Changes

The 1964 Goldwater campaign helped usher in the modern conservative movement in the United States.  The political careers of both [[Phyllis Schlafly]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] got a big boost during the campaign.  Schlafly wrote a book, ''[[A Choice, Not An Echo]]'' during the campaign which was widely distributed and launched her career as a conservative political activist.  ''A Choice, Not An Echo'' detailed the machinations of the [[moderate]] to [[liberal]] East Coast wing of the Republican Party to hand-pick Presidential candidates (Nixon, [[Wendell Willkie]], [[Dwight Eisenhower]], etc.) and called for conservatives in the party to organize to counter this wing of the party and their "kingmaker" approach to nominating candidates.  The book was a rallying call for conservatives in the party and helped Goldwater win the nomination.  Reagan gave a speech as part of a "TV for Goldwater-Miller" television ad campaign which made him an up and coming star among conservatives, eventually leading to his own series of Presidential campaigns in 1968, 1976. and 1980, the last of which successfully landed him in the [[White House]].  The 1964 Goldwater campaign was also followed by the rise of a growing conservative campus movement during the 1960s led by [[Young Americans for Freedom]], the rise of a small [[libertarian]] movement which also supported Goldwater but would later split with conservatism over the [[draft]] and [[drug]] policy, and modern conservative movement approaches such as [[direct mail]] organizing.

The 1964 Goldwater campaign helped usher in the modern conservative movement in the United States.  The political careers of both [[Phyllis Schlafly]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] got a big boost during the campaign.  Schlafly wrote a book, ''[[A Choice, Not An Echo]]'' during the campaign which was widely distributed and launched her career as a conservative political activist.  ''A Choice, Not An Echo'' detailed the machinations of the [[moderate]] to [[liberal]] East Coast wing of the Republican Party to hand-pick Presidential candidates (Nixon, [[Wendell Willkie]], [[Dwight Eisenhower]], etc.) and called for conservatives in the party to organize to counter this wing of the party and their "kingmaker" approach to nominating candidates.  The book was a rallying call for conservatives in the party and helped Goldwater win the nomination.  Reagan gave a speech as part of a "TV for Goldwater-Miller" television ad campaign which made him an up and coming star among conservatives, eventually leading to his own series of Presidential campaigns in 1968, 1976. and 1980, the last of which successfully landed him in the [[White House]].  The 1964 Goldwater campaign was also followed by the rise of a growing conservative campus movement during the 1960s led by [[Young Americans for Freedom]], the rise of a small [[libertarian]] movement which also supported Goldwater but would later split with conservatism over the [[draft]] and [[drug]] policy, and modern conservative movement approaches such as [[direct mail]] organizing.

==Gay agenda==

==Libertarian Social Views==

Near the end of his life, Goldwater remarried after his first wife passed away.  Goldwater's second wife was more [[liberal]] and Goldwater began taking liberal positions on some social issues. For example, Goldwater started supporting the [[homosexual agenda]] and even opposed banning gays from the military. By this time, however, Goldwater was respected for his past contributions to American [[conservative]] thought and standing up to [[liberal]]s who would rather "live on their knees than die on their feet" during the [[Cold War]].

Disconcerted by the increased influence of the Religious Right upon the Republican Party during the Reagan administration, Goldwater became increasingly vocal advocate of libertarian social policy.  After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described the conservative Arizona Governor [[Evan Mecham]] as "hardheaded" and called on him to resign, and two years later stated that the Republican party had been taken over by a "bunch of kooks". In a 1994 interview with the ''[[Washington Post]]'' the retired senator said, {{cquote|When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like [[Pat Robertson]] and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.}}

 

In response to [[Moral Majority]] founder [[Jerry Falwell]]'s opposition to the nomination of [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerned", Goldwater retorted: "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."<ref>Ed Magnuson, [[Time Magazine]], [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954833-2,00.html ''The Brethren's First Sister''], July 20, 1981. Retrieved 1/1/07.</ref>

 

Goldwater also had harsh words for his one-time political protege, President Reagan, particularly after the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] became public in 1986. Journalist [[Robert MacNeil]], a friend of Goldwater's from the 1964 Presidential campaign, recalled interviewing him in his office shortly afterward. "He was sitting in his office with his hands on his cane...and he said to me, 'Well, aren't you going to ask me about the [[Iran]] arms sales?' It had just been announced that the Reagan administration had sold arms to Iran. And I said, 'Well, if I asked you, what would you say?' He said, 'I'd say it's the god-damned stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!'",<ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-374469737793037291&q=Robert+MacNeil "Archive of American Television Interview with Robert MacNeil Part 5 of 14" (video)]</ref> though aside from the Iran-Contra scandal, Goldwater thought nonetheless that Reagan was a good president.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLATQAU-Hw0&feature=related YouTube - Charlie Rose - Goldwater tribute/<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

 

Furthermore, Goldwater angered many [[social conservatives]], criticizing the military's ban on [[homosexuality|homosexuals]]: "Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of [[Julius Caesar]]."<ref>"Ban On Gays Is Senseless Attempt To Stall The Inevitable", ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Washington Post''. Online at [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html ]</ref> He also said, "You don't have to ''be'' straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to ''shoot'' straight." A few years before his death he went so far as to address the right wing, "Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you've hurt the Republican party much more than the Democrats have."<ref>[[The Betrayal of America]] by [[Vincent Bugliosi]], 2001</ref>

 

In 1996 he told [[Bob Dole]], whose own presidential campaign received lukewarm support from conservative Republicans: "We're the new liberals of the Republican party. Can you imagine that?" In that same year, with Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], Goldwater endorsed an [[Arizona]] initiative to legalize [[medical marijuana]] against the will of social conservatives.<ref> [http://www.reason.com/news/show/30148.html Prescription: Drugs] Reason Magazine</ref>

==References==

==References==