“I think we ought to sell the TVA [Tennessee Valley Authority],” the senator said. But that did not play well in Tennessee. “I have contributed to your campaign and helped organize the Goldwater club here, but since you have . . . come out . . . for the sale of the TVA, I am taking off my Goldwater stickers,” wrote a Chattanooga resident, one of thousands to recoil in alarm. “Why in the hell did you say that about the TVA?” an Atlanta fan demanded. “The Southeast will never vote for anyone who advocates turning over the TVA to the . . . monopolists.”
