The oratory of Barry Goldwater

Introduction

Any discussion of Barry Goldwater’s rhetoric must address a paradox. In 1964 Goldwater experienced one of the biggest defeats in American electoral history. Lyndon Johnson won 61 percent of the popular vote, Goldwater 38.4 percent; Johnson won 486 electoral college votes, Goldwater just 52, winning only Arizona (his home state) and five Southern states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina). Given that Goldwater stood on an unequivocally conservative platform his defeat was almost universally interpreted as the electorate’s rejection of conservatism. Rhetorically Goldwater is best remembered for thirty words in his 1964 speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination. Notwithstanding, Goldwater’s ideas and supporters remained influential and these ideas achieved dominance amongst Republicans culminating in the nomination of Ronald Reagan. Goldwater’s ideas remained central to GOP ideology Goldwater’s rhetoric was clearly an electoral failure but extremely successful in helping forging a conservative constituency.

Goldwater’s rhetoric failed as electoral persuasion but succeeded as political mobilisation (Taylor 2016, 242-260). How can we explain the same rhetoric producing different outcomes? Two factors seem particularly relevant: time and speaker’s character. In 1964 Goldwater was before his time and the long-term influence of his ideas rested on the passage of time and emerging phenomena including anti-war protests, economic problems, and growing dissatisfaction with America’s political institutions that rendered Goldwater’s ideas infinitely more acceptable to more voters. Second, Goldwater’s character – frequently described as rugged individualism -- was seen by many conservatives as appropriate to his message but not so by voters (Hammerback 1972, 175-183). Ronald Reagan, articulating Goldwater’s ideas and benefitting from events, proved a far more convincing advocate of Goldwaterism. The chapter examines, first, the nature and content of Goldwater’s ideas; second,it considers Goldwater’s rhetorical strategy; and third, it explores the politics of Goldwater’s rhetoric. The paper concludes that irrespective of his rhetorical and political shortcomings Barry Goldwater is one of the most effective rhetoricians in American political history.