1909- . US Republican politician;
presidential candidate in the 1964 election,
when he was overwhelmingly defeated by Lyndon
Johnson. As a US senator 1953-86, he voiced
the views of his party's right-wing
conservative faction. Many of Goldwater's
conservative ideas were later adopted by the
Republican right, especially the Reagan
administration. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, he
attended military high school in Virginia and
served in the Army Air Forces during World
War II. He achieved the rank of major general
1962 in the Air Force Reserve. After a stint
1949 on the Phoenix city council, he ran
successfully for the US Senate. He wrote The
Conscience of a Conservative 1960 and Why Not
Victory? 1962.