Youth Movement

IN 1964, the fact that all the fourth-graders in Pinegrove Elementary School in Irondequoit, New York, except me were for Lyndon Johnson reflected our parents’ opinions, not ours. But there was one other person in class who was for Goldwater—the teacher. Though Miss Bevier didn’t seem young to me then, she must have been in her early or mid twenties, which made her prime Goldwater material.

John F. Kennedy is usually portrayed as the first, and brightest, leader of the young in what would be a long decade of youth (1960-1975), but this is a mistake. He was stylish and sexy (so was the Rat Pack). Women wanted to sleep with him and, it turns out, many did. But that is a flack’s idea of youthfulness. The Kennedy circle was also insouciant (pushing Arthur Schlesinger Jr. into that swimming pool). The truly young—aged 15 to 25—were too serious for such hijinks, and their tribune in the early Sixties was Barry Goldwater.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

IN 1964, the fact that all the fourth-graders in Pinegrove Elementary School in Irondequoit, New York, except me were for Lyndon Johnson reflected our parents’ opinions, not ours. But there was one other person in class who was for Goldwater—the teacher. Though Miss Bevier didn’t seem young to me then, she must have been in her early or mid twenties, which made her prime Goldwater material.

John F. Kennedy is usually portrayed as the first, and brightest, leader of the young in what would be a long decade of youth (1960-1975), but this is a mistake. He was stylish and sexy (so was the Rat Pack). Women wanted to sleep with him and, it turns out, many did. But that is a flack’s idea of youthfulness. The Kennedy circle was also insouciant (pushing Arthur Schlesinger Jr. into that swimming pool). The truly young—aged 15 to 25—were too serious for such hijinks, and their tribune in the early Sixties was Barry Goldwater.