Was Barry Goldwater racist?

Barry Goldwater was an ideologue and like many ideologues before and after him he sacrificed pragmatism for principle. In researching Goldwater’s history he does not come across at all as a racist. In fact he was an early member of the Arizona NAACP.

He certainly held some controversial views with respect to national security and the Cold War but his stance in opposition against the Civil Rights Act was rooted in a distrust of Big Government overreach (something that appealed to one Hillary Rodham at the time)

Essentially he was a constitutional conservative not unlike Ron and Rand Paul but with different issues to face. In fact later on in his Senate career Goldwater often stood in opposition against Ronald Reagan especially with regards to the growing influence of social conservatism and indeed was an early champion of allowing Gays in the military.

Goldwater would come to regret his stance on the Civil Rights Act however the myth that he did so to win the Southern vote is not correct. He knew very well that eighty percent of his party supported the Act and he was also aware that winning the South would guarantee nothing unless he could convince the North to vote for him. What killed Goldwater was the depiction by the Democratic Party that he was a man who would bring the country closer to nuclear war. The well crafted ‘Daisy tv ad campaigns’ by the Democratic opposition were brilliant in this respect in planting the seed of doubt and in a time frame not too far removed from the Cuban Missile crisis the ‘accusation’ stuck.

In addition one should not forget that Johnson had a tough battle to fight. He was up against an incumbent who could bank on the legacy of a charismatic past president. Oddly enough and this may be a topic for another debate America may have avoided much of the Vietnam shambles had Goldwater been elected.