Customer Reviews

Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

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Aficionados of U.S. political history, regardless of their political persuasion, will immensely enjoy Rick Perlstein account of the pivotal Presidential election of 1964. Given Johnson's lopsided majority -- the largest landslide to that point in U.S. history -- the 1964 contest would appear, on the surface, to be uninteresting. However, 1964 was pivotal not for who won, but who lost and why. Perlstein, an avowed Leftist himself, adroitly recounts the rise of the new Conservative movement, which flexed its political muscles for the first time with the nomination of Barry Goldwater. Ironically, as Perstein shows, pundit after pundit proclaimed the Conservative movement stillborn following Goldwater's pitiful 27-million vote total (compared with Johnson's 43 million). It would be, Perlstein points out, one of the greatest political misjudgments in U.S. history, as the next 30 years would attest.

"Before the Storm" has much to commend it. A few of the more interesting anecdotes include:

* Clifton White's brilliant, secretive Draft Goldwater campaign and his tactical genius in out-flanking the Rockefeller/Scranton/Lodge partisans at the convention;

* the internecine struggle for the soul of the young Conservative Movement between Welch's John Birch Society and Buckley's National Review;

* the rise of the Young Americans for Freedom, which would dwarf its better known liberal counterpart, Students for a Democratic Society;

* the role of Bill Moyers, the holier-than-thou PBS personality, in pioneering a new advertising genre: the political attack ad.

* the dramatic political debut of Ronald Reagan, with his acclaimed "A Time for Choosing" speech -- broadcast nationally on election eve.

I could go on and on. "Before the Storm" is neither a paean to, nor an attack on, the Conservative Movement. Rather, Perstein's account is thorough, well researched and even handed. A MUST read for political fans of all stripes.

If you are a reader of culture and politics, I can guarantee that you have never read the story contained in this book. The history of the sixties has been packaged by the so called "victors" for 30 years. Rick Perlstein just broke up that monopoly. Somehow he tells the story of the birth of modern conservatism without attacking the ideology, or schilling for it either. We hear alot about "balance" these days, but here we actually have it. This is the way history should be written.

Perlstein is a thirty year old guy, who obviously went beyond his textbooks while in school. He is one of the rare modern writers of politics and culture who treats the subject of American conservatism seriously by painstakingly recreating its march forward, led by Barry Goldwater. Goldwater's defeat in '64 was spectacular, but as Perlstein puts it, conservatives "sucked it up" and moved on.

If you are a conservative you will love the detail of the book. If you are Liberal you may begin to understand how the conservative ideology was battle tested in '64 and how it later used that huge defeat as a source of strength in the eighties and nineties. Most of all if you want to know more about the truth of the sixties, read this book. Perlstein shows that alot more than just flower power happened during that complex decade.

Why should you read this book? Lots of reasons.

First, read BEFORE THE STORM for it's look at the origins of the modern political era. When the polls closed on Election Night '64, the Democrats had just won the Presidency for the seventh time in nine elections, and they held huge majorities in both houses of Congress. The experts debated whether the Republican party could survive, but all agreed that the Conservative movement was dead as vaudeville.

Within two years, the Republicans came roaring back in Congress and the state capitols, and the Conservatives held veto power in the Party. The GOP won five of the next six Presidential elections, captured the Senate in the eighties and both houses of Congress in the nineties, and the only Republican presidential candidates to lose were two incumbents who had shown themselves as not conservative enough for the fire-eaters. Who ordered this?

Perlstein shows how the charges that blew apart the consensus were laid. He follows the people who were determined to create a Conservative movement, and shows how they eventually succeeded in forcing their champion, Barry Goldwater, into running for the office he didn't want.

BEFORE THE STORM also shows us how crazy politics can make people. It's jaw dropping to read of Clarence Manion's efforts to make Orville Faubus into the standard bearer of Constitutional govt. Faubus arguably should have been hanged for treason!

And how many of knew that Barry Goldwater was either a totally incompetent politician, or he deliberately sabotaged his presidential effort? The story of Goldwater's '64 'campaign' is a near-perfect record of doing the wrong thing. Yet it didn't matter. Goldwater did the three things necessary to birth the modern Conservative movement: he ran, he allowed Clifton White to organize the volunteers who would take over the Republican party, and he introduced the politician who knew how to reach the people: Ronald Reagan. (My wife, hearing Reagan give "The Speech" for Goldwater, wished she could vote for Ronnie for President instead. Took a while, but ...)

It's also illuminating to watch LBJ and his sanctimonious minions attempt to frighten the public into believing Goldwater was a madman who'd get us involved in a war, while secretly planning to do it themselves. How could so many, including me, be taken in by that fraud?

Well, reading Perlstein, we're shown how easy it is to miss what's important. The public didn't know what Johnson would do, and the pundits had no idea a Conservative tidal wave would sweep away New Deal politics. Remember that the next time some television gas bag confidently predicts the future, or candidates assure you they'll never do 'X'.

BEFORE THE STORM also reminds us of things we prefer to forget or deny, such as the way Goldwater and others abandoned principle to appeal to racists. As a Known Fascist, I hang my head in shame for what we compromised with.

But most of all, read BEFORE THE STORM for a great piece of objective history. No one will fail to realize that Rick Perlstein is a Leftist who disagrees with almost every political position Barry Goldwater ever held. But he hardly ever lets his point of view get in the way of explaining his subject's viewpoint.

Occasionally, Perlstein stumbles. His claim that Walter Knott got rich off Big Govt. is just silly, and his criticism of western water projects not much better. I could also wish he'd bothered to read books like McCARTHY AND HIS ENEMIES, instead of relying on summaries by hostile critics, or concentrated more on how liberal Democrats like Reagan and Charleton Heston became conservative Republicans. But far more often, he gets inside the heads of those he profiles, as when he tells of the white South's genuine fear that ending racism would also mean ending everything good in Dixie's distinctive subculture. I'm impressed. I look forward to reading future books by Rick Perlstein on any subject, and only hope that my eventual work on Robert Oppenheimer and his times can be as insightful, thorough, and above all, honest. I may even delve into (shudder) THE NATION just to read his articles.

Highly recommended.

Quite simply, this is an amazing work. It starts as the book the cover would suggest it is: tightly focused, part Goldwater biography and part tale of the conservative movement's early days. By the end, however, the story is less Goldwater and the election and far more a sweeping survey of American life in the early 60s. The campaign fades away, Perlstein masterfully weaves in tales of the civil rights movement, demonstrations, and other events, and Johnson becomes as central to the close of the story as does his opponent. And this only adds to the impact of the book, since both aspects are written amazingly well. Following the Goldwater campaign with all its missteps is as agonizing as the wider diversions are educational. In the end, there is a complete and engaging portrait both of the election and the massive changes in American society that it portended (not to mention how different things are today: the chaos of Goldwater's campaign is utterly surreal in comparison to the machines of current elecitons).

Perhaps most importantly, the book is amazingly even-handed. Perlstein's politics are obvious, but his observations come across as more therapeutic than enraged, almost seeming to sympathize with Goldwater as he tries to fight off the truly lunatic elements. It means that Before the Storm is a book that both conservatives and liberals can and should enjoy. Anyone seeking to understand why politics and society are what they are today should start here.

This book is political history at its best-- absorbing, non-partisan, and blissfully free from shallow and anachronistic pontificating from the author. Despite what the other reviewers have said, it is not at all overlong-- it tries to capture the national mood of the times by straying from Goldwater himself, but this only strengthens the presentation of the '64 campaign. And, yes, the book does rely on an "assumed store of political knowledge," but what one reader calls "absence of any real or substantive analysis" is really just Perlman's decision to let the facts and the story speak for itself, like good history should, instead of resting on argument. Indeed, one of its great strengths is that it allows the reader to draw on his "assumed store of political knowledge." Finally, this book is completely non-partisan, and is an agreeable read for those of any ideology-- apparently not an easy task to pull off, as evidenced by the stacks of partisan histories that are perpetually being turned out.

There is an extraordinary amount of bad popular history on the market, but this is a book of exceptional quality.

You don't have to be a political junkie to enjoy Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm - the ultimately quixotic tale of the 1964 nominating fight and presidential campaign of conservative Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. A product of exhaustive research (the Notes and Bibliography alone stretch for nearly 120 pages), Before the Storm transports the reader to the very heart of the '60s where the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict loom large, the assassination of JFK shocks the nation, the Civil Rights movement and college unrest define a generation - and a band of conservative activists establishes a public policy agenda which, though mightily rejected in the 1964 election of Lyndon Johnson, bears surprising fruit a scant two years later in the election of Ronald Reagan as Governor of California.

If you are a fledgling activist, Before the Storm will usher you into the realities of the American political process where politics is war, even the most minute organizational details matter, and all things are ultimately possible.

If you are a student of American history, Before the Storm will bring new life to the story of the '60s for you with real people, real ideas and terribly real events pushing and shoving you in every imaginable direction. After reading Before the Storm you will never view the '60s with simple, rose-colored glasses again.

If you are a child of the '60s, Before the Storm will bring back your youth in bold strokes and striking colors. Whether you see yourself as conservative or liberal, you will feel once again the siren call of human freedom that so clearly marked that generation of Civil Rights Workers and Young Americans for Freedom.

Reading Before the Storm will help make you a more astute observer of the political scene - chuckling to yourself over the apocalyptic mutterings of big-time pundits like Scotty Reston, Tom Wicker and Walter Lippmann forty years ago even as you develop a healthy mistrust of the the McLaughlins, Blitzers and Dowds of today.

And if you are an admirer of Barry Goldwater, as I was, Before the Storm will upset you with his Keystone Cops campaign (after winning the nomination) and the bull headedness of your hero. In the end you will appreciate Goldwater for what he truly was - an uncompromising advocate of freedom whose integrity, loyalty and conviction were unquestioned by friend and foe alike.

Perlstein has definitely done his homework. Before the Storm incorporates the author's super detailed research into a highly readable and enjoyable account of the Goldwater campaign and the general rise of conservative politics in the early 60's.

AS noted in other reviews, he gives the reader a good understanding of the characters involved with this political intrigue and the organizations that they formed as a result. My only complaint as far as information goes would be that he should have also examine the IDEAS and BELIEFS of these people and groups more closely and also wrapped the book up with a conclusion of sorts. In addition, it seemed like there was a little too much attention paid to extremist groups that had little impact and often times a few too many meaningless names were dropped.

Perlstein, a liberal, does manage to hide almost all instances of bias and the work comes off as quite objective considering this circumstance. My only complaint here is that there a couple instances early in the book that he tries to argue that the government ties these conservatives had on fairly flimsy set of connections.

All in all I highly recommend this work for conservatives or political enthusiasts in general. It is great example of the nuts and bolts of political activity contributing to a much larger movement.

Barry Goldwater is pegged as one of history's great anachronisms, a stentorian supersquare totally out of step with the liberal consensus and suavely mediagenic political culture of the early Sixties. But in this superb study of the 1964 Presidential campaign, Rick Perlstein shows that Goldwater was very much a man of his time, and a harbinger of the future.

This is the best account of a political campaign I have ever read, filled with fascinating, hilarious details of Goldwater's heartfelt but botched crusade. More imporantly, Perlstein shows how Goldwater's doomed run laid the groundwork for the conservative resurgence of the Eighties by yoking together conspiratorial industrialists, polished right-wing intellectuals, adroit political organizers, and one very slick pitchman in the person of Goldwater protege Ronald Reagan.

Conservatives will find this clear-eyed but fair account of their salad days by turns engrossing (college students swooned for Goldwater) and embarrassing (Klansmen did too). Liberals will learn some lessons about where it all went wrong. And everyone will find food for thought in looking back at another post-ideological, bi-partisan era that found, to its shock, that extremism was suddenly the greatest virtue of all.

I really enjoyed Rick Perlstein's Nixonland, in spite of its structural flaws and shaky thesis. Unfortunately, Perlstein's first book - an exploration of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater's disastrous yet epochal 1964 Presidential campaign - is not quite as good as his second.

Goldwater is certainly an interesting and important figure. His Presidential campaign was the extension of a budding conservativism, angry at the moderation preached by Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, with young Jeremiahs like William F. Buckley and M. Stanton Evans leading the charge to restore traditional values. As Perlstein shows, the new conservativism was not a gaggle of stuffy old fogeys opposing progress; it was as much a youth movement as the "New Left" and budding counterculture. Seeing liberalism as America's consensus ideology, the conservatives enjoyed framing themselves as rebels - hence Evans' book, Revolt on the Campus. And Barry Goldwater's campaign against Lyndon B. Johnson was the ultimate rebellion.

Goldwater's staunch anti-Communist, anti-big government, pro-free market and law and order platform was roundly rejected in 1964, due to a variety of factors: a Republican Party divided between conservatives and establishment moderates like Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney, Goldwater himself, whose heart never seemed quite in it, the extremism of his supporters, and the ruthlessness of LBJ. Goldwater's seemingly-radical stance frightened Americans who weren't ready for the division that would explode into violent culture war a few years later. Still, Goldwater's defeat sewed the seeds of the modern conservative movement, and Ronald Reagan would win in an comparable landslide sixteen years later, running on an almost identical platform.

As in Nixonland, Perlstein crams the narrative with digression and details, some illustrative and revealing, others notsomuch. These anecdotes serve a better purpose in Nixonland, where he was trying to paint a broad picture of a complex time period, and digressions from the main topic served a purpose. The portrait of early '60s America is surprisingly limited in comparison, focusing mostly on Goldwater and the GOP, and there's no sense of breadth or scope; as such, digressions like a five-page plot description of Doctor Strangelove and seem out of place. Some topics are brought up and dropped with little fanfare - in particular, Henry Cabot Lodge and Richard Nixon's abortive bids for the GOP nomination. There seems little consistency to what Perlstein is interested in, and at times the narrative suffers for its rambling imbalance of content.

Still, Perlstein's book is definitely worth a look. He paints a vivid picture of conservativism in the early '60s, finding its sea legs as a political force and not yet ready for the big time. His portrait of Goldwater himself is far more sympathetic and layered than his pure-evil portrayal of Richard Nixon - an honest man with earnest principles, but not entirely comfortable as the Republican Party's standard-bearer. If his analysis of Goldwater's appeal occasionally smacks of condescension, he ably shows Goldwater's political importance. 1964 was a disaster, but it was a harbinger of things to come - for the Republican Party, and America in general.

Mr. Perlstein, who is by no means a conservative, shows how people who disagree with a politician or any person can write a mostly fair and accurate biography of that man or woman.

There are so many things about Goldwater that Perstein brings to light. I am a big Goldwater fan, but I still learned some things. It might surprise many that some of Barry's most fanatic supporters were in fact young people. Many of the people in his early rallies in 1962-63 looked like they might be at a rock concert based on their age and enthusiam. Our younger people are the ones who often starve for a strong and brave political message that is not "watered down".

No one can say that Goldwater or his message was not direct enough. This book does a good job in showing us his courage and determination but it by no means leaves out those somewhat negative or embarrasing things that so many biographies manage to do.

I agree with an earlier reviewer in that it falls short in that it does not follow up much on him after 1964. Barry Goldwater DID NOT just go away after the loss in 1964. He re-captured his senate seat in 1968. He was a key figure in defending Nixon during Watergate, though only to the extent that he believed Nixon's lies.

It was Barry Goldwater who was given the task by fellow Republican senators of telling Nixon that it was "time to go". There is a lot missing on the later controversy created by those who felt Goldwater moved to the left in the 80's.

But this is mostly a book about Goldwater through 1964 and the conservative movement that he helped create. I was not sure that Perlstein fully understood the dynamics on how Reagan succeeded Goldwater as the leader of the right in the mid 1960's, but little else is missing.