Summary: Barry Goldwater, Face-to-Face talk. Born Phoenix, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater's failed 1964 presidential campaign laid the groundwork for the subsequent triumph of Republican conservatism. Challenging the Republican establishment for its timidity, Goldwater provided a full-throated critique of New Deal and Great Society liberalism. Goldwater lost to Johnson in a landslide, in part because he was depicted as a dangerous extremist who threatened prosperity at home and peace abroad through his reactionary programs. Goldwater returned to the Senate, where he rose to the status of Washington "wise man," helping usher Richard Nixon from office in 1974. He lived long enough to see his more aggressive, populist vision of the Republican Party, one based in the South and West, triumph under Ronald Reagan. Recorded at NPG, October 7, 2010. Image: Barry Morris Goldwater / Bernard Safran / Acrylic on board, 1964 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine
