Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater
United States Senate · Public domain · source
Name	Barry Goldwater
Caption	Goldwater in 1960
Office	United States Senator, from Arizona
Term start	January 3, 1969
Term end	January 3, 1987
Predecessor1	Carl Hayden
Successor1	John McCain
Office2	United States Senator, from Arizona
Term start2	January 3, 1953
Term end2	January 3, 1965
Predecessor2	Ernest McFarland
Successor2	Paul Fannin
Office3	Chairman of the Senate, Intelligence Committee
Term start3	1981
Term end3	1985
Predecessor3	Birch Bayh
Successor3	David Durenberger
Party	Republican
Birth name	Barry Morris Goldwater
Birth date	2 January 1909
Birth place	Phoenix, Arizona Territory
Death date	29 May 1998
Death place	Paradise Valley, Arizona
Alma mater	University of Arizona, Staunton Military Academy
Spouse	Margaret Johnson (m. 1934; died 1985)
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Serviceyears	1941–1945
Rank	Major
Battles	World War II

Barry Goldwater was an American politician, businessman, and author who served as a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1964 election. His political career is a pivotal case study in the US Civil Rights Movement, as his staunch libertarian-conservative principles, particularly his opposition to federal civil rights legislation, helped catalyze a major political realignment that reshaped the movement's political landscape and the electoral strategies of both major parties.

Early life and political career

Barry Morris Goldwater was born in 1909 in Phoenix, then part of the Arizona Territory. He attended Staunton Military Academy and briefly studied at the University of Arizona before entering the family business, Goldwater's Department Store. His service as a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II cemented his belief in strong national defense. Entering politics as a Phoenix city councilman, he was elected to the United States Senate in 1952, defeating Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland. In the Senate, Goldwater became a leading voice for conservatism and a critic of the New Deal coalition. He co-authored the influential book The Conscience of a Conservative (1960), which articulated a philosophy of limited government, states' rights, and militant anti-communism.

1964 presidential campaign

Goldwater secured the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 after a hard-fought primary battle against more moderate rivals like Nelson Rockefeller and William Scranton. His campaign, managed by strategist F. Clifton White, was defined by the slogan "In your heart, you know he's right." He selected William E. Miller, a congressman from New York, as his running mate. The general election against incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson was a landslide defeat for Goldwater, who carried only his home state of Arizona and five states in the Deep South. The campaign is historically significant for its explicit appeal to white voters in the South who were disaffected by the Democratic Party's support for civil rights, marking a decisive step in the Republican Party's Southern strategy.

Stance on civil rights legislation

Goldwater's personal views on racial equality were complex. He supported the desegregation of his family's department store and the Arizona National Guard, and was a member of the NAACP in Phoenix. Philosophically, however, he was a committed libertarian who believed the federal government's power was strictly limited by the Constitution. He supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which were focused on voting rights, but opposed broader public accommodations and employment provisions as federal overreach into private business and state affairs. He framed his opposition not on the goal of desegregation, which he supported, but on the means, advocating for change through state law and private action rather than federal coercion.

Opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Goldwater's most consequential act regarding the civil rights movement was his vote against the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. While he supported the sections guaranteeing voting rights and desegregating public facilities, he argued that Titles II and VII, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and employment, violated property rights and states' rights. In a pivotal Senate speech, he stated his opposition was based on constitutional grounds, saying, "You cannot pass a law that will make me like you or you like me." His vote aligned him with the bloc of Southern Democratic senators like Richard Russell and Richard Russell B. B. The Civil Rights Act of Coloredirectly B. 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