 books, including ''How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett'', ''Keys to Investing in Mutual Funds'' and ''How to Buy a House for Nothing (or Little ...
, then-managing editor of ''Fact'' and later a financial columnist, the main biography of Goldwater in the magazine was written by
David Bar-Illan
David Bar-Illan (February 7, 1930 – November 5, 2003) was an Israeli pianist, author and newspaper editor.
Biography
Bar-Illan was born in Haifa during the Mandate era, and studied music at the Dona Weizman Conservatory. At age 17, he won a sch ...
, the Israeli pianist.
Political advertising
A Democratic campaign advertisement known as
Daisy showed a young girl counting daisy petals, from one to ten. Immediately following this scene, a voiceover counted down from ten to one. The child's face was shown as a still photograph followed by images of
nuclear explosions
A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, tho ...
and
mushroom clouds. The campaign advertisement ended with a plea to vote for Johnson, implying that Goldwater (though not mentioned by name) would provoke a
nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
if elected. The advertisement, which featured only a few spoken words and relied on imagery for its emotional impact, was one of the most provocative in American political campaign history, and many analysts credit it as being the birth of the modern style of "
negative political ads" on television. The ad aired only once and was immediately pulled, but it was then shown many times by local television stations covering the controversy.
Goldwater did not have ties to the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
(KKK), but he was publicly endorsed by members of the organization.
Lyndon B. Johnson exploited this association during the elections, but Goldwater barred the KKK from supporting him and denounced them.
Throughout the presidential campaign, Goldwater refused to appeal to racial tensions or backlash against civil rights. After the outbreak of the
Harlem riot of 1964, Goldwater privately gathered news reporters on his campaign plane and said that if anyone attempted to sow racial violence on his political behalf, he would withdraw from the presidential raceeven if it was the day before the election.
Past comments came back to haunt Goldwater throughout the campaign. He had once called the
Eisenhower administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following a landslide victory ov ...
"a dime-store
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
", and the former president never fully forgave him. However, Eisenhower did film a television commercial with Goldwater. Eisenhower qualified his voting for Goldwater in November by remarking that he had voted not specifically for Goldwater, but for the Republican Party. In December 1961, Goldwater had told a news conference that "sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea." That comment boomeranged on him during the campaign in the form of a Johnson television commercial, as did remarks about making
Social Security voluntary, and statements in
Tennessee about selling the
Tennessee Valley Authority, a large local New Deal employer.
The Goldwater campaign spotlighted
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, who appeared in a campaign ad. In turn, Reagan gave a stirring, nationally televised speech, "
A Time for Choosing
"A Time for Choosing", also known as "The Speech", was a speech presented during the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign by future president Ronald Reagan on behalf of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. 'A Time For Choosing' launched R ...
", in support of Goldwater. The speech prompted Reagan to seek the
California Governorship in 1966 and jump-started his political career. Conservative activist
Phyllis Schlafly, later known for her campaign against the
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
, first became known for writing a pro-Goldwater book, ''A Choice, Not an Echo'', in which she attacked the moderate Republican establishment.
Results

Goldwater
lost to President Lyndon Johnson by a landslide, pulling down the Republican Party, which lost many seats in both houses of Congress.
Goldwater only won his home state of Arizona and five states in the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...
. The Southern states, traditionally Democratic up to that time, voted Republican primarily as a statement of opposition to the
Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts of the United States Congress, including:
* Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves by stating that any person born in the United States regardless of race is an American ci ...
, which had been signed into law by Johnson earlier that year. Despite Johnson's support for the Civil Rights Act, the bill received split support from Congressional Democrats due to southerner opposition. In contrast, Congressional Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill, with Goldwater being joined by only 5 other Republican senators in voting against it.
Outside of the South, the Civil Rights Act gained a high level of approval and Goldwater's opposition to it hurt him significantly with voters across the country, including from his own party.
In the end, Goldwater received 38% of the popular vote and carried just six states: Arizona (with 51% of the popular vote) and the core states of the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...
: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. In carrying Georgia by a margin of 54–45%, Goldwater became the first Republican nominee to win the state. However, the overall result was the worst showing in terms of the popular vote and electoral college vote for any post-World War II Republican. Indeed, he would not have even carried his own state if not for a 20,000-vote margin in
Maricopa County.
Johnson won an overwhelming 486 electoral votes, to Goldwater's 52. Goldwater, with his customary bluntness, remarked, "We would have lost even if
Abraham Lincoln had come back and campaigned with us." He maintained later in life that he would have won the election if the country had not been in a state of extended grief following the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, and that it was simply not ready for a third president in just 14 months.
Goldwater's poor showing pulled down many supporters. Of the 57 Republican Congressmen who endorsed Goldwater before the convention, 20 were defeated for reelection, along with many promising young Republicans. In contrast, Republican Congressman
John Lindsay (
NY-17), who refused to endorse Goldwater, was handily re-elected in a district where Democrats held a 10% overall advantage. On the other hand, the defeat of so many older politicians created openings for young conservatives to move up the ladder. While the loss of moderate Republicans was temporary—they were back by 1966—Goldwater also permanently pulled many conservative Southerners and whites out of the
New Deal Coalition.
According to
Steve Kornacki of ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
'', "Goldwater broke through and won five
outhernstates—the best showing in the region for a GOP candidate since
Reconstruction. In Mississippi—where
Franklin D. Roosevelt had won nearly 100 percent of the vote 28 years earlier—Goldwater claimed a staggering 87 percent." It has frequently been argued that Goldwater's strong performance in Southern states previously regarded as Democratic strongholds foreshadowed a larger shift in electoral trends in the coming decades that would make the South a Republican bastion (an end to the "
Solid South")—first in presidential politics and eventually at the congressional and state levels, as well. Also, Goldwater's uncompromising promotion of freedom was the start of a continuing shift in American politics from liberalism to a
conservative economic philosophy.
Return to the Senate

Goldwater remained popular in Arizona, and in the
1968 Senate election he was elected to the seat of retiring Senator
Carl Hayden. He was subsequently reelected in 1974 and 1980.
Throughout the late 1970s, as the conservative wing under
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
gained control of the Republican Party, Goldwater concentrated on his Senate duties, especially in military affairs. Goldwater purportedly did not like
Richard Nixon on either a political or personal level, later calling the California Republican "the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life".
Accordingly, he played little part in Nixon's election or administration, but he helped force Nixon's resignation in 1974. At the height of the
Watergate
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
scandal, Goldwater met with Nixon at the White House and urged him to resign. At the time, Nixon's impeachment by the House of Representatives was imminent and Goldwater warned him that fewer than 10 Republican senators would vote against conviction. After Goldwater helped convince Nixon to resign, the term "Goldwater moment" has been used to describe situations when influential members of Congress disagree so strongly with a president from their own party that they openly oppose him.
Despite being a difficult year for Republicans candidates, the
1974 election saw Goldwater easily reelected over his Democratic opponent,
Jonathan Marshall, the publisher of ''The Scottsdale Progress''.
At the
1976 Republican National Convention
The 1976 Republican National Convention was a United States political convention of the Republican Party that met from August 16 to August 19, 1976, to select the party's nominee for President. Held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the ...
, Goldwater helped block
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
's renomination as vice president. When Reagan challenged
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
for the presidential nomination in 1976, Goldwater endorsed the incumbent Ford, looking for consensus rather than conservative idealism. As one historian notes, "The Arizonan had lost much of his zest for battle."
In 1979, when
President Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
normalized relations with Communist
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, Goldwater and some other Senators sued him in the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, arguing that the President could not terminate the
Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty with the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(
Taiwan) without the approval of
Congress. The case, ''
Goldwater v. Carter
''Goldwater v. Carter'', 444 U.S. 996 (1979), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Senator Barry Goldwater and other members of the United States Congress challenging the right of President Jimmy ...
'' (444 U.S. 996), was dismissed by the court as a
political question.
On June 9, 1969, Goldwater was absent during
President Nixon's nomination of
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell ...
as
Chief Justice of the United States while Senate Minority Whip
Hugh Scott announced that Goldwater would have voted in favor if present. Goldwater voted in favor of Nixon's failed Supreme Court nomination of
Clement Haynsworth
Clement Furman Haynsworth Jr. (October 30, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was also an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Supreme Court in 1969 ...
on November 21, 1969, and a few months later, Goldwater voted in favor of Nixon's failed Supreme Court nomination of
Harrold Carswell
George Harrold Carswell (December 22, 1919 – July 13, 1992) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern Di ...
on April 8, 1970. The following month, Goldwater was absent when Nixon nominee
Harry Blackmun
Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blac ...
was confirmed on May 12, 1970, while Senate Minority Whip
Robert P. Griffin
Robert Paul Griffin (November 6, 1923 – April 16, 2015) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Michigan in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate and was a Justice of the M ...
announced that Goldwater would have voted in favor if present. On December 6, 1971, Goldwater voted in favor of Nixon's nomination of
Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.
Born in Suffolk, Virginia, he graduat ...
, and on December 10, Goldwater voted in favor of Nixon's nomination of
William Rehnquist as Associate Justice. On December 17, 1975, Goldwater voted in favor of President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
's nomination of
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
to the Supreme Court.
Final campaign and Senate term
With his fourth Senate term due to end in January 1981, Goldwater seriously considered retiring from the Senate in 1980 before deciding to run for one final term. It was a surprisingly tough
campaign for re-election. Goldwater was viewed by some as out of touch and vulnerable for several reasons, chiefly because he had planned to retire in 1981 and he had not visited many areas of Arizona outside of
Phoenix and
Tucson. Additionally, his Democrat challenger,
Bill Schulz, proved to be a formidable opponent. A former Republican and a wealthy real estate developer, Schultz's campaign slogan was "Energy for the Eighties." Arizona's changing population also hurt Goldwater. The state's population had greatly increased and a large portion of the electorate had not lived in the state at the time Goldwater was previously elected, meaning unlike most incumbents, many voters were less familiar with Goldwater's actual beliefs. Goldwater spent most of the campaign on the defensive. Although he was eventually declared as the winning candidate in the general election by a very narrow margin, receiving 49.5% of the vote to Schulz's 48.4%, early returns on election night indicated that Schulz would win. The counting of votes continued through the night and into the next morning. At around daybreak, Goldwater learned that he had been reelected thanks to
absentee ballot
An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...
s, which were among the last to be counted.
Goldwater's close victory in 1980 came despite Reagan's 61% landslide over
Jimmy Carter in Arizona. Despite Goldwater's struggles, in 1980, Republicans were able to pick up 12 senate seats, regaining control of the chamber for the first time since 1955, when Goldwater was in his first term. Goldwater was now in the most powerful position he had ever been in the Senate. In October 1983, Goldwater voted against the
legislation establishing
Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a
federal holiday.
On September 21, 1981, Goldwater voted in favor of
Reagan's Supreme Court nomination of
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
. Goldwater was absent during the nominations of William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the United States and
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
as Associate Justice on September 17, 1986.
After the new Senate convened in January 1981, Goldwater became chairman of the
Senate Intelligence Committee
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
. In this role he clashed with the Reagan administration in April 1984 when he discovered that the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been
mining the waters of Nicaragua since February, something that he had first denied when the matter was raised.
[Brogan ''The Fighting Never Stopped'', 1989 p. 449] In a note to the CIA director
William Casey, Goldwater denounced what he called an "act of war", saying that "this is no way to run a railroad" as he stated crossly that only Congress had the power to declare war and accused the CIA of illegally mining Nicaraguan waters without the permission of Congress.
Goldwater concluded, "The President has asked us to back his foreign policy. Bill, how can we back his foreign policy when we don't know what the hell he is doing? Lebanon, yes, we all knew that he sent troops over there. But mine the harbors in Nicaragua? This is an act violating international law. It is an act of war. For the life of me, I don't see how we are going to explain it."
Goldwater felt compelled to issue an apology on the floor of the Senate because the Senate Intelligence Committee had failed in its duties to oversee the CIA as he stated, saying, "I am forced to apologize for the members of my committee because I did not know the facts on this case. And I apologize to all the members of the Senate for the same reason". Goldwater subsequently voted for a Congressional resolution condemning the mining.
In his 1980 Senate reelection campaign, Goldwater won support from
religious conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
s but in his final term voted consistently to uphold
legal abortion and in 1981 gave a speech on how he was angry about the bullying of American politicians by religious organizations, and would "fight them every step of the way". Notwithstanding his prior differences with
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Goldwater in a 1986 interview rated him the best of the seven presidents with whom he had worked.
He introduced the
1984 Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act
The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (codified at ) was an act of Congress passed on October 30, 1984 to promote competition and deregulate the cable television industry. The act established a national policy for the regulation of cable tel ...
, which allowed local governments to require the transmission of
public, educational, and government access (PEG) channels, barred cable operators from exercising editorial control over the content of programs carried on PEG channels, and absolved them from liability for their content. On May 12, 1986, Goldwater was presented with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.

In response to
Moral Majority founder
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelism, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, ...
's opposition to the nomination of
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerned", Goldwater retorted, "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass." According to
John Dean, Goldwater actually suggested that good Christians ought to kick Falwell in the "nuts", but the news media "changed the anatomical reference". Goldwater also had harsh words for his one-time political protégé, President Reagan, particularly after the
Iran–Contra Affair became public in 1986. Journalist
Robert MacNeil, a friend of Goldwater's from the 1964 presidential campaign, recalled interviewing him in his office shortly afterward. "He was sitting in his office with his hands on his cane... and he said to me, 'Well, aren't you going to ask me about the
Iran arms sales?' It had just been announced that the Reagan administration had sold arms to Iran. And I said, 'Well, if I asked you, what would you say?' He said, 'I'd say it's the god-damned stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!'" Aside from the Iran–Contra scandal, Goldwater thought nonetheless that Reagan was a good president.
Retirement
Goldwater said later that the close result in 1980 convinced him not to run again. He retired in 1987, serving as Chair of the Senate Intelligence and
Armed Services Committees in his final term. Despite his reputation as a firebrand in the 1960s, by the end of his career, he was considered a stabilizing influence in the Senate, one of the most respected members of either major party. Although Goldwater remained staunchly anti-communist and "
hawkish" on military issues, he was a key supporter of the fight for ratification of the
Panama Canal Treaty in the 1970s, which would give control of the canal zone to the Republic of
Panama. His most important legislative achievement may have been the
Goldwater–Nichols Act
The Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of October 4, 1986 , (signed by President Ronald Reagan), made the most sweeping changes to the United States Department of Defense since the department was established in the ...
, which reorganized the U.S. military's senior-command structure.
Policies
Goldwater became most associated with labor union reform and anti-communism; he was a supporter of the
conservative coalition
The conservative coalition, founded in 1937, was an unofficial alliance of members of the United States Congress which brought together the conservative wings of the Republican and Democratic parties to oppose President Franklin Delano Rooseve ...
in Congress. His work on labor issues led to Congress passing major anti-corruption reforms in 1957, and an all-out campaign by the
AFL–CIO to defeat his 1958 reelection bid. He voted against the censure of Senator
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
in 1954, but never actually accused any individual of being a communist or Soviet agent. Goldwater emphasized his strong opposition to the worldwide spread of communism in his 1960 book ''
The Conscience of a Conservative
''The Conscience of a Conservative'' is a 1960 book published under the name of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater who was the 1964 Republican presidential candidate. It helped revive the American conservative movement and make Goldwater a political ...
''. The book became an important reference text in conservative political circles.

In 1964, Goldwater ran a conservative campaign that emphasized
states' rights. Goldwater's 1964 campaign was a magnet for conservatives since he opposed interference by the federal government in state affairs. Goldwater voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...
and the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
but did not vote on the
Civil Rights Act of 1960 because he was absent from the chamber, with
Senate Minority Whip Thomas Kuchel (R–CA) announcing that Goldwater would have voted in favor if present.
Though Goldwater had supported the original Senate version of the bill, Goldwater voted against the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
.
His stance was based on his view that Article II and Article VII of the Act interfered with the rights of private persons to do or not to do business with whomever they chose and believed that the private employment provisions of the Act would lead to
racial quotas. In the segregated city of Phoenix in the 1950s, he had quietly supported civil rights for blacks, but would not let his name be used.
All this
appealed to white Southern Democrats, and Goldwater was the first Republican to win the electoral votes of all of the Deep South states (
South Carolina,
Georgia,
Alabama,
Mississippi and
Louisiana) since
Reconstruction.
However, Goldwater's vote on the Civil Rights Act proved devastating to his campaign everywhere outside the South (besides Dixie, Goldwater won only in Arizona, his home state), contributing to his landslide defeat in 1964.
While Goldwater had been depicted by his opponents in the Republican primaries as a representative of a
conservative philosophy that was extreme and alien, his voting records show that his positions were in harmony with those of his fellow Republicans in the Congress. According to
Hans J. Morgenthau
Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was a German-American jurist and political scientist who was one of the major 20th-century figures in the study of international relations. Morgenthau's works belong to the tradition o ...
, what distinguished him from his predecessors was his firmness of principle and determination, which did not allow him to be content with mere rhetoric.
Goldwater fought in 1971 to stop U.S. funding of the
United Nations after the People's Republic of China was admitted to the organization. He said:
Goldwater and the revival of American conservatism
Although Goldwater was not as important in the
American conservative movement as
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
after 1965, he shaped and redefined the movement from the late 1950s to 1964. Arizona Senator
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
, who succeeded Goldwater in the Senate in 1987, said of Goldwater's legacy, "He transformed the Republican Party from an Eastern elitist organization to the breeding ground for the election of Ronald Reagan." Columnist
George Will remarked that Reagan's victory in the
1980 presidential election was the metaphoric culmination of 16 years of counting the votes for Goldwater from the
1964 presidential race.
The Republican Party recovered from the 1964 election debacle, acquiring 47 seats in the
House of Representatives in the
1966 mid-term election. In January 1969, after Goldwater had been re-elected to the senate, he wrote an article in the ''
National Review'' "affirming that he
asnot against liberals, that liberals are needed as a counterweight to conservatism, and that he had in mind a fine liberal like
Max Lerner."
Goldwater was a strong supporter of environmental protection. He explained his position in 1969:
Later life

By the 1980s, with
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
as president and the growing involvement of the
religious right in conservative politics, Goldwater's
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
views on personal issues were revealed; he believed that they were an integral part of true conservatism. Goldwater viewed abortion as a matter of personal choice and as such supported
abortion rights. As a passionate defender of personal liberty, he saw the religious right's views as an encroachment on personal privacy and
individual liberties. Although he voted against making Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday in his last term as senator, Goldwater later expressed support for it.
In 1987, he received the
Langley Gold Medal from the
Smithsonian Institution. In 1988,
Princeton University's
American Whig-Cliosophic Society awarded Goldwater the
James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
in recognition of his career.
After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described the Arizona Governor
Evan Mecham as "hardheaded" and called on him to resign, and two years later stated that the Republican party had been taken over by a "bunch of kooks".
During the
1988 presidential campaign, he told vice-presidential nominee
Dan Quayle at a campaign event in Arizona, "I want you to go back and tell
George Bush
George Bush most commonly refers to:
* George H. W. Bush (1924–2018), 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd president
* George W. Bush (born 1946), 43rd president of the United States and son of the 41st president
Georg ...
to start talking about the issues."
Some of Goldwater's statements in the 1990s alienated many
social conservatives
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social instituti ...
. He endorsed Democrat
Karan English
Karan English (born March 23, 1949) is an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives of the 103rd United States Congress from 1993 to 1995.
A Democrat, English represented Arizona's 6th Congressional District, which in ...
in an Arizona congressional race, urged Republicans to lay off
Bill Clinton over the
Whitewater scandal
The Whitewater controversy, Whitewater scandal, Whitewatergate, or simply Whitewater, was an American political controversy during the 1990s. It began with an investigation into the real estate investments of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their ass ...
, and criticized
the military's ban on homosexuals,
saying, "Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
", and, "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight." A few years before his death, he addressed establishment Republicans by saying, "Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you've hurt the Republican party much more than the Democrats have."
In a 1994 interview with ''
The Washington Post'', Goldwater said:
Also in 1994, he repeated his concerns about religious groups attempting to gain control of the Republican party, saying,
In 1996, he told
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
, whose own presidential campaign received lukewarm support from conservative Republicans, "We're the new liberals of the Republican party. Can you imagine that?" In that same year, with Senator
Dennis DeConcini
Dennis Webster DeConcini (; born May 8, 1937) is an American lawyer, philanthropist, politician and former Democratic U.S. Senator from Arizona. The son of former Arizona Supreme Court Judge Evo Anton DeConcini, he represented Arizona in the Unit ...
, Goldwater endorsed an
Arizona initiative to legalize
medical marijuana against the countervailing opinion of social conservatives.
Personal life
In 1934, Goldwater married Margaret "Peggy" Johnson, daughter of a prominent industrialist from
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...
. The couple had four children: Joanne (born January 18, 1936),
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
(born July 15, 1938), Michael (born March 15, 1940), and Peggy (born July 27, 1944). Goldwater became a widower in 1985 and, in 1992, he married Susan Wechsler, a nurse 32 years his junior. Goldwater's son
Barry Goldwater Jr.
Barry Morris Goldwater Jr. (born July 15, 1938) is an American businessman and politician. He is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California, serving from 1969 to 1983. He is the son of U.S. Senator a ...
served as a Republican
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
, representing California from 1969 to 1983.
Goldwater's grandson, Ty Ross, is an interior designer and former
Zoli
''Zoli'' is a novel by Colum McCann. It follows the life of Marienka Novotna, nicknamed "Zoli", a Slovak Romani woman, from her childhood in the 1930s, through her exile in the 1950s, to her late adult life. Although Zoli is a fictional character ...
model. Ross, who is openly gay and
HIV positive
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
, has been credited as inspiring the elder Goldwater "to become an octogenarian proponent of gay civil rights".
Goldwater ran track and cross country in high school, where he specialized in the
880 yard run. His parents strongly encouraged him to compete in these sports, to his dismay. In 1940, Goldwater became one of the first people to run the
Colorado River recreationally through
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
participating as an oarsman on
Norman Nevills
Norman D. Nevills (April 9, 1908 – September 19, 1949) was a pioneer of commercial river-running in the American Southwest, particularly the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He led trips including Dr. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, the f ...
' second commercial river trip. Goldwater joined them in
Green River, Utah
Green River is a city in Emery County, Utah. The population was 847 at the 2020 census.
History
The city of Green River is located in ancestral Ute lands, in the home locale of the Seuvarits/Sheberetch band of Ute people. The Old Spanish Trail ...
, and rowed his own boat down to
Lake Mead. In 1970, the Arizona Historical Foundation published the daily journal Goldwater had maintained on the Grand Canyon journey, including his photographs, in a 209-page volume titled ''Delightful Journey''.
In 1963, he joined the Arizona Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution. He was also a lifetime member of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...
, the
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
, and
Sigma Chi fraternity. He belonged to both the
York Rite
The York Rite, sometimes referred to as the American Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. It is named for, but not practiced in York, Yorkshire, England. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic ...
and
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and was awarded the 33rd degree in the Scottish Rite.
Hobbies and interests
Amateur radio
Goldwater was an avid
amateur radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
operator from the early 1920s onwards, with the
call signs 6BPI, K3UIG and K7UGA. The last is now used by an Arizona club honoring him as a commemorative call. During the
Vietnam War he was a
Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) operator.
Goldwater was a spokesman for amateur radio and its enthusiasts. Beginning in 1969, and for the rest of his life, he appeared in many educational and promotional films (and later videos) about the hobby that were produced for the
American Radio Relay League (the United States national society representing the interests of radio amateurs) by such producers as Dave Bell (W6AQ), ARRL Southwest Director John R. Griggs (W6KW), Alan Kaul (W6RCL), Forrest Oden (N6ENV), and Roy Neal (K6DUE). His first appearance was in Dave Bell's ''The World of Amateur Radio'' where Goldwater discussed the history of the hobby and demonstrated a live contact with Antarctica. His last on-screen appearance dealing with "ham radio" was in 1994, explaining a then-upcoming, Earth-orbiting ham radio relay satellite.
Electronics was a hobby for Goldwater beyond amateur radio. He enjoyed assembling
Heathkits,
completing more than 100 and often visiting their maker in
Benton Harbor, Michigan, to buy more, before the company exited the kit business in 1992.
[Fisher, Lawrence M.]
Plug Is Pulled on Heathkits, Ending a Do-It-Yourself Era
" ''The New York Times'', March 30, 1992.
Kachina dolls

In 1916, Goldwater visited the
Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
Reservation __NOTOC__
Reservation may refer to: Places
Types of places:
* Indian reservation, in the United States
* Military base, often called reservations
* Nature reserve
Government and law
* Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty
* Reservation in India, ...
with Phoenix architect John Rinker Kibby, and obtained his first
kachina doll
A kachina (; also katchina, katcina, or katsina; Hopi: ''katsina'' , plural ''katsinim'' ) is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo peoples, Native American cultures located in the south-western part of the United States. In th ...
. Eventually his doll collection included 437 items and was presented in 1969 to the
Heard Museum
The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...
in Phoenix.
Photography
Goldwater was an amateur photographer and in his estate left some 15,000 of his images to three Arizona institutions. He was keen on
candid photography. He became interested in the hobby after receiving a camera as a gift from his wife on their first Christmas together. He was known to use a
4×5 Graflex,
Rolleiflex, 16 mm
Bell and Howell motion picture camera, and
35 mm 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
Nikkormat FT. He was a member of the
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...
from 1941, becoming a Life Member in 1948.
For decades, he contributed photographs of his home state to ''
Arizona Highways'' and was known for his Western landscapes and pictures of
native Americans in the United States. Three books with his photographs are ''People and Places'', from 1967; ''Barry Goldwater and the Southwest'', from 1976; and ''Delightful Journey'', first published in 1940 and reprinted in 1970.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...
wrote a foreword to the 1976 book.
Goldwater's photography interests occasionally crossed over with his political career. John F. Kennedy, as president, was known to invite former congressional colleagues to the White House for a drink. On one occasion, Goldwater brought his camera and photographed President Kennedy. When Kennedy received the photo, he returned it to Goldwater, with the inscription: "For Barry Goldwater—Whom I urge to follow the career for which he has shown such talent—photography!—from his friend—John Kennedy." This quip became a classic of American political humor after it was relayed by humorist
Bennett Cerf. The photo itself was prized by Goldwater for the rest of his life and sold for $17,925 in a 2010
Heritage
Heritage may refer to:
History and society
* A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today
** Cultural heritage is created by humans
** Natural heritage is not
* Heritage language
Biology
* Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...
auction.
Son Michael Prescott Goldwater formed the Goldwater Family Foundation with the goal of making his father's photography available via the internet. (''Barry Goldwater Photographs'') was launched in September 2006 to coincide with the HBO documentary ''Mr. Conservative'', produced by granddaughter CC Goldwater.
UFOs
On March 28, 1975, Goldwater wrote to Shlomo Arnon: "The subject of UFOs has interested me for some long time. About ten or twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information has been stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this request. It is still classified above Top Secret."
Goldwater further wrote that there were rumors the evidence would be released, and that he was "just as anxious to see this material as you are, and I hope we will not have to wait much longer".
The April 25, 1988, issue of ''
The New Yorker'' carried an interview with Goldwater in which he recounted efforts to gain access to the room. He did so again in a 1994 ''
Larry King Live'' interview, saying:
Death

Goldwater's public appearances ended in late 1996 after he had a massive stroke. Family members disclosed he was in the early stages of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
. He died on May 29, 1998, at the age of 89, at his long-time home in
Paradise Valley, Arizona, of complications from the stroke. His funeral was co-officiated by both a reverend and a rabbi. His ashes were buried at the Episcopal Christ Church of the Ascension in Paradise Valley, Arizona. A memorial statue set in a small park has been erected to honor the memory of Goldwater in that town, near his former home and current resting place.
Legacy
Buildings and monuments

Among the buildings and monuments named after Barry Goldwater are the Barry M. Goldwater Terminal at
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil–military public airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in th ...
, Goldwater Memorial Park in
Paradise Valley, Arizona, the Barry Goldwater Air Force Academy Visitor Center at the
United States Air Force Academy, and
Barry Goldwater High School in northern Phoenix. In 2010, former Arizona Attorney General
Grant Woods
J. Grant Woods (May 19, 1954 – October 23, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1991 until 1999. Woods was a moderate-to-liberal Republican who served as John McCain's chief of staff w ...
, himself a Goldwater scholar and supporter, founded the
Goldwater Women's Tennis Classic
The Goldwater Women's Tennis Classic was a tournament for professional female tennis players played on outdoor hardcourts. It was classified as a $75,000 ITF Women's Circuit event, and was held annually in Phoenix, Arizona, from 2009 to 2012.
Pa ...
Tournament to be held annually at the
Phoenix Country Club
Phoenix Country Club is a country club in the southwestern United States, located in Phoenix, Arizona. The club was founded in 1899 and was moved to its current location in 1921. Golf Connoisseur Magazine rated Phoenix Country Club among top 100 ...
in Phoenix.
On February 11, 2015, a
statue of Goldwater by
Deborah Copenhaver Fellows
Deborah Copenhaver Fellows (born 1948) is an American sculptor known for her Western themed works. Her best known work is the life-sized statue of former Arizona senator Barry Goldwater included in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U. ...
was unveiled by U.S. House and Senate leaders at a dedication ceremony in
National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Barry Goldwater Peak is the highest peak in the
White Tank Mountains
The White Tank Mountains are a mountain range in central Arizona. The mountains are on the western periphery of the Phoenix metropolitan area, primarily flanked by the suburban cities of Buckeye to the southwest, and Surprise to the northeast. ...
.
Goldwater Scholarship
The
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by the United States Congress in 1986 in honor of former United States Senate, United States Senator and 1964 United States presidential election, 1964 president ...
and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986. Its goal is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.
The Scholarship is widely considered the most prestigious award in the U.S. conferred upon undergraduates studying the sciences. It is awarded to about 300 students (college sophomores and juniors) nationwide in the amount of $7,500 per academic year (for their senior year, or junior and senior years). It honors Goldwater's keen interest in science and technology.
Documentary
Goldwater's granddaughter, CC Goldwater, has co-produced with longtime friend and
independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...
producer
Tani L. Cohen a documentary on Goldwater's life, ''Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater'', first shown on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
on September 18, 2006.
In popular culture
In his song "
I Shall Be Free No. 10
"I Shall Be Free No. 10" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the fifth track on his fourth studio album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' (1964). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Tom Wilson (record p ...
",
Bob Dylan refers to Goldwater: "I'm liberal to a degree, I want everybody to be free. But if you think I'll let Barry Goldwater move in next door and marry my daughter, you must think I'm crazy." In the 1965 film ''
The Bedford Incident'', the actor
Richard Widmark playing the film's antagonist, Captain Eric Finlander of the fictional destroyer USS ''Bedford'', modelled his character's mannerisms and rhetorical style after Goldwater.
Military awards
*
Command Pilot Badge
*
Service Pilot Badge (former U.S. Army Air Forces rating)
*
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
*
Air Medal
*
Army Commendation Medal
*
American Defense Service Medal
*
American Campaign Medal
*
European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
*
Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal with campaign star
*
World War II Victory Medal
*
Armed Forces Reserve Medal with three bronze hourglasses
Other awards
*
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1986)
*
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
Distinguished Service Medal
* Marconi Gold Medal, Veteran Wireless Operators Association (1968)
* Marconi Medal of Achievement (1968)
* Bob Hope Five Star Civilian Award (1976)
* Good Citizenship Award, Daughters of the American Revolution
* 33rd Degree Mason
* The
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...
Memorial Award
* Top Gun Award,
Luke Air Force Base
* Order of Fifinella Award – Champion of the
Women Air Force Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
(WASP) (1978)
*
Thomas D. White
General Thomas Dresser White (August 6, 1901 – December 22, 1965) was the fourth Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.
Life and military career
White was born in Walker, Minnesota, on August 6, 1901. His father was John Chanler Whi ...
National Defense Award 1978
* Conservative Digest Award (1980)
* Senator
John Warner
John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...
Award for Public Service in the field of Nuclear Disarmament (1983)
*
Alexander M. Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; December 2, 1924February 20, 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabi ...
, Jr. Memorial Award (1983)
* National Congress of American Indians Congressional Award (1985)
* Space Pioneer Award, Sixth Space Development Conference (1987)
*
James Madison Award
The James Madison Award is administered by the American Library Association, which describes the award:
The award named for President James Madison was established in 1989 and is presented annually on the anniversary of his birth to honor indivi ...
,
American Whig-Cliosophic Society (1988)
*
National Aviation Hall of Fame (1982)
Books
* ''
The Conscience of a Conservative
''The Conscience of a Conservative'' is a 1960 book published under the name of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater who was the 1964 Republican presidential candidate. It helped revive the American conservative movement and make Goldwater a political ...
'' (1960)
''Why Not Victory? A Fresh Look at American Policy''(1963)
*
''Where I Stand'' (1964)
*
''Conscience of a Majority'' (1971)
*
''The Coming Breakpoint'' (1976)
*
''Arizona'' (1977)
*
''With No Apologies: The Personal and Political Memoirs of Senator Barry M. Goldwater'' (1980)
*
''Goldwater'' (1988)
Relatives
Goldwater's son
Barry Goldwater Jr.
Barry Morris Goldwater Jr. (born July 15, 1938) is an American businessman and politician. He is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California, serving from 1969 to 1983. He is the son of U.S. Senator a ...
served as a Congressman from California from 1969 to 1983. He was the first Congressman to serve while having a father in the Senate. Goldwater's uncle
Morris Goldwater
Morris Goldwater (January 16, 1852 – April 11, 1939) was an American businessman and politician.
Background
Goldwater was born in London, England. In 1854, Goldwater and his family emigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco ...
served in the Arizona territorial and state legislatures and as mayor of
Prescott, Arizona. Goldwater's nephew Don Goldwater sought the
Arizona Republican Party nomination for
Governor of Arizona in 2006, but he was defeated by
Len Munsil.
See also
*
Electoral history of Barry Goldwater
Electoral history of Barry Goldwater, United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and Republican Party nominee for President of the United States during 1964 election
Phoenix City Council, At-large district, 1949:
Elected: ...
*
Goldwater Institute
*
Goldwater rule
The Goldwater rule is Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics, which states that psychiatrists have a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to the improvement of the community ...
Notes
References
Primary
*
* Goldwater, Barry M. with Jack Casserly. ''Goldwater'' (Doubleday, 1988), autobiography.
*
* by Goldwater's speechwriter
* Shadegg, Stephen. ''What Happened to Goldwater? The Inside Story of the 1964 Republican Campaign'' (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965).
* White, F. Clifton. ''Suite 3505: The Story of the Draft Goldwater Movement'' (Arlington House, 1967).
Secondary
* Annunziata, Frank. "The Revolt Against the Welfare State: Goldwater Conservatism and the Election of 1964." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 10.2 (1980): 254-265
online*
* Conley, Brian M. ''The Rise of the Republican Right: From Goldwater to Reagan'' (Routledge, 2019).
*
* Conley, Brian M. "The Politics of Party Renewal: The 'Service Party' and the Origins of the Post-Goldwater Republican Right." ''Studies in American Political Development'' 27.1 (2013): 51
online
* Crespi, Irving. "The Structural Basis for Right-Wing Conservatism: The Goldwater Case," ''Public Opinion Quarterly'' 29#4 (Winter, 1965–66): 523–543.
* Cunningham, Sean P. "Man of the West: Goldwater's Reflection in the Oasis of Frontier Conservatism." ''Journal of Arizona History'' 61.1 (2020): 79–88.
*
*
* , the standard scholarly biography
*
*
* Jurdem, Laurence R. " 'The Media Were Not Completely Fair to You': Foreign Policy, the Press and the 1964 Goldwater Campaign." ''Journal of Arizona History'' 61.1 (2020): 161–180.
* Mann, Robert. ''Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater and the Ad That Changed American Politics'' (Louisiana State UP, 2011).
*
* Middendorf, J. William. ''A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement'' (Basic Books, 2006).
*
* Schuparra, Kurt. "Barry Goldwater and Southern California Conservatism: Ideology, Image and Myth in the 1964 California Republican Presidential Primary." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 74.3 (1992): 277-298
online* Shepard, Christopher. "A True Jeffersonian: The Western Conservative Principles of Barry Goldwater and His Vote Against the Civil Rights Act of 1964." ''Journal of the West''. 49, no. 1, (2010): 34–40
* Shermer, Elizabeth Tandy (ed.) (2013). ''Barry Goldwater and the Remaking of the American Political Landscape.'' Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2013.
* Smith, Dean. ''The Goldwaters of Arizona'' (1986), includes brief coverage of the parents.
* Taylor, Andrew. "Barry Goldwater: insurgent conservatism as constitutive rhetoric." ''Journal of Political Ideologies'' 21, no. 3 (2016): 242–260
online* Taylor, Andrew. "The Oratory of Barry Goldwater." in ''Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump'' (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018). 41–66.
* Tønnessen, Alf Tomas. "Goldwater, Bush, Ryan and the Failed Attempts by Conservative Republicans to Reform Federal Entitlement Programs." ''American Studies in Scandinavia'' 47.2 (2015): 47–6
online
* Thorburn, Wayne. "Barry's Boys and Goldwater Girls: Barry Goldwater and the Mobilization of Young Conservatives in the Early 1960s." ''Journal of Arizona History'' 61.1 (2020): 89–107
excerpt*
*
online* Young, Nancy Beck. ''Two Suns of the Southwest: Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater, and the 1964 Battle between Liberalism and Conservatism'' (UP of Kansas, 2019)
online
Further reading
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Flynn, John T. ''Goldwater Either/or: A Self-portrait Based Upon His Own Words.''
Public Affairs Press, 1949.
External links
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"Barry Goldwater, Presidential Contender"from
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
's ''
The Contenders
''The Contenders'' is a 14-program series that was produced and aired by C-SPAN in the fall of 2011. It looked at the lives and careers of 14 candidates for the presidency of the United States who were determined to have made significant impacts ...
''
The Goldwater Institute*
Speech delivered by Barry Goldwater to the Comstock Club of Sacramento, California on June 22, 1966
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldwater, Barry
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