Republicans: The New Thrust, Barry Goldwater

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The second issue was extremism. It had produced the major conflict of the convention when the G.O.P. moderates sought to insert an anti-extremism plank in the party platform. Goldwater's delegates shouted them down, and Barry threw the issue back in the moderates' faces. "I like those lines," he said, and he ordered them underlined in his printed text. "I would remind you," the lines went, "that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"

In the abstract, the lines are unimpeachable; in the context that Goldwater used them, they were questionable. They drew tumultuous cheers from the delegates; they also got Barry embroiled in a thunderous dispute. New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller blasted Barry's remarks as "dangerous, irresponsible and frightening." Barry shot back: "Extremism is no sin if you are engaged in the defense of freedom." California's Democratic Governor Pat Brown said the remarks had "the stench of Fascism." Retorted Barry: "It's the stench of Brown—it's ignorance." Dwight Eisenhower too was disturbed, declared that the remarks "would seem to say that the end always justifies the means." Added Ike: "The whole American system refutes that idea and that concept."

Uphill Fight. Throughout, Barry refused to back down. He felt the remarks had been misconstrued, but even more, he was simply not going to stand still for criticism from the moderates.

He had heavily emphasized that fact in his acceptance speech. "Anyone who joins us in all sincerity we welcome," said he. "Those who do not care for our cause we don't expect to enter our ranks."

Even if the moderate wing of his party were wholeheartedly behind him, Goldwater would face an uphill battle against Lyndon Johnson—and the moderates are clearly unenthusiastic. On the face of it, his chances would seem to be nil. But in 1960 the G.O.P. lost the presidency by one of the narrowest margins in history, and the party made gains in Congress in 1962. Within hours after the convention's end, it was already a cliche to say that Goldwater might come much closer than most people might suspect. But whatever the totals, it seemed certain to be a rough, tough fight.