Goldwater was attacked by Democrats and opponents within his own party as a demagogue and a leader of right-wing extremists and racists who was likely to lead the United States into nuclear war, eliminate civil rights progress and destroy such social welfare programs as Social Security.īut that perception mellowed with time. Goldwater that brought Reagan to national prominence and helped launch his political career.ĭuring his 1964 presidential campaign, Mr. It was a 1964 speech delivered on behalf of Mr. By 1980, he was acknowledged as the founder of a conservative movement that had become a vital element in mainstream Republican thinking and a major ingredient in Reagan's political ascendancy. In fact, he had wrested control of the GOP from the Eastern liberal wing that had dominated it for years.
Goldwater and his conservative philosophy were all but politically dead. After the election, most analysts and commentators concluded that the Republican Party was hopelessly divided, and that Mr. Goldwater carried only six states and 36 percent of the popular vote in 1964. But his efforts helped prepare the way for the election of another conservative Republican, Ronald Reagan, as president in 1980. Goldwater, who retired from the Senate in 1986 as one of his party's most respected elder statesmen, suffered a resounding defeat when he ran for president. Last September, family members said he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. He suffered a stroke in 1996 that damaged the part of the brain that controls memory and personality. senator from Arizona and a champion of conservatism whose 1964 presidential candidacy launched a revolution within the Republican Party, died yesterday at home in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix. Barry Goldwater, right, poses with running mate William Miller at the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. Biography excerpts: Robert Alan Goldberg and Lee Edwards.Goldwater's 1964 speech accepting the GOP nomination.