Existing comment:
Barry Goldwater, 1909-1998
Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who was the GOP’s presidential candidate in 1964 (he lost to Lyndon B. Johnson), helped bring the Watergate scandal to its conclusion. A stalwart force in the Republican Party throughout his career, he is credited with shaping the modern, pre-Trump era GOP.
Goldwater could not ignore how the Watergate scandal stained the Republican Party, damaged morale, and compromised its fundraising. In a series of three editorials published by the New York Times, he urged President Nixon to hand over the tape recordings, “to get this ugly mess behind him.” Describing Nixon as “the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life,” Goldwater played a decisive role in the president’s resignation. While visiting Nixon at the White House with fellow Republican congressmen John Rhodes and Hugh Scott Jr. on August 7, 1974, Goldwater told the president that the case was hopeless and convinced him to resign.
John Kirthian Court, 1983 |