From the Editor

FOR conservatives of my generation, Barry Goldwater never seemed much of an influence. He lived on the pages of William Rusher’s The Rise of the Right more vividly than in the Defense Reorganization Act of his final years in the Senate or in the liberal bromides he pronounced from retirement. In this issue, we try to recapture some of the magic of Goldwater—the excitement of 1964, his irascible charm and fearless straight-shooting—in the course of saying good-bye to an old friend.

More attention will be devoted this year to 1968—as the year the liberal “dream” was tragically shattered—but it was 1964 that marked the emergence of the movement that would forever change American politics. Goldwater biographer Lee Edwards smartly marches us through 1964 (page 26), from the days when the Goldwater campaign was only a glimmer in the eyes of Rusher and Clif White to its defeat at the hands of a Johnson White House that couldn’t just coast to victory, but had to cheat on the way there (the “Daisy” commercial wasn’t enough—LBJ resorted to wiretaps and espionage as well).

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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FOR conservatives of my generation, Barry Goldwater never seemed much of an influence. He lived on the pages of William Rusher’s The Rise of the Right more vividly than in the Defense Reorganization Act of his final years in the Senate or in the liberal bromides he pronounced from retirement. In this issue, we try to recapture some of the magic of Goldwater—the excitement of 1964, his irascible charm and fearless straight-shooting—in the course of saying good-bye to an old friend.

More attention will be devoted this year to 1968—as the year the liberal “dream” was tragically shattered—but it was 1964 that marked the emergence of the movement that would forever change American politics. Goldwater biographer Lee Edwards smartly marches us through 1964 (page 26), from the days when the Goldwater campaign was only a glimmer in the eyes of Rusher and Clif White to its defeat at the hands of a Johnson White House that couldn’t just coast to victory, but had to cheat on the way there (the “Daisy” commercial wasn’t enough—LBJ resorted to wiretaps and espionage as well).