Customer Reviews

A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement

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J. William Middendorff II, A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the origins of the Conservative Movement ( 2006, basic books, new york, 303pp)

This is a fascinating and lively insider report from someone who really was an insider. Ambassador Middendorf played a significant role in the rise of modern conservatism within the Republican Party. As a Connecticut Republican with many friends in the moderate wing of the party he nevertheless early on saw the need for a new approach and a new movement.

Bill was part of the draft Goldwater effort and part of the Goldwater Campaign and then Treasurer for the Republican National Committee as it bounced back from the disaster of 1964. He was in on an amazing number of meetings and worked with virtually every major conservative of that period.

His observations are insightful and in some cases unique.

Even though I had lived through virtually every campaign this book covers I still found myself with new reflections and new insights.

From the perspective of 2007 the most stunning reminder was the level of ruthlessness, dishonesty, and viciousness which characterized the Lyndon Johnson campaign and Johnson's entire behavior. It is worth reading as a reminder of what a 2008 Clinton campaign might be like.

Middendorf repeats a story I first heard from Tim Russert about Goldwater and Kennedy agreeing that in 1964 they would tour the country on Air Force One holding a series of debates and proving that there could be civility and collegiality even in presidential politics. Building on the debates of 1960 and enjoying each other's company a Goldwater-Kennedy contest would have led to a much healthier America.

Middendorf also reminds us that results can shift with remarkable speed. The Goldwater defeat was seen as the beginning of the end for the GOP yet two short years later in 1966 there was a remarkable rebound. The GOP lost 529 legislative seats in 1964 and gained 700 in 1966. The GOP lost 37 house seats and gained 47 in 1966.

One other fascinating reminder about how the world can change is the question of being a frontrunner for the nomination. On the Friday before the 1964 California GOP primary Nelson Rockefeller was ahead by 49 to 40 and on Tuesday Goldwater won the primary and with it the nomination. After the 1966 elections Governor George Romney was the front runner and polls showed him beating President Johnson 54 to 46, After he said "the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get when you go over to Vietnam....they do a very thorough job" his campaign collapsed.

This is a useful book for anyone who would like to understand the rise of modern conservatism and anyone who would like to better understand presidential politics.

'Tis the season, I guess, for men who were present at the creation of "modern conservatism" to publish memoirs of what they saw at the revolution. In October, 2005, Jeffrey Hart released "The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times," and about a year later J. William Middendorf put out "A Glorious Disaster." Taken together, the two paint an excellent picture of the early days of what you might call "National Review" conservatism. I'd encourage the interested reader to check out both books, because they really do work well together.

That's because while Hart's book is about ideas, and the growth of "National Review" magazine as the incubator of "modern conservatism," "A Glorious Disaster" is about nuts-and-bolts politics. Conservative educator Morton Blackwell (who is mentioned in this book as one of the Republican leaders tested in the fire of the Goldwater campaign) famously says "You owe it to your philosophy to know how to win elections." "A Glorious Disaster" is, as much as anything, about what happens when you *don't* know how to win elections.

This is illustrated in a few ways in Middendorf's book: in the tensions between the experienced veterans of the Draft Goldwater movement (including our author himself) and the inexperienced "Arizona Mafia" the candidate insisted on surrounding himself with; in the conflicts within the Republican Party between the firebrand young conservatives on the one hand and the ossified Old Guard on the other, who had already surrendered to the New Deal and only wanted to offer a less-expensive, more-efficient version of Democrat policy; and finally the campaign itself, which pitted a candidate who never really wanted to run for President in the first place versus a man for whom nothing was more important than holding on to power. Readers interested in political campaigns could learn a lot from this book, regardless of their political orientation.

If there's anything I'm disappointed with in this book, it has to do with the second half of the subtitle, "The Origins of the Conservative Movement." In fact, Middendorf spends a lot less time than I had hoped he would on how exactly "movement conservatism" grew out of the 1964 debacle to become the force that would emerge victorious in 1980 and more or less set the terms of debate ever since. He begins to sketch these developments toward the end of the book, but only in fairly general ways. Readers wanting to know more about this will need to look elsewhere.

That complaint notwithstanding, this is a fine look back at the Goldwater campaign from the inside, and a good reminder for those who may have forgotten (or may not have known in the first place) how much conservatism and the GOP generally owe to Barry Goldwater. In a sense, it was really men like William Middendorf who did the work of building a "conservative movement." But they needed a standard-bearer to carry their ideas before a wider audience. In 1964, Barry Goldwater was that man, and American politics hasn't been the same since.

When I read the title of this book, I expected an in-depth analysis of why the Conservative movement started with Barry Goldwater's failed candidacy for the Presidency in 1964. Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case.

The author of this book was a critical player in the Goldwater campaign, and, as such, has tremendously valuable memories of Goldwater's unsuccessful attempt to become President of the United States. This book, however, is nothing more than a political memoir - how this one individual got involved in the Goldwater campaign and what the ride meant to him. It is filled with exciting and fun stories, and is an enjoyable book to read, but most assuredly is not for the historian.

I believe that this book is a good start towards understanding whether or not Goldwater's ascendancy to the head position in the Republican party really did start the Conservative movement that has been so powerful in the last 25 years, but it certainly does not live up to its title.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable political memoir - if the reader is conservative, this book will delight. Even a liberal will enjoy the book, though some of the disparaging remarks about LBJ or Jimmy Carter may not bode well with those who possess a leftist slant.

Wow. The origins of the conservative movement indeed!How much of a revolution was it? Consider this. In 1960,Richard Nixon received 50,000 contributions in his Presidential run,about the same as JFK.In 1964,Barry Goldwater received 1 1/2 MILLION!

This is the story of how a small band of pioneers plotted to literally draft a man who didn't want to run and who knew he would lose,but who changed the party and the entire world by doing so.

A glorious well-written historical work. As George Will wrote,"Barry Goldwater won..but it took 16 years to count the votes."

Highly Recommended.5 stars.

Before reading A Glorious Disaster my knowledge of the 1964 presidential election was shallow. I knew Lyndon Johnson defeated Goldwater in a landslide, but I never really knew anything about the nuts and bolts of the campaign. The 1964 election is an odd one. Johnson had just become president after the Kennedy assassination (killed by a Marxist; go figure). As senator, Johnson served as a conservative southern Democrat. He voted against every Civil Rights bill while he was in Congress. Johnson only shifted his opinion later because of the popularity of the measure. Johnson's ambitions were much stronger than any ideology. Wishing to leave his mark on history, Johnson moved rapidly to the left as president.

Goldwater become the conservative choice in 1962. The liberal wing of the Republican party was always hostile to a Goldwater nomination. Unable to rally behind the candidate, it was Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney (Mitt Romney's father) who ultimately torpedoed any hope for Goldwater. Early on they branded the Arizona Senator as a tool of the extreme right. It was an absurd accusation, but one that Goldwater was never able to shake during the campaign.

I got the sense reading this book that Goldwater wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. His campaign was run by a bunch of Arizona loyalists who weren't involved in the draft movement. From the beginning Goldwater was consigned to defeat. He didn't want to run against Johnson, whom he felt would do anything to win the election. Goldwater's fears were indeed founded. LBJ used the CIA and FBI for campaign surveillance. These abuses of power by the executive branch dwarf anything Nixon ever did, and perhaps anything anyone has done who's ever served as president. However, it's not likely it affected the outcome of the election. Goldwater never communicated a clear vision, and was constantly on the defensive. The campaign was run poorly and most of the major newspaper editors throughout the country were adamantly opposed to Goldwater.

Despite the election setback it was the birth of the conservative movement. I don't think Goldwater was ever really the right person for the cause. He didn't communicate well enough, but at that time he was the closest thing to an electable candidate. During that election the former actor Ronald Reagan made his now famous "a Time for Choosing" speech that would ultimately make him the face of the conservative movement. His speech is still relevant today.

The author of the book J. William Middendorf II, served as the treasurer during the campaign and later for the RNC. His meticulousness attention to detail paints a clear portrait of that period. Middendorf later went on to serve as the Ambassador to the Netherlands under Nixon and later became the Secretary of the Navy. The book is a nice little historic insight into the birth of the conservative movement. A movement that ultimately changed our current political landscape and brought us Ronald Reagan.

Bill Middendorf offers a delightful insider's view of Barry Goldwater's trailblazing 1964 campaign for President.

As a true insider -- he was on the inner circle as campaign treasurer, a key fundraiser, an early Draft Goldwater leader and a seeming voice of seasoned maturity (at age 37) -- he certainly offers a view that is signficantly more robust than most historical accounts.

It's a very enjoyable read.

Of course, Goldwater was utterly shellacked in 1964. But in losing, his principled admirers won by helping establish the foundation for a conservative movement that would build and last for decades.

It is a great subject, told by an insider. But the book is a disappointment with little detail on many major points.

Middendorf quickly berates the Eastern establishment Republicans of Rockefeller, Henry Cabot Lodge and the like. But as soon as he starts talking about himself, you realize the author is a traitor to his class because he is one of those Republicans. That fact resounds throughout the book and is never even addressed by the author.

Nor is the change that Kennedy's murder brought upon the country and Goldwater's campaign. The author glosses over all of that.

The book reminds us why Rockefeller's divorce was such a big thing against him. Even in those days, divorce was no big thing. But having your new wife desert her family does not win you political admiration.

None of the reviewers talk about the large section of the book devoted to Nixon and the 1968 campaign. He ignores the Vietnam war in that section, barely mentions Bobby Kennedy and omits Gene McCarthy.

Just like Goldwater ignored his political-savvy staff, the author probably ignored his editors in order to write the book the way he wanted to. The result is a big disappointment.

It really deserves 21/2 stars. I enjoyed it and maybe it was unrealistic to expect an in depth story of the draft and election from the Republican point of view but that's what I wanted.If you want a brief overview this is fine but not for the historian