یک فاجعه باشکوه: کمپین ریاست‌جمهوری باری گلدواتر و ریشه‌های جنبش محافظه‌کار

The 1964 presidential campaign lives on in conservative circles as an origin myth for the modern conservative movement. Even though their preferred (and now revered) candidate lost to Lyndon B. Johnson by a landslide, Barry Goldwater's failed presidential run was a major turning point of the twentieth century. Without Goldwater's philosophy to pave the way — and, just as importantly, without the strategic and political infrastructure created by the "Draft Goldwater" movement that preceded it — there likely would have been no Reagan or Bush administrations, and possibly no Nixon administration either. The policy positions and electoral strategies of the Goldwater campaign became standard tenets of Republican politics. William Middendorf had better than a ringside seat for this pivotal campaign. A key member of the "Draft Goldwater" movement as early as 1962, he was Goldwater's campaign treasurer and, afterwards, a major force within the Republican Party. No one knows the real inside story better, and A Glorious Disaster tells that story in all its rollicking, agonizing, and never-before-published detail. The 1964 presidential campaign lives on in conservative circles as an origin myth for the modern conservative movement. Even though their preferred (and now revered) candidate lost to Lyndon B. Johnson by a landslide, Barry Goldwater's failed presidential run was a major turning point of the twentieth century.

Without Goldwater's philosophy to pave the way--and, just as importantly, without the strategic and political infrastructure created by the "Draft Goldwater" movement that preceded it--there likely would have been no Reagan or Bush administrations, and possibly no Nixon administration either.

The policy positions and electoral strategies of the Goldwater campaign became standard tenets of Republican politics. William Middendorf had better than a ringside seat for this pivotal campaign. A key member of the "Draft Goldwater" movement as early as 1962, he was Goldwater's campaign treasurer and, afterwards, a major force within the Republican Party. No one knows the real inside story better, and A Glorious Disaster tells that story in all its rollicking, agonizing, and never-before-published detail.

Barry Goldwater's 1964 run for the presidency was one of the major political turning points of the twentieth century: The policy positions and electoral strategies of that campaign have become standard tenets of Republican politics. A member of the "Draft Goldwater" movement as early as 1962, Bill Middendorf had better than a ringside seat for this pivotal event and knows its inside story better than anyone else. A Glorious Disaster tells that story in all its rollicking, agonizing, and never-before-published detail The insider account that sets the record straight about the election that gave birth to modern conservatism in the United States.