The Arizona pedestal was in the background of a recent televised interview with a current congressman. I was curious to know who the subject of the statue was that stood on that pedestal, to the right of the white marble statue of Daniel Webster in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol.
It turns out the statue atop that base is of Barry Goldwater, who was born in Arizona in 1909, just three years before Arizona was admitted as America’s 48th state.
Barry Goldwater served five terms as the United States Senator from Arizona, from 1953 until 1987. There was a few years break in his senatorial career, when Barry Goldwater ran as the GOP nominee for president in 1964 to challenge Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater lost the presidential election in a landslide, but was easily reelected Arizona’s senator in 1968.
Ronald Reagan gave a nationally televised speech, “A Time for Choosing”, during the 1964 election campaign supporting Barry Goldwater that is widely believed to have launched Reagan into national prominence.
Barry Goldwater was not shy about putting forth his anti-communist, limited government views. However, he is said to have commented about his own delivery of his message, once saying, “There are words of mine floating around in the air that I would like to reach up and eat.”
Barry Goldwater didn’t enter the political arena until 1949, at the age of 40. He and his brother had been thrust into managing the family store when his father died of a heart-attack while Barry was a freshman in college. Barry’s brother, Robert continued his college education and it was decided Barry would leave college to work at the family store. Barry learned the business from the bottom.
In 1930, Barry decided he wanted to learn to fly. Arizona has perfect flying conditions for novice pilots. He would rise before dawn and be at the airstrip by daybreak. In 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Barry Goldwater tried to be assigned combat duty. But he was 32-years-old and had bad eyesight, so he was given a command in Air Transport and was stationed in the China-Burma-India Theater. Many of his missions were flown in dangerous conditions, some across the mountains of the Himalaya.
After the war Barry Goldwater continued to run the family business with his brother, but soon decided to run for political office. He was elected vice chairman of the new city council on November 8, 1949. He would remain in the political sphere until 1987.
These quotes are good examples of Barry Goldwater’s philosophy and how he hoped to contribute while in elected office.
Quote from his book, “Conscience of a Conservative,” published in 1960.
“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them.”
Quote from his acceptance speech as Republican nominee for president in 1964.
“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.”
The statue of Barry Goldwater was dedicated in 2015, and replaced the previous statue for Arizona which was of John Campbell Greenway, an executive with mine, steel and railroad companies throughout Arizona and a World War I hero. I plan on writing a piece about John Campbell Greenway in the near future. Please be sure to visit my Page and Website frequently for more on statues and the people they salute.
Diana Erbio is a freelance writer and author of “Coming to America: A Girl Struggles to Find her Way in a New World”. Read more in her series Statues: The People They Salute visit The Table of Contents and the Facebook Page. (I’ll be adding to the Substack Table of Contents as I transfer the Blog Posts. Please subscribe to this Substack 😊🇺🇸🤓)
Appreciate this article.Interesting information about Mr. Goldwater.My parents were Democrats but my mother was from Arizona before they moved back east to my dads home state. When Goldwater ran for President she confided in me that she voted for him.