Somewhat hard to imagine this week 47 years ago Barry Goldwater was considered the epitome of the right-wing fringe element of the Republican Party. The fringe element that hi-jacked the party at the convention and set in motion the changes that would make it the party it somewhat is today. But, truths to tell, listening to Goldwater in this 1964 Paid Political Campaign talk and hearing the insanity passing itself off as political rhetoric this past week, one almost imagines Goldwater as something of a moderate or, dare I say, Liberal in comparison.

Take, for example this extract regarding his views on Social Security:

Barry Goldwater: “During my twelve years in the United States Senate I have voted for every improvement in the Social Security Act. I voted against those amendments that I thought would be detrimental, which would have been detrimental to the Social Security. Now this year, the Senate and the House both voted nice increases for the recipients of Social Security. We added a great many people who have not been covered and I voted for these things. Now the real enemy in my mind, on Social Security is the man who didn’t allow this bill to become the law and that’s the President of the United States, who wanted his way and he didn’t get it, so he just said to the conferees ‘stop everything’. So those people on Social Security or who were receiving Social Security will not receive these improved benefits this year. And it’s not Goldwater’s fault. It’s Johnson’s fault.

No getting around it - Goldwater wasn't a saint. His views on Civil Rights were legendary and his stand on military spending and Vietnam were in lock-step with the John Birch Society. But you really have to wonder what Goldwater would be thinking about this current lineup of Republican hopefuls.

Perhaps the sound of engines we hear in Arizona are actually those of Barry spinning in his grave.

Possibly.

First day of Spring, this March 20th in 1964, and the news was only slightly skewed.

Beginning with word that Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Gromyko informed interested parties that the three U.S. fliers shot down over East Germany were something for the East Germans and the U.S. to work out, Russia was sitting this dance out.

Meanwhile, in Cambodia - reports that a Cambodian fighter plane shot down a Vietnamese Spotter plane was running the risk of damaging U.S.-Cambodian relations, even though Cambodia was adamant the plane was over their territory. The fun and games in South East Asia were continuing.

President Johnson, while stumping for campaign support, offered the "Better Deal" promise at a DNC fundraiser - a sort of echo of the FDR New Deal. Meanwhile, Republican front runner Barry Goldwater kept blasting away at LBJ at an RNC fundraiser with heaping helpings of paranoia to go along with dinner.

White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, resigned his post in order to toss his hat in the ring for the Senate from California where he set up shop on this day.

The news switches from the ABC Radio Network to WXYZ in Detroit to offer some local tidbits. The Detroit Teachers Union was up in arms over a City Council proposal for an Anti-Strike clause in their upcoming contract. The UAW Convention was getting underway with talk about upcoming Union contracts with Detroit. The Minimum Wage law passed in Michigan. Governor Romney (yes, the one responsible for the fruit falling very far from the tree, son-wise) proposed May 1st as the deadline to set up 6 half-way houses in the Detroit area for troubled youth. This in addition to many others proposed around Michigan for the same purpose. And Governor Romney blasted his Lieutenant Governor for poo-poo'ing the Governor's proposal to strengthen the Chemical test law for Drunk Drivers.

And despite the fact there were three major winter-type storms milling around, it was the first day of Spring!

All this and a lot more via ABC Radio News and WXYZ radio in Detroit Michigan for this March 20th, 1964.

This week's Talkshow is an Issues & Answers broadcast from September 1964. Hot on the heels of the upcoming General Election. This one features Democratic vice-Presidential nominee Sen. Hubert Humphrey, campaigning throughout the West, being interviewed while on a stop in New Mexico.

The issues in 1964 were bubbling under the radar for a while, most importantly our increasing involvement in Southeast Asia which, as of August and the Gulf of Tonkin incident, seemed to point in the direction of a drawn out and protracted war as well as the attempted coup that had just taken place before this broadcast.

But moreover was the issue of Barry Goldwater, the Republican Presidential nominee, and the dramatic shift to the right the party had taken since the mid-term elections in 1962. Goldwater represented the extreme wing of the party, which had been gaining ground in recent years, fueled by reaction to the Civil Rights movement and the staunch Anti-Communist base who still held the belief that the Red influence was still running amok in the government.

Sen. Hubert Humphrey: “It is my view that, when Sen. Goldwater speaks about the use of Atomic weapons as if they were little conventional weapons for example, and he says ‘let’s give those weapons, the use of those weapons and the control of them to the General in the field’, that he hasn’t thought it through. Or if he has thought it through then he has a very dangerous thought. There aren’t any conventional atomic weapons. The little weapons that he speaks about are presently in the possession of the United States Army in Europe, but are subject to the control of the President of the United States. These weapons are bigger than the weapon, the bomb that was used at Nagasaki. Now you don’t call that a little old conventional weapon. I feel that the Senator from Arizona has had some difficulty outlining a consistent position of Political philosophy and Political program. He votes against a tax bill and then a few months later he recommends a tax cut bill he voted against, the one that cut the taxes over $11 billion. A few months later he comes around and charges it as being a cynical and politically motivated gimmick and the he presents a tax reduction bill, a proposal of his at over 25%. One time he says we ought never to be in the United Nations. Another time he says he thinks the United Nations has some value. He’s one time condemned Social Security, a little bit later he will say ‘well, Social Security may be all right’. I don’t know how you would interpret this, but I would say that it is at least political instability, and in a President you need more firmness of purpose and more stability of position.”

Flip-flops appear to have some basis in history - we hear about them now, we heard about them then. 1964 no doubt signaled a change in the Republican party and in politics in general. Many people will contend it was this election that became Ground Zero for the ideological shift within our political system.

And they may have been right in that assumption.

On this day in 1964, talk was mostly centered on the Panama Canal crisis and the 1964 Presidential elections.

The Canal crisis, latest in the ever-dwindling popularity of the U.S. in Latin America, was the latest in a series of deadly protests directed at U.S. Foreign Policy and the changing climate and increasing resentment of American presence in the Canal Zone.

Just days earlier, a riot broke out as American students protested Panamanian restrictions on the presence of the U.S. flag in the Canal Zone. The Panamanian government had recently been arguing for less presence of the U.S. and for more control of the Canal Zone and this was the latest in a series of protests aimed at Washington, which resulted in break in diplomatic ties between the two countries. The events of the week left 29 protesters dead and over 70 injured. And a lot of ill-will spread around.

On this episode of ABC Radio's From The Capitol, New York Senator Jacob Javits offered his own plan for a solution to the crisis and it's discussed with a team of reporters.

Also, after the program is the latest from ABC News On The Hour with reports on the upcoming Presidential Primaries for 1964. So stay tuned.

Busy day all around.