They made a big deal of how conservatives were on the wrong of history because Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I remembered vaguely that it was a principled opposition to an overly powerful national government.
"Goldwater was a supporter of racial equality. He integrated his family's business upon taking over control in the 1930s. A lifetime member of the NAACP, Goldwater helped found the group's Arizona chapter. He saw to it that the Arizona Air National Guard was racially integrated from its inception in 1946, two years before President Truman ordered the military as a whole be integrated (a process that was not completed until 1954). Goldwater worked with Phoenix civil rights leaders to successfully integrate public schools a year prior to Brown v. Board of Education."
Unless Wikipedia has been taken over by right-wingers (not likely) it presents a far more interesting story about Goldwater.
I've had to explain to many people in on-line forums that non-Southern conservatives were not opposed to civil rights for blacks.The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was supported by nearly all Republicans in the Senate, including some very strong conservatives - among them Paul Fannin, who succeeded to Goldwater's seat in 1964.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Goldwater also helped desegregate the US Capitol's Senate cafeteria, by insisting that his black staff member be served.
There was a black mark for "movement" conservatives earlier on, though: William F. Buckley's National Review supported the Southern segregationists in the 1950s.