To defeat a maverick: Foreign policy, Barry Goldwater and the 1964 presidential election

This paper examines Cold War influences on early post-World War II presidential elections, Barry M. Goldwater\u27s rise to Republican presidential nominee, and the contribution of foreign policy issues to the Arizonan\u27s defeat in the 1964 presidential election. World War II and the Cold War increased the importance of foreign policy considerations in presidential elections, and from 1948 through 1964, every major party nominee advocated the militant containment of communism. Goldwater was an ardent Cold Warrior, who had developed staunch convictions on domestic and foreign matters. As a senator, his unwavering conservatism cast him as a maverick among other Republicans; however, in 1964 the GOP right wing dominated state and local party machinery and the increasingly popular Arizonan captured the presidential nomination. The margin of Goldwater\u27s overwhelming election defeat was due largely to the public\u27s perception of him as an impulsive radical who would senselessly risk nuclear confrontation in the Cold War. This grossly unfavorable perception was propagated by the senator\u27s numerous Republican and Democratic critics, although Goldwater, himself, bore significant responsibility for the image