Book Review: Glorious Disaster

Book: Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign And the Origins of the Conservative Movement
Author: J. William Middendorf

Review: Middendorf certainly had front-row seats for Barry Goldwater's failed 1964 presidential run. Middendorf was one of the founding members of the Draft Goldwater movement that pressured Goldwater into running, he then served as treasurer of Goldwater's campaign before settling in as the treasurer of the RNC. Once Nixon was elected, Middendorf became the US Ambassador to the Netherlands before becoming the Secretary of the Navy. Yes, to say the least, Middendorf had a front-row seat.

The book reads like it should: an insider's historical account of the events that led up to and through Goldwater's presidential run. Middendorf allots a lot of space for "setting the record straight", but not having read any other books on the 1964 election I cannot attest to how straight the record is after this book. It is a very quick read because Middendorf does not editorialize much while recounting events. However, this is a memoir so the reader is left with a single picture: Middendorf's picture. As a liberal, I did not feel that it was unnecessarily biased because he was as quick to called Goldwater overly-earnest as he was to call LBJ a dirty politician.

The book; however, did not meet my expectations in explaining two things A) Why did Goldwater lose and B) How did he precipitate the modern conservative movement. Granted, both of these questions are answer, but not to much depth. Middendorf explains that Goldwater lost because he was painted by two misquotes (that he would abolish Social Security and he would give ever NATO commander discretion over the use of nuclear weapons; we'll discuss these later). But, Middendorf does not use his front-row seat to answer the question: was Goldwater the man you thought he would be? Middendorf was clearly enamored by Goldwater having helped "draft" him to run for president, but his disastrous returns in November must have caused him to doubt. Middendorf even admits that he told Barry on election-eve that it was "in the bag." How could one not doubt the cause that the American people so readily rejects? Exposing his doubt would have allowed a better picture of the state of the conservative movement after Goldwater's defeat and would have set up Richard Nixon's decisive 1968 presidential victory better. Which leads us to question two.

How did Goldwater's disaster lead to the modern conservative movement? You know from political science class that the Democrats used to be the strong house in the South, and you also know that the South is now solidly Republican. This transformation, in presidential terms, began with Barry Goldwater. Barry won five southern states (South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia) and set up Nixon's electoral success in the south. But what connected Goldwater to Nixon? After Goldwater's defeat we follow our author as he fits to keep the RNC financial system together, and we see Nixon slowly emerge onto the scene. Middendorf aids Nixon in his victory by helping him lock up most of Goldwater's delegates from 1964, but what was Nixon's connection to Goldwater? There is a philosophical tenet that was missed. We know the history but our author did not offer any new tidbits where he clearly could have.

In conclusion, the book is a great, quick read from as inside an insider as you will get. Especially those of you focused on presidential elections, campaigns, conservatism or finances will have special interest in this book.

RATING (1-10): 6.9

My next post will deal with my impressions of the history that this book offered up. More to come.

-Wyatt Earp