Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) was an Arizona businessman, founder of the Arizona Air National Guard and a five-term Republican U.S. senator. His 1960 book The Conscience of a Conservative argued for sharply limited federal government, states' rights and firm opposition to communism. He won the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 after a contested fight with the party's moderate wing but lost to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide, carrying only Arizona and five Deep South states. He later returned to the Senate, where he took an increasingly libertarian stance on social issues.

Although he lost decisively in 1964, Goldwater's campaign is widely seen as a turning point that mobilized conservative activists, shifted the Republican base toward the South and West and launched Ronald Reagan's political career through his televised 'A Time for Choosing' speech. Admirers, including many conservatives and libertarians, praise his consistency on limited government and his later independence from religious conservatives. Critics argue that his vote against the Civil Rights Act and his rhetoric on nuclear weapons alarmed voters, and some historians link his Deep South victories to a realignment shaped by race. In 1974 he urged Richard Nixon to resign.