[Fiji Hill]

Barry Goldwater was born on New Years Day in 1909.

Lee Edwards wrote a biography of Ronald Reagan in 1967 as well as a more recent biography of Goldwater--and he's still going strong.

[GSlob]

Well, I'd prefer that Barry Goldwater be still around to write Lee Edwards' biography.

[stm]

Barry Goldwater may have been the most consequential loser but without a doubt good ol' Jimmah Cahtah was the most disastrously consequential winner

[stripes1776]

Lee Edwards wrote a biography of Ronald Reagan in 1967 as well as a more recent biography of Goldwater--and he's still going strong.

Thanks so much for this post--an excellent article. I will read this guy when I get a change.

[Humidston]

>>...it was Goldwater who gave Reagan the opportunity in the last week of the 1964 campaign to deliver his famous "A Time for Choosing" TV address.<<

That speech literally raised the hairs on the back of my neck! I KNEW Reagan was headed for greatness! In fact, we taped that address on our old reel to reel recorder so we could play it for friends.

If you guys ever get a chance to hear that inspirational speech, you'll understand how far above the crowd that man truly was.

[Prost1]

He convinced me that ideas are important and I became a Goldwater supporter as a teenager. Because of Goldwater, I eventually persuaded my democrat parents to change their registration. Because of Goldwater, California got Reagan and because of Goldwater, the Nation got Reagan.

I remember Reagan's speech in support of Goldwater. Brillant! And the media tried years later to label Reagan as a mental light-weight, just as they have attacked G.W. Bush!

And I remember the sad state of politics when Goldwater ran and who was in the Senate and House. I heard the pigs left because they could not stand the stench!

[jeremiah]

His ideas live on, but only as campaign promises and dreams of those that continually pull levers for Republicans.

[mc6809e]

Barry Goldwater was also pro-choice.

That makes him an obvious CINO -- conservative in name only. </sarcasm>

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

In the June Republican primary in California, for example, an estimated 50,000 volunteers turned out for Goldwater, prompting Rockefeller's out-manned campaign manager to remark, "They kept coming at us like the Chinese Army."

I was one of those 50,000 volunteers. Those were indeed the glory years.

[SierraWasp]

By golly, 1964, the year of the 9.5 magnitude earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska... The year I moved to CA... The year they started building a magnificent dam at Auburn, CA... The year that big dumb Socialist from TX got elected in his own right and fouled America's reputation in the world as a super power!!!

A lot of un-toward things happened in America that year, but Barry wasn't one of 'em.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Its pretty funny how now all the lefties who used to hate Goldwater pretend to like him for all the ways he was different from Reagan and Bush.

[Cheapskate]

I sit here at the computer with tear filled eyes when I read of these great men who have shaped the country and our movement.

God bless Mr. Goldwater and Mr Reagan.

[MinuteGal]

Like many of my conservative contemporaries, the Goldwater campaign was the catalyst for launching our adult lifetime political activism. He holds a special place in my memory.

Leni

[relictele]

Oh come on.

We all know Kerry is the man.

/Sarcasm.

[x]

It's true that Goldwater changed American politics. He brought conservative themes to the forefront, and made Reagan's later victory possible. At the time, though, he looked like a disaster. Johnson won a larger share of the popular vote Franklin Roosevelt did. Goldwater's campaign cost the Republicans 36 seats in the House and gave the Democrats a 2/3 majority in that body.

Of course, after the JFK assassination the Democrats were bound to win in 1964. And the Republicans didn't have a unifying candidate. At first it looked like the race would be between Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller, the leading Republican proponent of big government. Other candidates like Margaret Chase Smith, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Scranton were also from the liberal wing of the party.

The Goldwater campaign worked out very well in the end for America and for the Republicans. Once the Democrats had made their mistakes and the Republicans had gotten their act together, a lot of Americans decided that we agreed with Barry after all. But it's understandable that many at the time saw it as a disaster. It would have been all to the good if Republicans had been able to get their act together earlier, but when one set of attitudes loses its grip and another begins to form it takes time to sort things out.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

the two giants of modern conservatism