RIPON SOCIETY

Goldwater was not a racist personally, however he opposed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 against the leadership and majority of the Republican Party, and he initiated a “Southern Strategy” whereby he invited the racists of the South who were furious that Democrat Lyndon Johnson had abandoned them and ended legal segregation forever, to leave the Democratic Party. They did, and while they and the hard core of ultraconservative Goldwater republicans were not enough to overcome the public disapproval of the callous strategy and Goldwater’s nuclear positions. However, the coalition that Goldwater had assembled formed the base of a new Republican Party which gave Ronald Reagan strong majorities, and in the early 21st century the Goldwater coalition of Southerners, Goldwater conservatives gained control of the Republican Party and purged most of the moderates and polarized American politics ending even the traditional bipartisanship in Foreign Affairs.

Goldwater was not a racist personally, however he opposed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 against the leadership and majority of the Republican Party, and he initiated a “Southern Strategy” whereby he invited the racists of the South who were furious that Democrat Lyndon Johnson had abandoned them and ended legal segregation forever, to leave the Democratic Party. They did, and while they and the hard core of ultraconservative Goldwater republicans were not enough to overcome the public disapproval of the callous strategy and Goldwater’s nuclear positions. However, the coalition that Goldwater had assembled formed the base of a new Republican Party which gave Ronald Reagan strong majorities, and in the early 21st century the Goldwater coalition of Southerners, Goldwater conservatives gained control of the Republican Party and purged most of the moderates and polarized American politics ending even the traditional bipartisanship in Foreign Affairs.