Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

by Rick Perlstein

The grim trade illuminated dark corners of the American psyche. An article called “Gun Thy Neighbor” in Time reported on a suburban Chicagoan who planned to mount a machine gun on the hatch of his shelter, and described a civil defense coordinator for Riverside County in southern California who recommended that families stock survival kits with pistols to ward off Angelenos who might head for the sticks. The article appeared in Time’s religion section. Its main point was that religious leaders were sanctioning this kind of thing. “If you allow a tramp to take the place of your children in your shelter, you are in error,” said the dean of a Baptist seminary. “A Christian has the obligation to ensure the safety of those who depend on him.” Jesuit father L. C. McHugh branded as “misguided charity” the refusal to repel invaders by “whatever means to effectively deter their assault.”