Barry Goldwater's Epic Defeat - An Unforgettable Republican Victory? 1964 and its Legacy for the Conservative Movement

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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DECLARATION

I [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for the academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

Although his presidential bid was defeated in the sixth-largest landslide in the electoral history of the United States, recent scholars credit U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater's critique of the liberal-pluralist consensus in post-war public policy with igniting the modem conservative movement Goldwater was the perfect leader for the rise of the conservative movement. There was a strong faction in the Republican Party of conservatives who were not being heard. What the movement needed was a leader who loyal supporters could rally around; inspire their confidence enough to draw them into the political process; rhetorically seize the issues and concerns of the movement; and, react to the establishment, either their cooperation or backlash. Goldwater met these requirements. Evidence suggests argue that it was a long term Republican victory as Goldwater's candidacy represented the conservative capture of the Republican Party and the election aftermath launched a large-scale effort to build a national conservative network and infrastructure that could nominate and elect presidential candidates who were philosophically similar.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

WHO WAS GOLDWATER?1

THE RUN FOR PRESIDENCY2

THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION7

ELECTION CYCLE12

THE GOLDWATER DEFEAT14

ELECTION AFTERMATH17

DATA ANALYSIS - DELEGATES WHO STARTED CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS23

REFLECTION/CONCLUSION26

REFERENCES30

WHO WAS GOLDWATER?

Goldwater was a prophetic figure in the rise of the post-war right and the emergence of the American West. He served as standard-bearer of an effort through which Republicans broke their demographic ties to the North and East and established new moorings in the South and West (Farber, 2010). But his significance is related to what his appeal says about the American mind. Indeed, Goldwater was born in territorial Arizona, reared in the tough-minded faith of the frontier, and was inseparable from the culture that produced him. Any portrait of the senator must be painted in the hues of the ideas and emotions that have permeated the national temper. His appeal was righteous, idealistic, active, individualistic, suffused with emotion and grounded in a concern for the spiritual development of the individual as a child of God (Brennan, 1995). His call to the inward man was hortative, applied vaguely to the affairs of the practical world and, above all, fervently addressed to the free decision of the individual ...