Goldwater, Barry M.

Goldwater, Barry M. (Morris)

(1909–  ) U.S. senator; born in Phoenix, Ariz. Grandson of an immigrant peddler in the Western mining camps, he inherited a prosperous department store business of which he became president in 1937. An active sportsman, he was one of the first white men to navigate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. During World War II, he was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force (1941–45). A conservative Republican, he served in the U.S. Senate (Ariz., 1953–65, 1969–87). He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He ran for the presidency (1964) but was defeated in a landslide by Lyndon B. Johnson. Although he espoused traditional, Republican values, he often surprised his ideological opponents by his maverick positions; in 1993, he advocated opening the armed forces to homosexuals.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.