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.

With the stinging defeat of the Republicans in the 1964 Presidential election, many thought the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party, led by Barry Goldwater would be a dead issue by the 1966 mid-term elections. But that appears to be far from the case. With civil unrest, and protest to the Vietnam War growing, Goldwater was probably right in his attitude of biding his time, waiting for voter apathy towards the party in power. And by 1968 his timing was right.

But in 1965, it was still a case of assessment and speculation on a far-off future. This Meet The Press panel interview takes place in June of 1965 when Goldwater was not in public office, but rather Citizen Goldwater and the titular head of the Republican party.

Sen. Barry Goldwater: “We need Republicans. Now if a man runs not as a Republican but as something else, you can’t count him as a Republican. He may not be able to get elected as a Republican in New York City, and I might say I’m a poor one to speak on this because I don’t live in New York City, I can’t vote there, and I have no business trying to influence votes one way or another up there. I happen to be a vice-President of the National Municipal League, and we have pushed non-partisan city elections. I got into politics on a non-partisan ticket. But I was a Republican and I let people know about it.”

He goes on to discuss his opposition to a Third Party and several items which would no doubt condemn him to the status of Liberal by today's standards. It's interesting to consider just how far right the Republican Party has come since the days when Barry Goldwater, during the 1964 campaign was object of an impromptu billboard commentary to his "In Your Heart, You Know He's Right" to the accompaniment of " . . .Far Right."

He would not be perceived that way today I'm afraid.

(Clarence Manion - an eye for interesting "tableware")

I had always wondered just when it was the conservative movement took a dramatic, screeching shift to the right. What was that moment, who was the spark. I have on a number of occasions heard that the catalyst was a fellow named Dean Clarence Manion (the Dean comes from his tenure as Notre Dame Law Professor) and it was Manion who gave us Barry Goldwater and was quoted as saying Ronald Reagan was the perfect example of the Modern Conservative Movement.

But I had never heard him speak - as I am sure most readers haven't either. So needless to say, when I discovered this disc (sadly not complete and partially deteriorated) I was pretty excited to hear just who this guy was.

I wasn't disappointed.

Clarence Manion: “Now we have heard a lot about American equality. We have been twitted with it by our subversive enemies. Taunted with the alleged hypocrisy of what we profess to be equality and which is, in their jargon ‘not equality at all’. We hear a lot about the rich and the poor and the exploiters and the exploited,, and the malefactors of great wealth and the underprivileged and the this and the that. Let’s see what the doctrine of America is as it is stated and set forth in the blueprint. All men are created equal, they are equal in God’s sight. And for that reason and for no other reason that I can ever find in any law book, they are equal before the law of the land. Equality before God and the equality before the laws of this country. That is the sum and the substance, the beginning and the end of American equality.

”

I have heard some strange interpretations of the Bill of Rights, but this interpretation nails it on the head why there is so much misguided righteousness floating around. It all came from someplace.

Unfortunately, there is only part one and two and the address goes on, I suspect for at least another half hour, but the rest of it is missing and I don't think recorded. So we don't get to hear the summation of this argument and I'm not going to venture to guess where it goes. Important to at least hear part of where so much of our confusion comes from. And just how ingrained it is. Remember, this address was made on December 17, 1951, almost sixty years ago.

That is a very long time to misrepresent something.

Amid fears the Republican Party of 1964 was taking a sharp turn to the right, with the rise in popularity of Barry Goldwater, and all indications pointing to his nomination as the Republican Presidential candidate, much attention was being paid on that election year to the outcome of the Republican Governor's Conference, being held in Cleveland Ohio in June, 1964.

And it was the current state of the Republican Party in 1964 that was the topic of conversation on this episode of Meet The Press, first aired on June 7, 1964.

Interviewed were the Chairman of the Conference, Kansas Governor John Anderson and Host of the Conference, Ohio Governor James Rhodes. A number of subjects were discussed - where candidate William Scranton figured in this picture, the Rockefeller wing of the Party - how other Governor's were feeling about the current climate.

Interesting sets of questions and interesting answers, as was always the case in this early incarnation of Meet The Press.

Here is that entire program.

News for this day in 1964 (via radio station WXYZ in Detroit) started off with word on the upcoming Oregon Presidential Primary that had Ambassador to Saigon and GOP Presidential hopeful Henry Cabot Lodge leading the pack, with Nelson Rockefeller running a close second. Both the Oregon and upcoming California Primaries were considered something of a free-for-all with grumblings of a Stop Barry Goldwater Movement among the GOP's Moderates.

In other news - From Capitol Hill, the Senate GOP pledged to keep the Scandal Probe into former Democratic Aide Bobby Baker going. President Johnson and Defense Sec. Robert McNamara were holding talks over the situation in Vietnam.

Speaking of Vietnam, it was reported that 51 South Vietnamese troops were killed in an ambush by Vietcong guerrillas just north of Saigon the previous day.

Civil Rights Leader Bayard Rustin pledged some 50,000 demonstrators to picket the upcoming Democratic Convention in Atlantic City. When asked if the same would be true for the GOP Convention, Bayard said there would be pickets, but the GOP wasn't so important.

In Michigan news - the friction between Governor George Romney and Attorney General Frank Kelly heated up again. This time over the issue of Legislative Reapportionment.

And GM said it would try and hold the line on new car prices in 1965, saying that 1964 car sales would likely hit 8 million, marking the first time in history the car maker did so well.

And that was how it rolled, this May 15th 1964 as broadcast over Detroit Radio station WXYZ via their Morning Report.

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.

People have been arguing over just exactly when the Republican Party took its big turn to the right. Some say it was 1979 and The Reagan Years. Others site 1968 and the Nixon era and many say it was 1960 and the dawn of Goldwater.

My vote is for 1960. Yup. Fifty-two years - no recent phenomenon. Let's not feign shock.

So continuing my backward look at Politics and Presidential elections, I thought I would dig through the 1964 Republican Convention held in San Francisco. Just about everyone knows that convention by the Goldwater acceptance speech (the "moderation/extremism" one). But I thought I would run a clip from just after the final vote was tallied, giving Goldwater the nomination. This is from CBS News coverage featuring Walter Cronkite, Eric Severeid and a veritable who's who of CBS News notables of the day.

Cronkite and Severeid reflect on the vote and the phenomenon of Goldwater and what was going on with the Republican Party.

Eric Severeid: “You made an interesting observation Walter, it must’ve been hours ago Walter, I don’t even know what day it is anymore, that the word Liberal was not really used anymore by the middle-of-the-road/left-of-center Republicans, those from the East and the North. That they went to great efforts, all of them, here to establish their credentials as Conservatives. The word I suppose is Moderate these days . . .

Walter Cronkite: “They use Conservatives. Scranton used Conservative. Romney used Conservative . . .

Severeid: “Milton Eisenhower went to great effort to attach the label of Conservative to Governor Scranton. I don’t know where all of them will go now. Certainly Senator Keating has a problem and I’m not sure these . . .the effect of this Negro walkout, they’re leaving the party, not just leaving the Convention.”

The Convention was a turning point for a lot of Republicans, particularly the Moderate and Liberal wing. And while the Goldwater forces were hailing it as a victory, many were of the opinion this lack of diversity within the ranks was ultimately not a good thing for either party. Something which I suspect we're weathering through right now.

But there was a lot going on in that convention. Just prior to the commentary I left in a report from outside the convention of CORE pickets and the whole Civil Rights issue, causing many Blacks within the Republican party to bolt, not only the convention but the party itself.

Fascinating piece of history and certainly one element in the giant jigsaw puzzle of politics.

CBS News coverage of the 1964 Republican Convention for July 16, 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.

News on this day in 1964 was all about the Presidential Election. The speculation, the controversy, the allegations, the pundits and very little else.

So for roughly a half hour, here is a slice of news from that day via CBS News. The Polls hadn't closed yet, or were in some cases and votes were dribbling in, not by the hundreds of thousands or even thousands but by the tens. Even early on there were allegations of vote tampering, accusations of rigging ballot boxes. And in the South, confusion since this was the first major election since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed and many precincts in the South didn't know what to do about all the Poll Tax forms (they were rendered illegal).

All in all, an interesting November 3rd 1964 as reported by Walter Cronkite and company.

So how long has this fractured in-fighting been going on within the Republican Party? Some say since it was formed. Others point to around 1933 as a starting point.

After the defeat of Richard Nixon in the 1960 elections, what can be best be described as a power-grab or attempted hijacking of the party by the hardline conservative wing started to take place. As the 1962 mid-term elections were getting under way, the schism within the party was taking on public proportions, as is evidenced by this exchange on ABC's Issues and Answers from June 13, 1961, between Barry Goldwater, representing the right wing of the Republican Party and Jacob Javits, who represented that all-but-extinct liberal wing of the Republican Party. A heated and testy exchange from the get-go, it got pretty hot when the talk came around to the economy.

Barry Goldwater: “I think my concept of helping people is probably broader than yours. I just want to quit giving this money away in bags and sort of have some control over it, like the Technical Assistance program. I wouldn’t care if we doubled that. Put more people around the world where we can show other people how we can do things with our hands instead of giving them the money . . .”

Jacob Javits: “But people need money for roads and ports and health and education . . .”

Goldwater: “We’ve lost friends we haven’t bought them . . .

Javits: “I’m sorry, we’ve lost a great many more and we’d have lost the world . . .”

Goldwater: “If we didn’t lose many more we wouldn’t be in business . . . .”

Despite his somewhat sheepish denial, Goldwater would emerge as the standard-bearer of the party in 1964.