Editing Barry Goldwater (section)

==Policies==
{{conservatism US|politicians}}
Goldwater became most associated with anti-union work and anti-communism; he was a supporter of the [[conservative coalition]] in Congress. His work on labor issues led to Congress passing major anti-labor reforms in 1957, and subsequently a campaign by the [[AFL–CIO]] to challenge his 1958 reelection bid. He voted against the censure of Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] in 1954, who had been making unfounded claims about communists infiltrating the U.S. State Department during the [[Red Scare]], but never actually accused any individual of being a communist or Soviet agent. Goldwater emphasized his strong opposition to the worldwide spread of communism in his 1960 book ''[[The Conscience of a Conservative]]''. The book became an important reference text in conservative political circles.

[[File:Informal press conference following a meeting between Congressmen and the President to discuss Watergate matters. - NARA - 194590.jpg|thumb|Informal press conference August 7, 1974 (one day before Nixon announced his resignation) following a meeting between Goldwater, [[Senate Minority Leader]] [[Hugh Scott|Scott]], [[House Minority Leader]] [[John Jacob Rhodes|Rhodes]] and the President to discuss the [[Watergate scandal]] and [[Impeachment process against Richard Nixon|impeachment process]]]]
In 1964, Goldwater ran a conservative campaign that emphasized [[states' rights]].{{Sfn|Donaldson|2003|p=20}}  Goldwater's 1964 campaign was a magnet for conservatives since he opposed interference by the federal government in state affairs. Goldwater voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] and the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]],<ref name="1957 Civil Rights Act - 8-7-1957 Senate vote">{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008164250/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="1957 Civil Rights Act - 8-29-1957 Senate vote">{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022|archive-date=October 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008164318/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="24th Amendment - 3-27-1962 Senate vote">{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 27, 1962|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=108|issue=4|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=5105|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022|archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131015659/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4-9-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> but did not vote on the [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]] because he was absent from the chamber, with [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Minority Whip]] [[Thomas Kuchel]] (R–CA) announcing that Goldwater would have voted in favor if present.<ref name="1960 Civil Rights Act - 4-8-1960 Senate vote">{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022|archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131013534/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Though Goldwater had supported the original Senate version of the bill, Goldwater voted against the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].<ref name="1964 Civil Rights Act - 6-19-1964 Senate vote">{{cite journal|title=Senate – June 19, 1964|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=110|issue=11|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=14511|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11-3-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022|archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131024033/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11-3-2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> His public stance was based on his view that Article II and Article VII of the Act interfered with the rights of private persons to do or not to do business with whomever they chose and believed that the private employment provisions of the Act would lead to [[racial quota]]s.{{Sfn|Donaldson|2003|pp=152–179}} In the segregated city of Phoenix in the 1950s, he had quietly supported civil rights for blacks, but would not let his name be used.<ref>Goldberg, ''Barry Goldwater'' (1995) pp. 88–90</ref>

All this [[Southern strategy|appealed to white Southern Democrats]], and Goldwater was the first Republican to win the electoral votes of all of the Deep South states ([[South Carolina]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Louisiana]]) since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]].<ref name="Bernard Cosman 1966">{{citation |first=Bernard |last=Cosman |title=Five States for Goldwater: Continuity and change in Southern presidential voting patterns |year=1966}}</ref> However, Goldwater's vote on the Civil Rights Act proved devastating to his campaign everywhere outside the South (besides Dixie, Goldwater won only in Arizona, his home state), contributing to his landslide defeat in 1964.

Goldwater's campaign also included stringently fiscally conservative policies. Goldwater was strongly critical of Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] policies and argued that it might be the "attitude or the actions" of the poor that are responsible for their hardship. In his prepared speech before the [[Economic Club of New York]], Goldwater also claimed that arguing unemployment and poverty are caused by lack of education is "like saying that people have big feet because they wear big shoes. The fact is that most people who have no skill have no education for the same reason—low intelligence or low ambition."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/01/16/archives/goldwater-says-not-all-the-poor-merit-public-aid-he-suggests.html |title=Goldwater Says Not All The Poor Merit Public Aid; He Suggests Inquiry to See Whether Their Attitude Engenders Poverty; Doubts Johnson Goals; Tells Business Group Here McNamara 'Lies to the People' on Weapons |date=January 16, 1964 |website=[[New York Times]]}}</ref> Goldwater also called for ending agricultural subsidies, privatizing Social Security, and privatizing the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Critchlow |first=Donald T. |title=Would Goldwater Have Made a Good President? |journal=The Journal of Arizona History |page=17 |volume=61 |issue=1 |year=2020 |jstor=45378939 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45378939}}</ref>

While Goldwater had been depicted by his opponents in the Republican primaries as a representative of a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] philosophy that was extreme and alien, his voting records show that his positions were in generally aligned with those of other Republicans in the Congress.

Goldwater fought in 1971 to stop U.S. funding of the United Nations after the People's Republic of China was admitted to the organization. He said:
{{blockquote|I suggested on the floor of the Senate today that we stop all funds for the United Nations. Now, what that'll do to the United Nations, I don't know. I have a hunch it would cause them to fold up, which would make me very happy at this particular point. I think if this happens, they can well move their headquarters to Peking or Moscow and get 'em out of this country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |title=Red China Admitted to UN: 1971 Year in Review |work=United Press International |date=December 28, 1971 |access-date=March 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142809/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |archive-date=May 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy}}</ref>}}

===Goldwater and the revival of American conservatism===
Although Goldwater was not as important in the [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservative]] movement as Ronald Reagan after 1965, he shaped and redefined the movement from the late 1950s to 1964. Arizona Senator [[John McCain]], who succeeded Goldwater in the Senate in 1987, said of Goldwater's legacy, "He transformed the Republican Party from an Eastern elitist organization to the breeding ground for the election of Ronald Reagan."<ref>{{cite news|last=Grove |first=Lloyd |title=Barry Goldwater's Left Turn |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 28, 1994 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater072894.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000914042130/http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater072894.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 14, 2000 |access-date=October 25, 2008}}</ref> Columnist [[George Will]] remarked that Reagan's victory in the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]] was the metaphoric culmination of 16 years of counting the votes for Goldwater from the [[1964 United States presidential election|1964 presidential race]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/will31.htm|title=The Cheerful Malcontent|newspaper=The Washington Post|first=George|last=Will|author-link=George Will|date=May 31, 1998|access-date=May 7, 2019|archive-date=May 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507190955/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/will31.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Republican Party recovered from the 1964 election debacle, acquiring 47 seats in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] in the [[1966 United States House of Representatives elections|1966 mid-term election]]. In January 1969, after Goldwater had been re-elected to the Senate, he wrote an article in the ''[[National Review]]'' "affirming that he [was] not against liberals, that liberals are needed as a counterweight to conservatism, and that he had in mind a fine liberal like [[Max Lerner]]."<ref>[[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard, Murray N.]] [https://www.mises.org/story/1842 "Confessions of a Right-Wing Liberal]". [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430200846/https://www.mises.org/story/1842 |date=April 30, 2009 }}</ref>

Goldwater was a strong supporter of environmental protection. He explained his position in 1969:
{{blockquote|I feel very definitely that the [Nixon] administration is absolutely correct in cracking down on companies and corporations and municipalities that continue to pollute the nation's air and water. While I am a great believer in the free competitive enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment. To this end, it is my belief that when pollution is found, it should be halted at the source, even if this requires stringent government action against important segments of our national economy.<ref>Barry Goldwater, ''The Conscience of a Majority'' (1969) in Brian Allen Drake, "The Skeptical Environmentalist: Senator Barry Goldwater and the Environmental Management State", ''Environmental History'', (2010) 15#4 pp. 587–611, [589]</ref>}}