The 1964 Republican Convention

Arizona senator Barry Goldwater was a staunch conservative more interested in advancing the conservative cause than running for president. A “Draft Goldwater” campaign three years in the making catapulted him to the Republican nomination in 1964, despite bitter opposition within the party. He was defeated in a landslide by Lyndon Johnson but the right had established itself as a reinvigorated force in the years to come. This is a chronicle of the 1964 Republican convention and the beginnings of the modern conservative movement.

John C. Skipper, a political reporter for the Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette, has written numerous books on politics and baseball, including a history of the The Iowa Caucuses and acclaimed biographies of Grover Cleveland Alexander, Dazzy Vance and Charlie Gehringer.

John C. Skipper
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 248
Bibliographic Info: 22 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2016
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9808-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2419-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Introduction 1

1—Thirty Words 11

2—A Tale of Two Tafts 18

3—Filling the Vacuum 26

4—The Contenders 35

5—The Clandestine Meeting 45

6—Feeling the Draft 58

7—The Rockefeller Campaign 64

8—November 22, 1963 72

9—The Goldwater Kitchen Cabinet 82

10—The Rocky Road 88

11—Lyndon Johnson 94

12—New Hampshire 103

13—Scranton and Romney 115

14—The Eisenhower Factor 122

15—The Battlefields 128

16—California 142

17—Cleveland 149

18—The Civil Rights Bill 155

19—San Francisco 165

20—The Acceptance Speech 180

21—Convention Myths 187

22—The Lion and the Lamb 192

Epilogue 199

Appendix A—1964 Primary Election Results 207

Appendix B–Total Primary Popular Vote 208

Appendix C–1964 Convention First Ballot Vote Count 209

Appendix D–Goldwater Acceptance Speech, July 16, 1964 209

Chapter Notes 219

Bibliography 231

Index 235