Conservative Movement Began 60 Years Ago When RNC Nominated Sen. Barry Goldwater

Sen. Barry Goldwater’s campaign for President in 1964 marked the beginning of the modern conservative movement. Goldwater’s staunch support of the free enterprise system, small government, lower taxes, states’ rights, traditional values, and the working man were in contrast to the Republican Party of the past. 

For the first time, Goldwater made the South a battleground not only for himself but for Republican candidates for Congress and local offices.

In Louisiana, the conservative movement began the previous year with the candidacy of Shreveport oilman Charlton Lyons, the founder of the modern Republican Party in this state. Mr. Lyons was the Republican candidate for Governor against Democrat John McKeithen. He won 39 percent of the vote against McKeithen, an impressive number, and swept into office the first Republican legislators since Reconstruction, Reps. Taylor O’Hearn and Morley Hudson of Shreveport.

In 1963, Woodlawn High graduate and LSU student Morton Blackwell was serving as Director of the Louisiana Young Republicans. Fewer than one percent of Louisiana voters were Republicans. Morton knew that finding and training young conservatives was the key to building a strong Republican Party. That year, I was a junior at Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge. Morton asked me to serve as the first Teen-Age Republican chairman in Louisiana and to organize Teen-Age Republican clubs across the state.

Sitting at the old Alessi’s Drive Inn at the corner of Florida Boulevard and North Foster Drive in 1963, Morton gave me three books to read — The Law by Frédéric Bastiat, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and How to Win an Election by the AFL-CIO. Morton said they would be vital tools in the battles ahead.

That year, we organized 13 Teen-Age Republican clubs including Istrouma, Baton Rouge High, Lafayette High, LaGrange, Bolton, Byrd, Fair Park, and Jesuit in New Orleans.

In the governor’s race in 1963, Sen. Goldwater and actor Ronald Reagan came to Louisiana to campaign for Charlton Lyons. I will never forget the private meeting I had with future President Reagan at the Jack Tar Capital House in downtown Baton Rouge. Nearly 18 years later, he swore me in as a member of his administration.

In those days, delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions were chosen by party officials, and there were few Presidential primaries. The battle for the Republican nomination in 1964 was hard fought. Morton and I were hopeful Goldwater would win at the Republican National Convention at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

Morton was selected as a delegate from Louisiana. In fact, he was the youngest delegate in the nation. He told me that if I could get to San Francisco, I could be his page and have access to the floor! He said, “You will always remember being the page to the youngest delegate to the convention that nominated Goldwater.” Morton was 24, and I was 17.

The RNC was held July 13-16, 1964. However, I had a conflict. The Key Club International Convention was meeting in Dallas, Texas, and I was a candidate for International Trustee. There would be just enough time to win my election and then jump on a Greyhound bus to San Francisco by myself. I had saved some money and had just enough for the bus ticket and a few meals but no money for a hotel. I resolved to sleep on the bus all the way to San Francisco.

There were many adventures along the way. I decided to get off the bus in El Paso and walk across the border to Juarez and experience Mexico. It was the first of more than 60 trips to Latin America. I got back on the bus that night and stayed on until I got to Los Angeles. I got off there and made my way to Disney Land, where I spent the day. After all, I was still just a kid! That night I was back on the bus to San Francisco.

The next morning I arrived in San Francisco just in time to get to Morton Blackwell’s hotel, stow my suitcase, and head to the Cow Palace. The convention hall was very much like political conventions today without the high tech graphics. The excitement was palpable.

The 1964 Republican National Convention was historic and still matters today. It featured a classic showdown between conservatives and liberals led by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Gov. George Romney. Since I had floor privileges, I had the freedom to walk up to any delegation and introduce myself to their leader, usually a governor or senator. Everyone was so kind and welcoming to a 17-year-old boy from Louisiana!

I had met Sen. Goldwater twice already. This time I carried my personal copy of his iconic classic, Conscience of a Conservative. The senator was kind enough to sign it.

Goldwater’s historic acceptance speech signaled to the world that he would not back down and would stay true to his conservative beliefs. However, that speech took on the Deep State and signaled to the Left that Goldwater must be stopped at whatever the cost. Like Trump, he was made to appear a madman, one who favored a nuclear holocaust. How deeply dishonest!

Morton and I drove all the way back to Baton Rouge together. The very long drive made me realize how big this country really is and how dry and barren most of the West is. There was a lot of time to talk about the future of the conservative movement and of our tiny Republican Party back home in Louisiana. Little did we know all the adventures that lay ahead!

We could hardly have predicted that 60 years later we would both not only be alive but be delegates to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the strange-sounding year called 2024!

(Note: Morton Blackwell, 84, is president of the Leadership Institute, which has trained more than 150,000 young conservatives to be candidates or campaign managers. He was special assistant to President Reagan for four years in the early 1980’s and has been Republican National Committeman from Virginia for the past 36 years.

In 1981, Morton asked President Reagan to appoint me as one of his trade advisors.  The President instructed us to negotiate free trade agreements with nations that met three standards: the rule of law, wage rates within the order of magnitude of ours, and reciprocity.  Only two nations in the world met those standards — Israel and Chile.  We negotiated deals with both of them. Later presidents gave China the right to import products into the U.S. without meeting President Reagan’s standards — with very bad results.)