Barry Goldwater Biography Quotes 23 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Barry Morris Goldwater was born on January 2, 1909, in Phoenix, then part of the Arizona Territory. He was the son of Baron Goldwater, whose family built the Goldwater's department store, and Josephine Williams, from a prominent Midwestern family. His father's Jewish heritage and his mother's Episcopalian faith informed a tolerant household; Goldwater himself was raised Episcopalian. He attended local schools and the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia. Without completing college, he returned to Phoenix to work in the family business. After his father's death in 1930, he helped lead and modernize the department store, gaining managerial experience that would shape his political approach to budgets and administration. In 1934 he married Margaret (Peggy) Goldwater; they raised a family that included their son Barry Goldwater Jr., who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Peggy Goldwater became known in her own right for civic work, including helping to establish Planned Parenthood in Arizona.

Business, Aviation, and World War II
Goldwater developed a passion for aviation early, becoming an accomplished pilot who logged thousands of hours. During World War II he served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, flying transport missions and contributing to the logistics that underpinned Allied operations. After the war he remained in the Air Force Reserve and eventually retired as a major general in 1969, a distinction that bolstered his credibility on defense matters. Aviation, the Southwest's landscapes, and photography remained lifelong interests; he produced widely admired photographs of Arizona and Native American communities.

Entry into Politics and the Rise of Conservatism
Goldwater entered elective politics in the postwar era, initially at the local level and then in statewide contests. In 1952 he won a U.S. Senate seat from Arizona by unseating Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland, signaling the emergence of a new Sun Belt Republicanism. In Washington he became a leading critic of expansive federal programs, arguing for limited government, lower taxes, right-to-work laws, and a strong national defense. His 1960 book The Conscience of a Conservative, associated with his name and shaped with the help of L. Brent Bozell Jr., became a touchstone for a generation of conservatives. He worked in parallel with allies such as William F. Buckley Jr., whose National Review provided an intellectual platform, and benefited from the early organizing of F. Clifton White, who helped build a conservative grassroots network.

1964 Presidential Campaign
Goldwater secured the 1964 Republican presidential nomination after a hard-fought primary season that clarified ideological lines within the party. He chose Representative William E. Miller as his running mate and accepted the nomination with the famous declaration, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice… moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue". The general election against President Lyndon B. Johnson unfolded in the shadow of national grief and anxiety following John F. Kennedy's assassination; Goldwater and Kennedy had enjoyed a cordial relationship and had discussed a series of civil debates for the 1964 campaign. The Johnson campaign portrayed Goldwater as reckless on nuclear policy, most memorably in the "Daisy" advertisement. Goldwater lost in a landslide, carrying Arizona and a swath of the Deep South as the party system began to realign around civil rights and the role of the federal government. Despite defeat, the campaign energized a conservative movement that would shape the Republican Party for decades and helped launch the national prominence of Ronald Reagan, whose "A Time for Choosing" speech on Goldwater's behalf became iconic.

Civil Rights and Constitutional Views
Goldwater's record on civil rights was complex. He supported the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and opposed discrimination in his personal and business life, integrating the family store. But he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that certain provisions exceeded federal authority and would imperil freedom of association. He insisted his stance was constitutional, not racial, yet the vote had profound political and moral reverberations, contributing both to his strength in parts of the South and to his overwhelming loss elsewhere.

Return to the Senate and Legislative Leadership
After the 1964 campaign, Goldwater stepped away from elective office briefly and then won back an Arizona Senate seat in 1968, serving from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. When Republicans gained the Senate majority in 1981, he became chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he worked on oversight reform and on balancing secrecy with accountability during a tense phase of the Cold War. He was central to defense reorganization, co-authoring the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 with Representative Bill Nichols. The law strengthened unified combatant commands and clarified the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reshaping U.S. military command for the modern era.

Nixon, Party Stewardship, and National Crisis
Goldwater's stature within the GOP was evident during the Watergate crisis. In August 1974 he joined Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott and House Minority Leader John Rhodes in a pivotal meeting with President Richard Nixon to convey that Nixon no longer had sufficient support in Congress. The candid message hastened Nixon's decision to resign, an episode that underscored Goldwater's loyalty to constitutional order over partisan advantage.

Relations with Reagan and the Conservative Movement
Goldwater admired Ronald Reagan's communication skills and anti-statist philosophy, even as they sometimes diverged on tactics or specific policies. He maintained enduring friendships with movement figures such as William F. Buckley Jr. while also carving out independent, often libertarian positions. In later years he criticized the growing influence of the religious right, sparring publicly with leaders like Jerry Falwell and warning against efforts to impose sectarian values through law. He supported abortion rights and gay service members in the military, famously quipping that "you don't have to be straight to shoot straight". He also supported fellow Arizonan Sandra Day O'Connor's rise to the Supreme Court, reflecting his respect for judicial prudence and personal liberty.

Arizona Roots and Mentoring a Successor
Goldwater remained a symbol of Arizona's assertive, independent political culture. When he retired from the Senate in 1987, he was succeeded by John McCain, another Arizona Republican who embraced strong defense policies and a maverick streak. Goldwater's example of speaking plainly, guarding institutional prerogatives, and balancing principle with practicality influenced McCain and other rising leaders.

Personal Life, Interests, and Character
Outside politics, Goldwater was known for directness, dry humor, and a frontier pragmatism forged in business and aviation. He treasured time in the desert, flew well into his later years, and pursued photography with professional seriousness, publishing images that preserved aspects of Southwestern life and Native cultures. He and Peggy Goldwater were fixtures in Arizona civic life for decades. Their family life and the public career of Barry Goldwater Jr. kept politics close to home even after he left Washington.

Later Years and Legacy
Goldwater's health declined after a stroke late in life. He died on May 29, 1998, in Paradise Valley, Arizona. His legacy is twofold: as the uncompromising standard-bearer who defined modern American conservatism's core themes of limited government, individual liberty, and robust national defense; and as a Western individualist whose late-career stands for personal freedom, institutional integrity, and candor broadened his appeal beyond ideology. The movement he helped shape powered the ascent of leaders like Ronald Reagan, while his constitutional conscience guided moments of national stress from civil rights debates to Watergate. For admirers and critics alike, Barry Goldwater remains a reference point for conviction politics in the American tradition.

Our collection contains 23 quotes who is written by Barry, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Leadership - Freedom - Honesty & Integrity - Sarcastic.