Who was Barry Goldwater and why is he important?
Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was the first presidential nominee since Calvin Coolidge to run openly as a conservative. He was not so much the nominee of a political party as the personification of a nascent political movement. In his 1964 campaign, he addressed the issues that have dominated the national debate ever since—Social Security, federal spending, privatization, morality in government, and national defense. Goldwater changed the rhetoric of politics by challenging the principles of the New Deal, something no Democrat or Republican presidential candidate before him had dared to do.
Goldwater inspired countless young people to enter and remain in politics. As part of the 1964 campaign, Ronald Reagan delivered his famous TV talk "A Time for Choosing," which made the one-time film actor a national political star overnight (in many ways overshadowing Goldwater).
For more on Goldwater, see Lee Edwards's First Principles essay "The Conservative Consensus: Frank Meyer, Barry Goldwater, and the Politics of Fusionism."
Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was the first presidential nominee since Calvin Coolidge to run openly as a conservative. He was not so much the nominee of a political party as the personification of a nascent political movement. In his 1964 campaign, he addressed the issues that have dominated the national debate ever since—Social Security, federal spending, privatization, morality in government, and national defense. Goldwater changed the rhetoric of politics by challenging the principles of the New Deal, something no Democrat or Republican presidential candidate before him had dared to do.
Goldwater inspired countless young people to enter and remain in politics. As part of the 1964 campaign, Ronald Reagan delivered his famous TV talk "A Time for Choosing," which made the one-time film actor a national political star overnight (in many ways overshadowing Goldwater).
For more on Goldwater, see Lee Edwards's First Principles essay "The Conservative Consensus: Frank Meyer, Barry Goldwater, and the Politics of Fusionism."