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Two books examine life of Barry Goldwater

Posted: June 7, 2008 - 11:30pm

Before there were "Reagan Democrats" there were "Goldwater Democrats" - mostly in the South. When Barry Goldwater, an Arizona senator, won the Republican nomination for president in 1964, he was smothered by Democrat Lyndon Johnson.

But Georgia went Republican for the first time in the 108 years there had been a Republican Party.

From that beginning, "Goldwater Democrats" and their political progeny, slowly but steadily, became Republicans. In the last 11 presidential elections since then, only Jimmy Carter (twice) and Bill Clinton (once) have carried the state for Democrats.

"Flying High" is a pleasant reminiscence that is as much about William Buckley and other conservatives of the 1950s and '60s seeking to change their party as it is about Barry Goldwater. Buckley portrays those days as the prelude for a sort of a right-wing Camelot.

I think of myself as a left-of-center Democrat, and I found "Flying High" a delightful read.

Buckley has almost nothing to say about the Goldwater of the decades after he lost the presidential race and his return to the Senate. Those years are when a new Goldwater emerged, still basically conservative, but winning over many moderates and liberals of both parties.

For that, there is "Pure Goldwater." Two-thirds of it is post-1964 Goldwater. He gave up his Senate seat to run for president, then returned in 1968 and served until 1987. Goldwater died in 1998.

Almost all the material in this book is Goldwater's own words. Some of it no doubt was written by staffs or professional ghosts. The two books being reviewed here don't agree on how much Goldwater contributed in the writing of the 1960 book that made him a national figure, "The Conscience of a Conservative." Buckley refers to his sister's husband, Brent Bozell, as its "hidden author." Barry Goldwater Jr. and John Dean say the senator contributed a great deal to the book's ideas and stands.

Goldwater-Dean are editors of their book, "Pure Goldwater," rather than its authors. Almost all of the book is a collection of a voice that is unquestionably Goldwater's. The editors succinctly tell where and when and how they found the material in Goldwater's words, and sometimes they explain the context of the time and place.

That Goldwater was a wordsmith and a readable and scholarly one when he chose to be will come as a surprise to some of his critics. The words come from journal entries, "recollections," speeches, letters, newspaper columns (with collaborators), press conferences, interviews, even trial testimony, and of course remarks on the Senate floor. It's more than half a century of pure Barry Goldwater.

He was a senator for 30 years, and not outstanding as a legislator. But there were two unalike historic accomplishments. He was the choice of Senate leaders to tell President Richard Nixon that he would get few supporters if he insisted on an impeachment trial. Subsequently the president resigned.

Goldwater's other outstanding senatorial act, 12 years later, was co-authoring the most sweeping military reorganization since the creation of the Defense Department.

Goldwater was in many respects the most conservative senator of his times. Some politicians today, 20 years after he retired, boast that they are following in his footsteps.

But also, many liberals in high office and in the general population praise his legacies.

He criticized those who advocated denying homosexuals military careers. He opposed those who wanted to deny women abortions. He proclaimed that he and Bob Dole were "the new liberals of the Republican Party" in 1996, the year Dole was the Republican nominee for president.

Goldwater became critical of his party on several basic issues in his last years. However, some of those he criticized, -including the man who was elected to his seat, John McCain - still call themselves "Goldwater Republicans."

Theo Lippman Jr. is a former Savannah Morning News reporter and an author of four political biographies.

"Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater"

By William F. Buckley Jr.

Basic Books; 208 pages; $25.95

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