BARRY GOLDWATER: A CHOICE, NOT AN ECHO, PART I
With the coming of World War II, Barry volunteered for active duty in the U.S. Army Air Force even before Pearl Harbor. Over thirty years old, and with poor eyesight, he was not considered good material for the program. But with the help of Carl Hayden and the other Arizona Senator, Ernest McFarland, he was assigned to progressively better assignments, first as an instructor and then as a pilot ferrying planes to the combat zone. By the end of the war, he was a colonel. Although he took a demotion to captain so he could remain active in the Arizona Air National Guard, he eventually became a major general.
After the war, he returned to active politics. In 1946, the Democratic governor appointed him to the Arizona-Colorado River Commission. This put him in the middle of one of the biggest political disputes in the west, water rights. In 1947, he was instrumental in securing a new city charter in Phoenix, and recruited progressive candidates to run for the new city council. When one seat had no candidate, Barry reluctantly agreed to run himself.
In 1950, Barry and the new Republican state party chairman tried to find a candidate to run for governor. They chose radio personality and famous war correspondent Howard Pyle. No Republican had won the governorship since 1928, but Goldwater led a successful campaign, and Pyle was elected.
Two years later, Goldwater decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Democratic Senator Ernest McFarland was the majority leader of the Senate, the most powerful man in the Senate. It seemed rather hopeless for Goldwater to take him on in the election, but it was looking like a Republican year with Eisenhower at the top of the ticket, and the Democrats, in power since 1933, being unpopular. Goldwater ran a well-organized campaign. Eisenhower won the state by a landslide and Goldwater eked out a victory of less than 7,000 votes. Still, he had done the impossible, defeating the majority leader of the Senate.
Goldwater quickly became known in the Senate as a die-hard conservative. He supported Senator Joseph McCarhty's crusade against communism in government. When McCarthy was later censured by the Senate, Goldwater was one of 22 Republican Senators who voted against the measure.
Goldwater also opposed foreign aid, except for military aid to allies, considering it nothing more than a bribe to encourage conduct and action desired by the United States. In addition, Goldwater opposed
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