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He was an icon who shaped political trends that carried the U.S. into the
Millennium
They called him "Mr. Conservative," but there was another side to Barry
Goldwater that few saw.
"He was a Renaissance man in a lot of ways," recalls grand-daughter and
Mr. Conservative producer C.C. Goldwater. "And I think that that
differentiates him from many of the politicians of today." Director Julie
Anderson echoes that sentiment: "Barry was such a Renaissance man.
And I often wonder whether there are any current Senators who have
other skills and talents as developed as his were."
A lifelong outdoorsman who called the Grand Canyon his "mistress,"
Goldwater loved to go camping with his family. "My great grandmother
Josephine would take Barry and his siblings up to various parts in
northern Arizona, along the Colorado River and into Monument Valley"
says CC Goldwater. "She would take them into these really rugged spots
and they would camp, and learn to sleep out underneath the stars in
sleeping bags."
CC goes onto explain, "She taught them what cactus are edible, and how
to get water out of the cactus, and what to prepare for when you're out in
the middle of the desert. They'd make meals in those old iron pots, and I
think my grandfather learned to love the environment that way, and he
learned to understand and respect the people that lived in that
environment, which were the Native Americans."
Goldwater's respect of the local native tribes grew into a unique
relationship of trust. As CC explains, "He became friends with both the
Hopis and the Navajos. They were special to him, and because of his
relationship with them, he was able to go onto the reservations and get
into situations where he was able to photograph the Native Americans,
which few people had ever been allowed to do."
Goldwater took his first flight lesson in 1928, and was an avid pilot who
frequently flew to remote places in Arizona, often-times communicating
with native tribes below via his ubiquitous radio, and sometimes even
air-lifting tribe members who required immediate medical attention.
His film Shooting Grand Canyon Rapids, chronicled his perilous boat trip
down the Colorado River, one of the earliest such attempts ever made.
Recalls CC Goldwater, "When they would get to a point where they would
have to get over a massive area where there were rocks, they would stop
the cameras and lug the boats across the rocks and then put the boats
back in the water and then start the cameras again. And this was a
movie that was made in the 1940s."
An accomplished photographer, he loved capturing both family images,
as well as the landscape of his beloved Arizona. As Anderson notes, "He
was a black and white photographer in the ilk of an Ansel Adams. And
Adams even wrote the foreword to one of his books."
Says Anderson "Goldwater developed these three specific skills that he
married together into this incredible accomplishment in terms of his
photographs, his relationships with the Native Americans, and in
preserving Arizona and documenting the beautiful monuments there."
Politically, Goldwater remained a maverick throughout his career. In
1992, he shocked the Arizona state GOP by endorsing Democrat Karan
English for Congress over Republican Doug Wead. English went on to
defeat Wead.
That same year, the head of Arizona's Right to Life blasted Goldwater as
"dishonest" for his opposition to anti-abortion ballot measure.
In 1993, he said in an interview with the Advocate, a national gay and
lesbian news magazine, that he viewed concerns about gays in the
military as pointless and stupid. Goldwater also said the GOP's stance
on gays is ''dumb,'' and noted that his grandson and a grandniece are
gay.
On January 22, 1994, he was honored by Planned Parenthood for his
decades-long commitment to the right of privacy and a woman's right to
choose.
"He was a Libertarian back then," says Anderson, "and he would have
been a Libertarian now." In December of '94, he received the 1994 Civil
Libertarian of the Year Award from the Arizona Civil Liberties Union.
In February of 1996, he described himself and Bob Dole as ''the new
liberals of the Republican Party'' but went on to stun Republicans by
suggesting he would choose Bill Clinton over Bob Dole for president in
'96.
"He's so relevant to where we are right now," reflects Anderson. "And had
he been a young Congressman or Senator today, he would have had so
much to say. And we need to look back at a politician like that and
remember what our politicians stood for."
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