A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement

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Overview

The 1964 presidential campaign lives on in conservative circles as an origin myth for the modern conservative movement. Even though their preferred (and now revered) candidate lost to Lyndon B. Johnson by a landslide, Barry Goldwater's failed presidential run was a major turning point of the twentieth century.

Without Goldwater's philosophy to pave the way--and, just as importantly, without the strategic and political infrastructure created by the "Draft Goldwater" movement that preceded it--there likely would have been no Reagan or Bush administrations, and possibly no Nixon administration either.

The policy positions and electoral strategies of the Goldwater campaign became standard tenets of Republican politics. William Middendorf had better than a ringside seat for this pivotal campaign. A key member of the "Draft Goldwater" movement as early as 1962, he was Goldwater's campaign treasurer and, afterwards, a major force within the Republican Party. No one knows the real inside story better, and A Glorious Disaster tells that story in all its rollicking, agonizing, and never-before-published detail.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Several notable books, including Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, document the rise of modern conservatism, which coalesced into today's dominant Republican Party after being galvanized by Goldwater's resounding presidential defeat in 1964. Middendorf, who served as Goldwater's campaign treasurer, offers a lively personal take that nicely complements the scholarly works just mentioned. The author does not shy away from putting much of the blame for the Johnson landslide on the Republican campaign and on Goldwater himself, who couldn't shake the charge of being "a trigger-happy cowboy" and the grinch who would kill Social Security. Republican grass-roots successes that rely heavily on small donations from a large number of voters began with the Goldwater campaign, a strategy devised in part by Middendorf. He claims that Richard Nixon, who won the presidency four years later with much help from Goldwater's supporters, was the real winner of the 1964 election. This breezy, anecdotal chronicle is strongly recommended for public libraries and academic collections that specialize in presidential campaign history. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In the 1964 presidential election, LBJ demolished Goldwater (who won only his home state of Arizona and five Southern states), but the campaign was merely the first step in what would become a brisk and massive march of conservatives across America. In his debut work, Middendorf (a former US Ambassador to the Netherlands and Secretary of the Navy) looks back with a fond and even paternal eye on the nativity of the conservative movement. He attributes Goldwater's loss to a number of factors-inexperienced campaign organizers and workers (the author held various fundraising positions), an unpredictable candidate (the Senator's intransigence and inability to govern his tongue were liabilities), a hostile press (those media liberals!) and some dirty tricks by the Democrats and especially by LBJ, who was a drunk (the press wouldn't report it) and who employed both the CIA and the FBI to spy on the Goldwater campaign. Possibly the US Postal Service went postal, too, by issuing, just before the election, a stamp commemorating Social Security. Middendorf implies that the Democrats have asked for what's ensued (Willie Horton and Swiftboating), and that the elephants never would have been so naughty had not the donkeys first been so devious. His political preferences aside, Middendorf has written an interesting insider's account of that election and its aftermath-and he notes with pride that just two years later, the GOP made solid gains in local, state and national elections. The author has kind words for William F. Buckley Jr. ("our philosophical guru") but admits the Goldwater team kept Buckley and the National Review crowd at the margins (their GOP votes were certain; no need to alienatemoderates). Middendorf does his best to assure readers that Goldwater was not a racist, not a nuclear gunslinger, not a fascist, not a homophobe. The author writes, too, of the rise of the GOP stars who soon followed: Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Tendentious, sure, but always informed.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780465045730
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 11/28/2006
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

J. William Middendorf II, served in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations as Secretary of the Navy, Ambassador to The Netherlands, U.S. Representative to the Organization of American States, and U.S. Representative to the European Community. He is a founding member, with William F. Buckley, Jr., of the American Conservative Union and a board member of the Heritage Foundation. He lives in Rhode Island.

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A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement

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