Barry Goldwater: A Great American
Contributed By Doug Ferguson
It was in October of 1964. I was a 24 year old campaign volunteer and walked up the steps to a porch in Endicott, NY and knocked on the door. An irritated looking middle-aged man answered and said, “What do you want?” I said, “I am here to ask you to support the election of Barry Goldwater for President of the United States!”
He opened the door and said, “Get off of my porch, you s—of-a-b---ch before I punch you in the nose!” So went one of my first introductions to how some people reacted to one of my early political heroes!
Political discussions were no stranger to me growing up and later as a college student with regular dinner table discussions that my parents had and sometimes with other relatives. My young adult life had started with an interest in history and, of course, politics.
This continued when I was a student at Case Institute of Technology (now part of Case University) in Cleveland, Ohio in the late 1950’s. There, as with many colleges in that era, every four years a “Mock Presidential Nominating Convention” was held on campus by the students to both celebrate and educate about the upcoming presidential election.
Thus it wasn’t unusual that when I went to work and live in Upstate New York after college I got involved with politics. I joined the Republican Party in our area and first got involved in the first “TV” presidential campaign between Nixon and Kennedy and then, of course, four years later with the Goldwater–Johnson campaign.
I, like many, was attracted to Goldwater back then for his forthright and outspoken opposition to what he saw as an increasingly growing and powerful central government that threatened the independence of our state governments and also our individual freedoms. He also wanted a strong national defense as a deterrent to the growing communist threat. He was one of the few politicians even discussing these issues at the time.
He had been a popular five term senator from Arizona and in 1963 was emerging as the nation’s leading conservative politician to get the Republican nomination to run for president in 1964 against President Kennedy’s re-election. Goldwater was devastated when those plans were cut short by Kennedy’s assassination in late 1963, and he mourned the passing profoundly.
From an interview on PBS with Robert McNeil years later:
“Jack Kennedy and I had been friends for a long time. I actually had a few telephone conversations with him throughout the summer and early autumn of 1963. We eventually developed a debate format that would have completely altered how Americans choose their president. Unfortunately, the President died later on that fall. Afterward, his successor – Lyndon Johnson – wanted no part of it.”
He did win the Republican nomination in 1964, setting up a showdown with Johnson. The campaign was one of the nastiest ever held up to that time. Johnson’s strategy was to paint Goldwater as fanatical warmonger who would get us into a nuclear war if elected.
The most damning and personally offensive ad to Goldwater showed a young girl pulling petals from a flower as a voice counted down from ten to one. At the end, the girl’s face was frozen as images of nuclear war played in the background. The voice implied Barry would launch a nuclear attack if elected. This marked the beginnings of today's routine negative television ads.
As a result of this and many other personal attacks in the media, Goldwater lost in a landslide. In a turnabout, however, having made his reputation as someone who could forthrightly frame issues in congress from a patriotic and conservative/libertarian point of view, he himself was re-elected to the senate in Arizona in 1968 in a landslide! He was critical to establishing the climate that elected Ronald Regan 16 years later. Regan was often quoted as saying Goldwater was one of his role models.
Regardless of his politics, his accomplishments during his long public and military career are impressive. One of the best summaries of his career and character are recorded in an eulogy in the 1998 Washington Post by Senator John McCain, who replaced him from Arizona. It’s worth a read here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/apprec30.htm
The following is one of his little known military exploits and is an example of his dedication to his country. Prior to WWII he was a gunnery training officer. After Pearl Harbor, he tried to get transferred to the Air Force and was rejected due to age. Later in 1943 he was accepted as a pilot in the Air Transport Command where he flew aircraft to China for Allied Forces over the very dangerous “Hump Route” from India where many planes and pilots were lost.
As my hero, and a former “Ham” myself, it also increased my admiration that he was an avid amateur radio buff for his whole life and made many contributions to the hobby as a senator!
He was a role model for me as a young professional in many ways and still is. He showed that being honest, fair and rational in your discussions with those with whom you disagree, you can build personal trust and friendships upon which actual solutions to real problems can be initiated.
A great lesson for life in our times from a Great American.