Barry
Goldwater
was born in Phoenix, Arizona on 1st January, 1909. His grandfather,
a Polish immigrant, had established a large number of stores in Arizona
in the 1870s. By the time Goldwater was born the family was extremely
wealthy. Goldwater attended Staunton Military Academy and the University
of Arizona, before joining the family department store business based
in Phoenix.
After the death of his father in 1929, Goldwater played an important
role in the development of the organization and in 1937 became head
of the company. Goldwater was seen as a progressive employer and offered
wages higher than the national retail-store average. The company also
assumed the full cost of employees' health, accident, and life insurance.
Other innovations included a profit-sharing plan and a maximum forty-hour
week. Opposed to trade unions, Goldwater described
his business strategy as "enlighten self-interest".
Goldwater found the strain of running such a large company difficult
to take and had two nervous breakdowns in 1937 and 1939. Goldwater
also started drinking heavily and made several unsuccessful attempts
to give up alcohol.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Goldwater
joined the United States Air Force. Initially
an instructor in the gunnery command, he later served overseas. By
the time the war had finished in 1945, Goldwater had reached the rank
of Brigadier General.
Goldwater had been an opponent of Franklin
D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. He
also had a strong dislike of Harry S. Truman
and his progressive social policies. Goldwater joined the Republican
Party and in 1952 was elected to the Senate. He immediately
became a loyal supporter of Joe
McCarthy and was one of only 22 senators who voted against
his censure in December, 1954.
On the extreme right of the Republican
Party, Goldwater often criticised the policies of Dwight
Eisenhower. He described his social policies as
"dime-store New Deal" and strongly opposed the President's
decision to use federal troops at Little
Rock. Goldwater also believed that Eisenhower was too soft on
trade unions and complained that his failure
to balance the budget.
Goldwater expressed his conservative views in a syndicated newspaper
column. A collection of these articles were published as
The
Conscience of the Conservative
in 1960. Considered to be too right-wing to be a presidential candidate,
Goldwater loyally supported Richard Nixon
against John
F. Kennedy in 1960.
As an opponent of federal civil rights laws Goldwater was highly critical
of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
He also favoured a more aggressive approach to the Vietnam
War. Nominated as the Republican
Party as its presidential candidate in 1964, he
upset many of his potential supporters by voting against Johnson's
Anti-Poverty Act (1964).
His extreme anti-Communist views also frightened the American public.
In one television interview Goldwalter explained that he would be
willing to use nuclear weapons against communist forces in Vietnam.
Although his views on civil rights made him popular in the Deep South,
was easily defeated by Johnson by 42,328,350 votes to 26,640,178.
Goldwater received 38.8 per cent of the vote and won only six states.
In 1968 Goldwater won back his seat in the Senate. He supported the
presidency of Richard Nixon
but was critical of his attempt to control prices and wages. Goldwater
loyally defended Nixon during the Watergate
Scandal and it was not until 5th August, 1974, that he joined
the campaign to have him impeached. Nixon now knew he could not survive
and resigned from office four days later.
Goldwater continued in the Senate where he opposed the policies of
Jimmy Carter but was an enthusiastic
supporter of Ronald Reagan. In later life,
Goldwater published two books, The
Coming Breakpoint
(1976) and his autobiography, With
No Apologies
(1979). Barry
Goldwater
died at Paradise Valley on 29th May, 1998.
Herb
Block, Washington Post (1964)
(1)
Barry Goldwater, With No Apologies (1979)
Joe McCarthy was unquestionably
the most controversial man I ever served with in the Senate. The anti-anticommunists
were outraged at his claims that some of the principals in the Truman
and Roosevelt administrations actively served the communist causes.
McCarthy was supported by a strong, nationwide constituency, which
included among others, Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of John, Bob,
and Edward. A variety of respected, creditable federal employees disturbed
by security risks in the national government provided McCarthy with
a steady stream of inside information.
The liberals mounted a skillfully orchestrated campaign of criticism
against Joe McCarthy. Under the pressure of criticism, he reacted
angrily. It is probably true that McCarthy drank too much, overstated
his case, and refused to compromise, but he wasn't alone in his beliefs.
(2)
Barry Goldwater, With No
Apologies (1979)
I have served in the Senate of
the United States during the terms of six Presidents - three Republican
and three Democratic. I think Dwight Eisenhower was the best of the
lot and least understood. Ike was a product of his military background,
but he didn't radiate that aura of condescending, imperial authority
which everyone recognized in George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur.
(3)
Barry Goldwater, interviewed about the Vietnam
War
by Howard Smith on ABC television (24th May, 1964)
There
have been several suggestions made. Defoliation of the forests by
low-yield atomic weapons could well be done. When you remove the foliage,
you remove the cover. We might have to (take action against China).
Either that, or we have a war dragged out and dragged out. a defensive
war is never won. If we decide to go into this war in a full-scale
way, certainly we would have to make the decision on strategic supplies
for the enemy at the same time.
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