Editing Barry Goldwater (section)

==Later life==
[[File:Goldwater1983.jpg|thumb|left|Signing autographs at the Fiesta Bowl parade in 1983]]

By the 1980s, with Ronald Reagan as president and the growing involvement of the [[Christian right|religious right]] in conservative politics, Goldwater's [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]] views on personal issues were revealed; he believed that they were an integral part of true conservatism. Goldwater viewed abortion as a matter of personal choice and as such supported [[Abortion-rights movements|abortion rights]].{{Sfn | Goldberg | 1995 | p = 331}} As a passionate defender of personal liberty, he saw the religious right's views as an encroachment on personal privacy and [[Civil liberties|individual liberties]].{{Sfn | Goldberg | 1995 | p = 315}} Although he voted against making Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday in his last term as senator, Goldwater later expressed support for it.<ref>Goldwater Defending Clinton; Conservatives Feeling Faint, The New York Times, Timothy Egan, March 24, 1994</ref>

In 1987, he received the [[Langley Gold Medal]] from the [[Smithsonian Institution]]. In 1988, [[Princeton University]]'s [[American Whig-Cliosophic Society]] awarded Goldwater the [[James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service]] in recognition of his career.<ref>{{citation | url = http://archives-trim.un.org/webdrawer/rec/552938/view/Item-in-KAA%20Schoolsuniversities%202002%20-%20oct.%20-%20dec..PDF | title = Item in KAA | publisher = UN| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121226142153/http://archives-trim.un.org/webdrawer/rec/552938/view/Item-in-KAA%20Schoolsuniversities%202002%20-%20oct.%20-%20dec..PDF | archive-date = December 26, 2012 }}</ref>

After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described 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".{{Sfn | Goldberg | 1995 | p = 329}}

During the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential campaign]], he told vice-presidential nominee [[Dan Quayle]] at a campaign event in Arizona, "I want you to go back and tell [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush]] to start talking about the issues."<ref>{{cite news | first = Maureen | last = Dowd | title = Campaign Trail; Outspoken Advice From a G.O.P. Hero | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/22/us/campaign-trail-outspoken-advice-from-a-gop-hero.html | work = The New York Times | date = June 13, 1988 | access-date = June 13, 2008 | archive-date = November 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121111144217/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/22/us/campaign-trail-outspoken-advice-from-a-gop-hero.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

Some of Goldwater's statements in the 1990s alienated many [[Social conservatism in the United States|social conservatives]]. He endorsed Democrat [[Karan English]] in an Arizona congressional race, urged Republicans to lay off [[Bill Clinton]] over the [[Whitewater scandal]], and criticized [[Don't Ask, Don't Tell|the military's ban on homosexuals]],<ref name="left_turn" /> saying, "Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of [[Julius Caesar]]",<ref>{{citation | title = Ban on Gays Is Senseless Attempt To Stall The Inevitable | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | url = https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021062721/https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/barry-goldwater.html | archive-date = October 21, 2012 }}</ref> and, "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight."<ref>Goldberg, ''Barry Goldwater'', p. 332</ref> A few years before his death, he addressed establishment Republicans by saying, "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>{{citation | last = Bugliosi | first = Vincent | title = The Betrayal of America | page = [https://archive.org/details/betrayalofameric00bugl/page/19 19] | isbn = 978-1560253556 | url = https://archive.org/details/betrayalofameric00bugl/page/19 | year = 2001 | publisher = PublicAffairs }}</ref>

In a 1994 interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'', Goldwater said:
{{blockquote |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.<ref name="left_turn">{{citation | first = Lloyd | last = Grove | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/28/barry-goldwaters-left-turn/10883631-6c18-4f7d-a8d1-61dd4e5e6b54/ | title = Barry Goldwater's Left Turn | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | date = July 28, 1994 | page = C01 | access-date = February 12, 2018 | archive-date = February 13, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180213022328/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/28/barry-goldwaters-left-turn/10883631-6c18-4f7d-a8d1-61dd4e5e6b54/ | url-status = live }}</ref>}}

Also in 1994, he repeated his concerns about religious groups attempting to gain control of the Republican party, saying,
{{blockquote |Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.<ref>Said in November 1994, as quoted in [[John Dean]], ''Conservatives Without Conscience'' (2006).</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?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.azcentral.com/specials/special25/articles/0531goldwater2.html |title=Conservative pioneer became an outcast |work=The Arizona republic |date=May 31, 1998 |access-date=March 3, 2012 |archive-date=July 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080722211252/http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special25/articles/0531goldwater2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In that same year, with Senator [[Dennis DeConcini]], Goldwater endorsed an [[Arizona]] initiative to legalize [[medical marijuana]] against the countervailing opinion of social conservatives.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.reason.com/news/show/30148.html | title = Prescription: Drugs | newspaper = Reason| date = February 1997 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090903121635/http://reason.com/news/show/30148.html| archive-date = September 3, 2009}}</ref>