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HBO premieres a 90-minute profile of Barry M. Goldwater, who rose
from being a local businessman in Arizona (which was not yet a state
when he was born) to become a hugely influential U.S. Senator whose
30-year career reached a crescendo with his ill-fated run for President
in 1964.
The film follows that tumultuous year, as well as others in a
career that encompassed numerous political and ideological triumphs.
Though he never achieved the ultimate prize, the election of Ronald
Reagan in 1980 vindicated the conservative agenda Goldwater had
long championed.
Ironically, in later years, Goldwater's support of
issues like abortion and gay rights were diametrically opposed to those
of the "new conservative" leadership, underscoring both the distance
the country has traveled in the last 40 years, as well as the dogged
independence Goldwater embodied up to his death in 1998.
At the height of his power,
Goldwater was the symbol of conservatism, denouncing Liberals
and Communists while advocating limited government, free
enterprise, separation of church and state, and a strong defense.
But because of his unequivocal opinions,
Goldwater was vulnerable
to attacks that labeled him pro-war and anti-Civil Rights.
Those perceptions, coupled with JFK's death a year before the
election, undermined Goldwater's presidential hopes, though he
remained a strong and influential Senate voice for 23 more years.
In addition to detailing Goldwater's rise in politics, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater
includes a myriad of anecdotes and insights about Goldwater's
private and public life. Identified as much with his home state of
Arizona as JFK was with Massachusetts, Goldwater was, according
to George Will, "not just from Arizona .... he looked like Arizona."
In an era when JFK became the first Catholic ever to be elected
President, Goldwater was in fact half Jewish. Remembers Robert
MacNeil, "He often told the story about being born of a Jewish
father and an Episcopalian mother. He would say things like, 'I
went to a golf club where they wouldn't let Jews play, and I said,
"I'm only half Jewish. Can I play nine holes?'"
Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater includes interviews with
Senators Edward Kennedy, Hillary Rodham Clinton (a onetime
"Goldwater Girl") and John McCain (who succeeded Goldwater in
Arizona); former TV anchorman Walter Cronkite; humorist Al
Franken; TV correspondent Robert MacNeil; former Washington
Post editor Ben Bradlee; author George Will; 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney; CBS
News' Bob Schieffer; White House reporter Helen Thomas;
political consultant James Carville; former White House Counsel
John Dean; Goldwater's brother, Bob; sons Barry, Jr. (a onetime
House Representative from California) and Michael; daughters
Joanne and Peggy; and others.
CREDITS: Directed by Julie Anderson; Produced by CC Goldwater and Tani Cohen;
Edited by Juliet Weber; Music by Joseph Vitarelli; Director of Photography:
Tom Inskeep; Assistant Editor: Jim Hession.
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