(46.) BARRY GOLDWATER (1909-1998)
Republican Goldwater/William Miller
Defeated by Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey, 1964

For a Conservative, his campaign gave birth to more “crazy” slogans than any other, unless that of Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison. Perhaps the name, Goldwater, lent itself too well to songs, jingles and puns.

It is said that Goldwater’s nomination was assured by having been carefully prepared for ahead, in the small precincts throughout the country, that he had the delegates sewed up long before the convention, and that his opponents started far too late to stop him.

Goldwater was born in Phoenix, Arizona on New Year’s Day, 1909. He said that one of his earliest memories was of his mother taking down the flag to sew on two more stars, for New Mexico and Arizona.

Barry’s candidacy fueled the imaginations of people of all walks of life, in the sporting world, among the lyric writers, and even among the bobby soxers, but it did not produce sufficient votes to stem the Democratic tide. He gave up a Senate seat and made considerable financial sacrifice to make his campaign.

46_Barry_Goldwater