How did the Republican Party get associated with extremists and conspiracies?

Barry Goldwater may be one of the most interesting figures in Republican history. He grew up the son of a wealthy department store owner. He was a city council member and then a senator from Arizona. He was handsome and took pictures with guns and cacti. Goldwater was also a libertarian who wanted a small government and low taxes.

Was Barry Goldwater a racist?

His platform was laid out in a ghostwritten book Conscience of a Conservative. L. Brent Bozell wrote the book. He was a member of the John Birch Society. The book advocated for state’s rights, though Goldwater argued that he was not a racist. The problem is that the South had long been using state’s rights complaints to justify their oppression of black people. So, was Goldwater a racist? He sure as heck did what racists wanted.

Barry Goldwater advocated for more nuclear weapons

He also advocated for nuclear weapons in the US, an end to progressive taxation, and strange plans to reduce government spending. He courted extremists, mashing traditional conservatism false conspiracies, and bad actors. The Republican Party would eventually bounce back to being an establishment party, but not for long. Many of Goldwater’s ideas would be carried out by Reagan just a decade and a half later.

Sources

  • Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
  • The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. Especially The Passage of Power
  • Bichers by Matthew Dallek
  • A Choice Not An Echo by Phyllis Schlafly
  • Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Cart T. Bogus
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05MPUsdFyQY The Memory Palace episode 130 “Independence Hall 2: The Legend of Walter Knott”
  • 1964 Republican Party Platform
  • Heather Cox Richardson’s video series on the history of GOP

Questions

  • What does it mean for someone to be a “conservative”?
  • How does it impact us when we are tied to organizations like the John Birch Society? How did it impact conservatives?
  • Discuss the relationship between the state’s rights argument and racism.
  • Was Goldwater a racist?
  • Many of the people we’ve covered over the years have been public speakers. Should we take a second pass at vetting our public speakers?

TRANSCRIPT – NOTE: May contain errors or AI artifacts

This episode is part of a long series exploring how some evangelicals tied themselves to the Republican Party in the 1970s and 80s. To do that, we have to understand the GOP and how it changed from the party of Eisenhower to the party of Regan. So there won’t be a lot of talk about Christians in this episode. This one can stand on its own, but when you’re done, go back and start at the beginning of season six. This Barry Goldwater – How Republicans Welcomed Extremism – Part One

Before we get started, I want to check in with conservatives who are listening. This season I’m asking a lot of you as an audience. This episode and the next draw a distinction between conservatism and extremism, and between extremism and the GOP of the 60s and 70s. In this era, they are not synonymous. In fact, there were large groups of Republicans fighting the extremism that was overtaking the party. We need to cover this stuff. And I’m glad you’re here.

Rumor had it that Bob Taft got the shaft.

Robert Taft was a senator from Ohio. He was anti-communist and isolationist. Lost two previous bids for the Republican nomination for President. Now he was running a third and final time in 1952.

Bob Taft was a conservative. In a time when Republicans could also be liberal or moderate. (whisper) Can you even imagine? In the 50s, moderation was en vogue. So he had that against him. And it didn’t help Taft’s chances that he went up against the hero of WWII, Dwight Eisenhower. A man so respected that both major parties courted him for president. Yeah, Taft lost the nomination. Again.

Rumors of dirty dealings abounded.

One person who spread them was Phyllis Schlafly. Remember her? In 1977 she and her crew put a stop to the ERA. But that was still over a decade in the future. This was 1964 and she had a hot new book out, A Choice Not An Echo. She wrote…

SCHLAFLY: “The kingmakers’ propagandists launched a potent word missile: ‘I like Taft, but Taft can’t win.’ This slogan was cleverly designed to drive a wedge between Taft and his supporters… Of course, it was completely false..”1

Further down she continued…

SCHLAFLY: “The kingmakers selected their 1952 candidate carefully—General Dwight Eisenhower… He was an amateur in politics; he did not have the slightest idea of the tactics used by the little clique determined to steal the nomination and push him into the Presidency. Eisenhower was a long-time favorite of the kingmakers. Several years before, they had placed him in an important non-political job to keep him in the public eye, but not require him to take a stand on controversial questions such as the Taft-Hartley Act…” 2

CHRIS: Which limited the power of unions in the US. It’s named Taft-Hartley because it was sponsored by… Robert Taft. I’ll rewind a second…

SCLAFLY: “… but not require him to take a stand on controversial questions such as the Taft-Hartley Act and Communists in our Government.”3

Rumors spread among those on the right. That through backroom dealings, conservatives were denied their candidate. She blamed communists, Democrats, and the so-called “kingmakers”. Thus allowing a (gasp) moderate like Eisenhower to stay in power for eight years. That wound festered like a son of a gun. A lot of what drove conservatives in the 1960s and 70s was the fear that they were being ignored by the powerful members of their own party. And, yeah, at this point they were the minority, even in the GOP.

That takes us back to one of the key ideas of the season. A quote from historian Joel Carpenter about fundamentalists that also applies to conservatives.

CARPTENTER: “Even when fundamentalists have expressed their alienation toward American cultural trends and advocated separation from worldly involvement, their words have been more those of wounded lovers than true outsiders.”4

Conservatives were on the outside looking in. Craving not only power, but respectability. And in 1964 the tide changed. They learned their lessons. Knew how to play the game. Thwart attacks from “elites” and “kingmakers”. Play a little dirty. Avoid another Bob Taft situation. They were not going to let another moderate candidate win. They chose their man. And by doing so tied themselves to extremists, conspiracy pushers, and racists.

You’re listening to the show that uses journalistic tools to look inside the Christian Church. We press “pause” on the culture wars in order to explore how we got here and how we can do better. I’m Chris Staron. This is Truce.

Barry Goldwater was a trouble maker as a kid5 until military school straightened him out. He grew up wealthy, the son of a department store owner in Arizona. 6 After serving in WWI, he came home and was drafted into the city council where he pushed people to help themselves. Self-reliance was a lifelong theme7. But also, and this is critical for a man who walked a line with race, he ended legal segregation in Phoenix schools and in the local National Guard8. Tuck that away for later…

The man was handsome with a cut jaw. Took pictures next to guns and cacti. Produced and marketed a film of his exploits rafting the Colorado River.9 He was the Arizona’s first Republican senator.10 He once said of his childhood…

GOLDWATER: “We didn’t know the federal government. Everything that was done, we did it ourselves.”11

Which sounds good, but was nonsense. His family benefitted greatly from government programs that killed and drove away Native Americans and attracted settlers who bought stuff at their store. Plus, they had a live-in maid, a chauffeur, and a nurse. Maybe they didn’t do everything themselves.12 They did treat their employees well, though, with insurance and profit sharing. 13

The family opposed the New Deal. Barry was a libertarian, and later become friends with one of his advisors, pop culture icon and libertarian author/ professor Milton Friedman. As a Senator, he was invited to do speaking engagements. When he did, he’d often book another speech or two in the same area. Why not capitalize on the notoriety? He was a hit at meetings of the National Association of Manufacturers where he’d skewer Republicans, is party, for trying to out-do Democrats on more and more government programs.14

The topic of his best speech? Defending demagogue and communist hunter Joe McCarthy.15

Goldwater got a lot of breaks. One came when Senator Robert Taft assigned him to the Banking and Labor Board. Something Barry didn’t want, but became the key to his later fame.16 Because this meant that he could investigate… unions.

Labor unrest marked the end of the 1800s all the way through the mid-1900s. As workers fought for safe working conditions and middle-class wages after decades of mistreatment.

FACTORY OWNER: Get back to work, you!

WORKER: That machine killed two people this week!

FACTORY WORKER: What are you going to do about it?

But their strikes slowed down the economy and sometimes turned into violent mobs. In the last months of 1946 alone there were 4,985 strikes in the US.17 Imagine that! Almost 5,000 strikes in a few months!

One of them took place in Kohler, Wisconsin. A company town run like a fiefdom of the Kohler family. In the 1950s the United Auto Workers won a contract to represent the employees.

UNION LEADER: Now the people will stand up for safety and their rights!

But the next year… they asked for too much and Herbert Kohler refused to negotiate. The ensuing strike led to violence on both sides. Kohler hit the lecture circuit to speak to business people and severed the contract with the UAW.18

KOHLER: (resolute businessman) “This union dictate has been and is being defied by Kohler Company and by a host of men and women of courage who believe in their individual freedoms and rights, including the right to work!” 19

Senator Goldwater, again, a libertarian akin to Milton Friedman, decided to get involved. Robert Kennedy was already investigating the mob and their connections to organized labor.20 Concern about this kind of thing was in the air. Barry set his sights on UAW leader Walter Reuther who participated in the Kohler strike. 21

During a speech in Detroit, Barry said…

GOLDWATER: “Underneath the Democrat label here in Michigan there is something new, and something dangerous—born of conspiracy and violence, sired by socialists and nurtured by the general treasury of the UAW-CIO…”22

Then went on to call Reuther…

GOLDWATER: “…more dangerous than Soviet Russia and all the Sputniks.”23

I’ll cut to the chase. The investigation turned up… nothing (sound drops out). Goldwater admitted to Bobby Kennedy…

GOLDWATER: “You were right. We never should have gotten into this matter.”24

It was a defeat… but one that set Goldwater up as the hero of free market business. When the United Auto Workers held their annual meeting they announced that their top priority was defeating Barry Goldwater. And, according to historian Rick Perlstein, Goldwater had his re-election campaign issue. “Eastern labor bosses telling Arizonans who their representatives should be.”25

Sounds nice and pithy. Who wants rich, powerful people from out of state picking politicians? But (slow down) most of Goldwater’s campaign finances came from two wealthy backers… and they weren’t from Arizona. One was an oil baron and the other… was Robert Welch. Who, that year, founded the John Birch Society.26 Barry won his re-election bid.

There was another golden opportunity for Goldwater. A position in the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which raised money for the GOP27. Barry was one of their roving speakers, which took him all over the country. This gave him lots of exposure.

GOLDWATER: “Balance our budgets… “

…was one common refrain…

GOLDWATER: “…stop this utterly ridiculous agriculture program…”

That was another…

GOLDWATER: “…get the federal government out of business—every business. 28

Libertarian, much? His speaking tours rarely took him below the Mason-Dixon line. Why bother? The South was controlled by Democrats.29

Oh yeah, and one more campaign position. Goldwater spoke against Brown v Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that called for the integration of public schools.30

Pause there. This is one place where we see Goldwater walking a tightrope. Remember, he was part of the effort to integrate schools in Phoenix. He said he wasn’t a racist. But…

How do we talk about this… Okay, so let’s say we’ve got a person named… What’s your name?

BILL: Bill. My name’s Bill.

Bill’s a figment of my imagination.

BILL: I am?

Shh! Bill, just go with it. He’s got three favorite foods. He could eat them every day. French fries…

BILL: Yummy.

Hot dogs…

BILL: I feel like I’m at Coney Island.

… and ice cream.

BILL: A balanced meal.

No. No, it’s really not. Lets say I were to put french fries, a hot dog, and a bowl of ice cream in front of you, Bill. Which would you choose?

BILL: The ice cream. Every time.

He likes all three things. Loves all three things. But ice cream wins out every time.

BILL: Every time.

Goldwater was a man of many principles. One of them was that he was that he wasn’t racist. That could maybe be the french fries on his list. But the Rocky Road, the thing that always beat out the other impulses, the ice cream, is his view on states rights. Barry’s objection was to the federal government integrating schools. He wanted it to be handled by state and local governments to keep the feds small. Even when federal laws and enforcement could help an oppressed people, the dessert of states rights proved too tempting. It won every time.

BILL: Every time.

(slow but honestly asking) Is that racism? Well, it sure as heck is what racists wanted. The South noted his objections to Brown v Board of Education. Who was this Republican, this guy from the party of Lincoln preaching states rights?

Others noticed too. In 1964 at a national Episcopalian conference, Barry’s denomination, religious leaders signed a statement decrying Goldwater’s “transparent exploitation of racism”. Peter Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and MLK were all opposed Goldwater.31

It was shortly after he made his remarks against Brown that he got another big break. Clarence Manion took up his cause.

Manion was a lawyer, dean of the Notre Dame law school, owner of a printing press, and radio host. A big supporter of… Robert Taft. 32 Railed against a one world government, left wingers, and… Brown v. Board.33 Manion and his team had this idea… what follows is not quotes. I’ve using some creative license here.

MANION: Conservatives keep losing races in the Republican Party.

What to do, what to do?

MANION: If we start our own conservative party it will draw from the Republicans and split the vote. The Democrats will always win.

True. But… if you back a conservative for the Democratic nomination, thus courting the South AND at the same time you run a conservative in the vein of Robert Taft for the Republican nomination …

MANION: When they lose their respective nominations, we lead their followers to form a third party.

Thus, stealing the South from Democrats and conservatives from the Republicans.

MANION: By hurting both parties, we might have a shot at the presidency.

Not the worst idea. They tapped L. Brent Bozell to go out and fundraise. You don’t know him yet, but he was William F. Buckley’s college debating partner, edited the National Review, and fell deep down the rabbit hole as a member of… the John Birch Society.34 He also loved Catholic monarchism.35

Manion heard about this Goldwater guy and realized….

MANION: … he can carry both factions by himself.

Okay, end of the made up quotes. In June of 1959 Manion sent this letter to scions of small manufacturing companies. He wrote…

MANION: “…we are now in the process of assembling a National Committee of 100 prominent men and women to ‘draft’ Goldwater for the Republican nomination.”36

By setting up infrastructure, they would build a groundswell of support. Court the South from the Democrats and conservatives from the Republicans. Goldwater would be their guy.

By the way, fun fact, Goldwater was not yet involved. One of the things that later vexed him as the 1964 election approached was that these groups, and Manion’s was not the only one, pushed him to run. As a certain kind of libertarian, he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do. If he was going to run, it had to be on his terms.

And he would. He would do what Bob Taft never could, he’d win the nomination for the Republican Party. By doing so, fulfilling the wishes of people like Phyllis Schlafly. Pushing conservatives into the spotlight at the RNC. But he’d do so by harboring extremists.

I’ll continue the story after these messages. While you listen to the ads, take a moment to leave a positive comment on your podcasting app. It really helps people find the show.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Welcome back. This is the Truce Podcast. Today we’re talking about Barry Goldwater. By 1960 he was already known by some thanks to his many speeches. He was the child of a beloved Arizona department store magnate. Handsome. A Senator. But he wasn’t yet an icon. That would soon change…

For starters, Goldwater agreed to let a ghostwriter do a thrice-weekly column in the Los Angeles Times starting in 1960.37

Around then, L Brent Bozell went to work setting out a platform for Goldwater in book form. What became Conscience of a Conservative. Bozell put the finishing touches on it it at a meeting of… the John Birch Society.38 Barry agreed with it and it became an instant bestseller. Not a surprise because Manion set up a non-profit publishing company to run it, so his industry friends could buy the book by the hundred and thousands, distribute it for him, and get a tax write off. Including Fred Koch, the wealthy oil billionaire/ Rothbardian libertarian/ bircher whose son helped fund the fight against Obamacare39. See how this all ties together?

By the 1960 election between JFK and Nixon, Conscience of a Conservative sold 500,000 copies. A year and a half after conservatives were soundly defeated in all kinds of elections and it seemed like they just could not catch a break.40 The book made some big claims.

GOLDWATER: “I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them.”41

He also attacked the Supreme Court, a favorite pastime of conservatives. 42 He didn’t like the court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, the one that granted citizenship to former slaves and access to things like due process.

GOLDWATER: “The amendment was not intended to, and therefore it did not outlaw racially separated schools.”43

Hear it? Defending segregated schools because they were not explicitly forbidden in the constitution? Manion was right. They didn’t need a democrat to make the state’s rights issue and a conservative to argue for conservatism. They just needed Goldwater.

The book also came out against farm subsidies. Against progressive taxation, meaning he though rich people should pay the same tax percentage as poor people. He likely didn’t account for the loopholes available to rich people and not to the poor. He wanted to roll back spending by 10% each year.44 To end the welfare state45. Argued that Americans were getting too soft to die for their freedoms, which is an old chestnut.46 That the Soviets would never dismantle their nuclear weapons, even if we made an agreement with them.47

Conservatives like Taft had long pointed to communism as the cause of America’s ills. Conscience of a Conservative blamed liberals.48

Manion gathered his minions. More groups responded. People across the country joined any number of organizations rallying around Barry Goldwater for president. He wasn’t going to get the nomination in 1960. But there would be another race in four years. And still, Goldwater had not committed to running for president.

Manion was a supporter. But there were others. And some of them were far far to the right.

But first… I want you to picture… what should I have you picture? How about cake. What’s your favorite? For me, it’s cassata cake. Kind of a Cleveland classic. Layers of vanilla sponge. A thick syrup drizzle. In between each layer, fresh strawberries and vanilla custard49.

Just… imagine it. Can you tell I’m on a diet?

Okay, now, pretend we ate it. It’s gone. We had our cake, and we ate it, which means we no longer have it. This silly exercise but it’s the meaning behind “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Goldwater disagreed with a lot of his supporters. Knew that many of them were toxic… but he also wanted their support… He wanted his cassata cake and wanted to eat it too. So let’s meet his fans.

His constituency concentrated in a few different places. One, was southern California. A place RJ Rushdoony used as a financial base, especially Orange County. SoCal was also home to Knott’s Berry Farm. Where Walter Knott grew a berry stand into an amusement park, then built attractions celebrating patriotism.50 Knott led the way to make California a “right to work” state, which hurt the unions. Then spread his ideas through his “Freedom Center” that marketed small government. Tax deductible, of course.

Southern California was also a booming region for the John Birch Society. There were many many chapters in the Los Angeles area. They put up many billboards with Chief Justice Earl Warren’s face next to things like…

BILLBOARD: “Wanted for impeachment for giving aid and comfort to the communist conspiracy.”51

Goldwater was in a sticky place. He did not like birchers. Didn’t agree with their stances. But…that cake, though. He needed their support. So, he did some fancy footwork. Listen to what he said around this time about birchers.

GOLDWATER: “a lot of people in my home town have been attracted to the society, and I am impressed by the type of people in it. They are the kind we need in politics.”52

Not exactly a denunciation, right? He doesn’t endorse the society… just the type of people in the society. Later, when they became a problem, instead of calling out the members, he and William F. Buckley Jr. denounced Robert Welch, the founder. Trying to keep the extremist base without necessarily agreeing with them. If you wanted to carry California, you needed these guys. They could literally make or break the state. When Richard Nixon ran for governor of California he took a jab at the birchers, calling them…

NIXON: “dictatorial and totalitarian.” 53

And he lost. His opponent was financed by… Walter Knott.54 In 1962, every bircher who ran for office in California got 45% of the vote or better.55 They had a strong grip on the state.

Goldwater’s second troublesome slice of cassata… the American South. We touched on this. But it ramped up in 1963 when Democrat JFK introduced his civil rights bill. This was the Democrats, the party of segregation and Jim Crow. The move was supported by Christian and religious figures56. Obviously not all. And it was pushed through by Lyndon Johnson in 64… with the help of union leaders57. The threat of this new bill made many Southerners consider the unthinkable: voting against the Democratic Party.

Here’s the trick, though. Union members were also afraid of the Civil Rights Act. Unions were often segregated, even in “enlightened” New York City in the 60s. 58 Their three concerns: forced bussing to integrate schools, what would become known as “reverse discrimination”, and racial quotas. By the way, the Civil Rights Act didn’t require quotas.59

This was serious. Far a long time the Democratic Party had been the party of segregation AND the party of unions. Now, by using labor leaders to pass the Civil Rights Act, LBJ was losing support from the South and union members. Polls taken at factory gates in Chicago and Gary, Indiana in 1964 had Barry Goldwater up 53 to 47. Among union members in the North.60All of this while race riots and protests were taking over American cities. Some of them turned violent. And who got the blame from white folks? Not systematic racism… JFK and LBJ.

Woof.

The third slice of cake that Goldwater sought: college students. Thanks to people like William F. Buckley Jr, founder of National Review magazine, conservative college students found their voices at the same time that the liberal counter culture took over campuses. For every movement, there is a counter movement.

Buckley founded Young Americans for Freedom. A group of right leaning students that strived to be respectable. But also was prone to infighting. They were easily swayed into factions that disrupted party unity in favor of ideologies like Ayn Rand’s libertarianism or Bircherism.

These young people loved Goldwater. Their goal was to get a conservative into office. And like Clarence Manion, they felt they had the complete package. A small government, states rights, balanced budget guy. Handsome. The embodiment of the cowboy esthetic that was so popular among Regan and John Wayne.

But you know who didn’t like Goldwater? Moderate Republican leaders. People Phyllis Schlafly might have called “the Establishment” or “the kingmakers”. Republican governors. Party regulars like Richard Nixon. They saw this new movement as a threat. Not just to their ways, but to decorum in politics.

Despite their power, conservatives would get their day. In 1964, Goldwater was the Republican nominee for president. We’ll cover his rise and fall in the next episode.

For now, let’s discuss why Goldwater is important.

  1. He welcomed extremists into the mainstream in the Republican Party
  2. He courted the South, paving the way for Nixon’s Southern Strategy
  3. He took the traditional conservatism of Robert Taft and cranked it up with his flavor of libertarianism.
  4. Finally, he pushed union workers to support a Republican. A Republican who made his name by fighting unions.

Extremism has a powerful pull. It forces people to vote against their own interests. To shatter into factions… or to make uncomfortable bedfellows. The GOP would no longer be the party of Eisenhower. But it wouldn’t be the party of Goldwater for very long either. Nixon and Ford would each be president. Both establishment guys. The extremism would lay dormant. Waiting for a new figure… one who would embody conservatism. Like Goldwater, Reagan would also court extremists. But… he could also win.

I’ll continue the story in the next episode.

I used a number of sources for this episode. The best was Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein. I’ve used four of his books for this season and I can’t recommend them enough. They are well written and push the genre by including pop culture context as well as deep dives on individual subjects. I really liked Before the Storm. I also used The Passage of Power by Robert Caro to learn more about the Democratic side of this. A full list of sources is in your show notes and on the website at trucepodcast.com.

Once you’re there, please consider giving a little each month to help me make this show. I’m doing this project full time and these episodes about Goldwater took three to four weeks to produce. Even working 40 hours a week! No other Christian podcast is covering these things. If you like what you hear, consider giving a little each month at trucepodcast.com/donate or you can Venmo me at @trucepodcast. By the way, the best way to give is through check. I lose quite a bit each year to credit card fees. The address is on the website.

Special thanks to all of my friends who’ve listened to me drone on about these subjects for months. I’m especially indebted to my brother Nick Staron who has helped me parse all of this out.

A number of people gave me their voices for this episode and I’m so grateful. Including…. Bob Stephenson, Nick Staron, Marcus Watson of the Spiritual Life and Leadership podcast, Chris Sloan, Josh Griffith, Jackie Hart, Kjera Griffith…

Truce is a production of Truce Media LLC.

I’m Chris Staron. This is Truce.

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