Barry Goldwater Jr. on Growing up Goldwater, 7 Terms in Congress, & A Life in Politics

Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

Barry Goldwater Jr. grew up in politics as the son of the influential Senator and '64 GOP Presidential Nominee. He has a one-of-a-kind story of witnessing his father's political rise and then his own political career with his House tenure spanning parts of 3 decades. In this conversation, he talks his early memories in a political household, key moments in his father's career, his own political trajectory in Southern California, and the difficulties and opportunities he's found in life after leaving office.

IN THIS EPISODE

Born into a political family in Phoenix, AZ…

The story of Goldwater’s Department Store and the rise of his father’s political career…

The surprise that took him to a different state and different profession than expected…

The coin flip that set Barry Goldwater Sr. on a path in Republican politics…

Memories of the ’64 Goldwater presidential campaign…

The Goldwater / JFK relationship and what a JFK vs Goldwater ’64 campaign might have looked like…

The story behind Senator Goldwater urging Nixon to resign at the height of Watergate…

His read on Senator Goldwater’s late-in-life pro-choice and pro-LGBT sentiments…

Barry Goldwater Jr’s first race for office in a 1969 House special election…

Memories of the House of the 70s and 80s…

The leadership skill he witnessed of Speaker Tip O’Neill….

Barry Goldwater Jr and Ed Koch team up to pass a bipartisan Privacy Act…

An important lesson learned from his mother…

The story behind his race for US Senate in California in 1982…

His read on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger….

How he approached being out of office for the first time in 14 years in his mid 40s…

The story of being on the ballot in Louisiana as Ron Paul’s VP candidate in 2008…

His early thoughts on the 2024 GOP primary field…

The story of Senator Goldwater’s surprisingly close connection to President Clinton…

Time spent around both President Reagan and Nancy Reagan…

The guerilla tactic that helped Barry Goldwater Jr win his first election…

The importance of a Higher Power in his life…

AND apron pockets, Arizona State University, Best Always, brickbats, William F. Buckley, Burbank, John Burton, Phil Burton, cold calls, The Conscience of a Conservative, John Dean, Dwight Eisenhower, Newt Gingrich, S.I. Hayakawa, Carl Hayden, hiding in the bushes, Jewish peddlers, Lyndon Johnson, Chiang Kai-Shek, Jack Kemp, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lockheed-Martin, the Mayflower, Mitch McConnell, Mike McCormack, the NAACP, Northrup-Grunman, nylon, the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, Nancy Pelosi, raylon, John Rhodes, Hugh Scott, shenanigans, Janet Travell, Donald Trump, the Urban League, John Van De Kamp, the wild west, Mao Zedong…. & more!