If You Were Barry Goldwater's Campaign Manager in 1964...
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  If You Were Barry Goldwater's Campaign Manager in 1964...
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Author Topic: If You Were Barry Goldwater's Campaign Manager in 1964...  (Read 1946 times)
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
hantheguitarman
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« on: June 06, 2010, 08:03:46 PM »

What would you have done to try to win the election? I realize that winning was probably impossible for any Republican, but what would you have tried to do better than OTL?
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Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl
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« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2010, 08:15:57 PM »

The only way to have been competitive would have been to sink to LBJ's level rather than continue to try to run a gentleman's campaign as he had planned to do against JFK.
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Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
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« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2010, 08:26:23 PM »

As soon as JFK died I would've tried to convince Goldwater not to run, allowing Rocky to win the nomination and take the inevitable fall, which would put Goldwater in a good place to run in 1968. If I coudln't do that, I'd convince Goldwater to choose a moderate, prominent Rockefeller Republican like Margaret Chase Smith, to avoid scaring as many moderate Republicans as Goldwater did in real life (Goldy mainly chose Arthur Miller because he drove LBJ nuts). I also woudl get Goldwater to ruthlessly attack LBJ for using smear tactics such as the Daisy ad and allegations that Goldwater was racist (which would involve Goldwater trying to rationalize his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that he doesn't look like an actual racist). With this beign said though, it'd still be a losing fight, but I could see Goldy doing a little better.
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Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl
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« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2010, 08:47:44 PM »

As soon as JFK died I would've tried to convince Goldwater not to run, allowing Rocky to win the nomination and take the inevitable fall, which would put Goldwater in a good place to run in 1968. If I coudln't do that, I'd convince Goldwater to choose a moderate, prominent Rockefeller Republican like Margaret Chase Smith, to avoid scaring as many moderate Republicans as Goldwater did in real life (Goldy mainly chose Arthur Miller because he drove LBJ nuts). I also woudl get Goldwater to ruthlessly attack LBJ for using smear tactics such as the Daisy ad and allegations that Goldwater was racist (which would involve Goldwater trying to rationalize his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that he doesn't look like an actual racist). With this beign said though, it'd still be a losing fight, but I could see Goldy doing a little better.

That's William Miller, not Arthur. Wink
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Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
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« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2010, 08:52:13 PM »

As soon as JFK died I would've tried to convince Goldwater not to run, allowing Rocky to win the nomination and take the inevitable fall, which would put Goldwater in a good place to run in 1968. If I coudln't do that, I'd convince Goldwater to choose a moderate, prominent Rockefeller Republican like Margaret Chase Smith, to avoid scaring as many moderate Republicans as Goldwater did in real life (Goldy mainly chose Arthur Miller because he drove LBJ nuts). I also woudl get Goldwater to ruthlessly attack LBJ for using smear tactics such as the Daisy ad and allegations that Goldwater was racist (which would involve Goldwater trying to rationalize his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that he doesn't look like an actual racist). With this beign said though, it'd still be a losing fight, but I could see Goldy doing a little better.

That's William Miller, not Arthur. Wink

Oops. Wink Well, I read Death of a Salesman this year, so that's probably where I confused the two. Grin
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2010, 03:32:55 AM »

Um... yeah... that's... quite some confusion, actually. Lord.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2010, 04:31:17 AM »

Endorsing the Civil Rights Act, at least in principle if not the exact version passed.
Without that, a disaster was pretty much inevitable no matter what.
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Bo
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« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2010, 11:26:34 AM »

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.
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Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl
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« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2010, 02:18:52 PM »

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.

Sure, if he wanted the electoral map to look like this:

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Bo
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« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2010, 04:13:17 PM »

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.

Sure, if he wanted the electoral map to look like this:



As least his reputation and legacy would have been better. He mgiht ahve been able to win some Midwestern and Western states in this scenario, though. Even though Goldy was pretty much screwed in 1964 no matter what.
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Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl
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« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2010, 04:25:20 PM »

I'd tell him to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (while simaultanously making clear that he opposed affiramtive action and welfare handouts). Also, I'd tell him to pick a charismatic moderate as VP, to aggressively respond to LBJ's smear tactics, and to avoid making stupid comments and try to moderate his image.

Sure, if he wanted the electoral map to look like this:



As least his reputation and legacy would have been better. He mgiht ahve been able to win some Midwestern and Western states in this scenario, though. Even though Goldy was pretty much screwed in 1964 no matter what.

No, his reputation and legacy would be ruined as he would have sold out his principles for political gain that ended up getting him nowhere anyway.
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Derek
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« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2010, 01:32:32 PM »

Barry Goldwater got it from all angles. The GOP criticized him for being extreme because the party was very centrist at that point. The left had finally won the day on their welfare programs. Our nation was mourning the loss of JFK who had only passed a year earlier. Not much could've been done. In fact JFK would've been a much closer match for Goldwater. My strategy would've been simply to go to the mid-western and southern states to ask the people if they want the big government to have its tentacles in their towns or communities. At one point Johnson was arrogant enough to refer to Americans as the masses. Use that quote. Point out that we were spending enough money per student through taxes to send them all to Harvard for a year. Ask what they're getting in return.
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