6. Running on an extremely conservative platform against President Lyndon Johnson, including opposition to the Civil Rights Act, Republican Barry Goldwater’s efforts to revive segregation in America failed in spectacular fashion
A five-term Senator from Arizona, serving from 1953 to 1965 and again from 1969 to 1987, Barry Goldwater was a Republican politician who sought to lead a conservative revival of American politics in opposition to the progressive leanings of the 1960s. A vocal opponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing the legislation represented an overreach of authority by the federal government, Goldwater equally opposed the legacy of the New Deal. Contesting the Republican Party’s nomination against more liberal candidates, such as Nelson Rockefeller, Goldwater successfully mobilized conservative forces and was selected to challenge incumbent Democratic President Lyndon Johnson.
Facing an uphill battle against Johnson, who not only benefited from the martyrdom of Kennedy but favorable economic conditions, Goldwater refused to moderate his policies to broaden his appeal beyond his core supporters. Calling for substantial cuts to social welfare programs, the potential use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam, and the mass privatization of parks and open spaces, Goldwater’s perception as an extremist among the American public was worsened after he became the subject of now-legendary attack ads by the Johnson campaign. Winning just fifty-two electoral votes from six states to Johnson’s four-hundred-and-eighty-six, Goldwater claimed just thirty-eight-and-a-half percent of the popular vote in a landslide defeat.