Republicans: Clearing the Underbrush

Dean Burch, a mild-mannered and button-down-neat attorney from Tucson, was plucked out of anonymity in July and appointed by Barry Goldwater to be national chairman of the Republican Party. During the campaign he scarcely gained any prominence.

But once Barry's devastating election loss struck home, Burch, 37, suddenly became the G.O.P.'s cause celebre for the year—the shoot-him-down target of Republican moderates and the rallying point for right wingers.

Both Goldwater and Burch realized that the moderates' demands for the chairman's resignation reflected, to a great extent, their desire for vengeance against...