A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement

by J. William Middendorf II

The 1964 presidential campaign lives on in conservative circles as an origin myth for the modern conservative movement. Even though their preferred (and now revered) candidate lost to Lyndon B. Johnson by a landslide, Barry Goldwater's failed presidential run was a major turning point of the twentieth century. Without Goldwater's philosophy to pave the way--and, just as importantly, without the strategic and political infrastructure created by the "Draft Goldwater" movement that preceded it--there likely would have been no Reagan or Bush administrations, and possibly no Nixon administration either. The policy positions and electoral strategies of the Goldwater campaign became standard tenets of Republican politics. William Middendorf had better than a ringside seat for this pivotal campaign. A key member of the "Draft Goldwater" movement as early as 1962, he was Goldwater's campaign treasurer and, afterwards, a major force within the Republican Party. No one knows the real inside story better, and A Glorious Disaster tells that story in all its rollicking, agonizing, and never-before-published detail.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2006

Reviews

[Blaine Welgraven · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We appealed to logic. We lost." -- J. William Middendorf II, A Glorious Disaster

"Goldwater won the election of 1964. It just took 16 years to count the votes." -- George Will

An engaging, honest, and often humorous look at a true cluster of an election campaign. Imagine, for one brief moment, if after say the 2012, 2016, or 2020 election campaigns had concluded, it was revealed that one side had planted false stories with favorable press outlets, employed top US security agencies to bug their competitor's plane and HQ, and slipped "plants" within the opposing campaign's inner circles to reveal damaging information ahead of key campaign stops. Perhaps, you won't have to imagine too hard to conceive at least one of these scenarios.

Lyndon B. Johnson and his crew utilized all of the above - and more - against Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential Campaign. And then Goldwater started speaking.

The end result was one of the worst presidential landslides in history. Whether or not Middendorf - and a host of other conservative commentators - are correct in their arguments that "the disaster" was actually the catalyst for future Republican triumphs, remains less clear. Recent psephological studies argue - convincingly - that the Southern Switch strategy tethered to Goldwater actually represented ongoing, complex demographic and economic trends that can be seen as early as 1952. I tend to agree with those studies. Simplistic narratives like the Southern Switch make for charmingly convenient textbook reads, and will probably “educate” freshman political science students for years to come. But simplicity doesn't necessarily equate with accuracy.

Regardless, Middendorf provides a sweeping, and at times incisive, on-the-ground perspective as to how political campaigns really work - and don't. In particular, the Goldwater Presidential Campaign developed the modern political financial model, cultivating a broad donor network and conducting rigorous financial reporting. And what remains unarguable is this - key figures from the Goldwater campaign remained active and influential in shaping the next 14 years of American ideological and electoral history - leading to what historians of all stripes have noted as a true political "revolution" - the 1980 Presidential Election.

[Christopher A · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books title is a bit deceiving. This is a memoir of a man who worked on Goldwaters campaign (and other conservative causes). Goldwater is certainly the main focus of the book but I can’t say I learned anything new about him from this. It is a run down of how Goldwater was “drafted” and how he lost the election. It also gives a brief recap of how the author was involved in Nixons campaign. The author never goes into much detail which provides for a quick easy read but also left me wanting more.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book but will probably not be appreciated outside of political junkies like myself. However, for those interested, it does provide some insight into how so often Republicans (and conservatives...not necessarily the same creatures) fail to present to the voters a clear message of what they stand for. This allows the Democrats to successfully portray conservatives/Republicans as being the party of "the rich", against the poor, against minorities, that wants to destroy the environment and steal Social Security from old people, and don't forget the ever-present claim that we want kids to go hungry. Republicans would be well served to look at what happened in the disastrous 1964 campaign, how the majority of the nation polled in agreement with conservative policies and principles, and yet the conservative candidate got trounced because the Democrats brilliantly controlled the message. This has significant application to politics today.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's clear that the our recent election has broken the ailing Republican party from limb to limb, and I read this book to complement my latest political interest: who will emerge victorious in the battle for the soul of the GOP. I figured a look at the Barry Goldwater years from the inside was the perfect place to better understand the movement and the motivations of the people who supported him. And although that movement was more comprehensible and morally upright than the "conservative" strain that currently rules the GOP, with its hate, fear, and ignorance of fiscal policy, I had a more difficult time wading through it than I had hoped. I wish the author had better explained what those Goldwater conservatives wanted and concentrated less on the daily grind of the election year. My journey continues.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you were 20 or older in the 1960's, you probably don't have much interest in Barry Goldwater and his role in shaping the Republican Party of today. I knew essentially nothing about him before I read this book, and gained a good amount of respect for him as well as the author. I think it is a good insight into the complex logistics of a campaign, and how difficult it is to overcome not only challenges from your opponent, but also feuds within the campaign. If you're a big fan of LBJ, you will not find this book particularly charming.

[Tom Buske · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good account of Goldwater's failed 1964 Presidential campaign. I was looking for a little more anecdotal detail but, there was some pretty good stuff here. What there was more of was a lot of wonky details, particularly in the realm of campaign finance, as the author was an investment banker. Despite this, the book was pretty readable, probably because the author seemed to be a pretty good guy with a decent sense of humor.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this although all it did was show me how poor a campaign Goldwater ran.