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Born January 1, 1909
Phoenix, Arizona Territory
Died May 29, 1998
Phoenix, Arizona

U.S. senator from Arizona, 1952–1964
and 1968–1987; Republican
presidential nominee in 1964

Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater became a national leader in the Republican Party in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1964 he captured the Republican nomination for the presidency on the strength of his conservative political beliefs and fierce opposition to communism. But the American public rejected the Arizona senator as a potentially dangerous leader. They worried that he might deepen U.S. involvement in Vietnam or start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. American voters turned instead to Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson (see entry), who easily defeated Goldwater for the presidency.

Childhood in Arizona

Barry Morris...