Barry Morris Goldwater was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on January 1, 1909. He left college to work in the family department store, of which he served as president from 1937 to 1953. A staunch Republican, he won a seat on the Phoenix city council in 1949, and was elected to the Senate in 1952. He won relection in 1958 by a wide majority, which manuevered him into the running for the presidential race, calling for a halt to arms negotiations with the Soviet Union and arguing that the Democratic Party was creating a socialist government in the United States. He won the presidential nomination in 1964, but lost to Lyndon Johnson with the widest margin ever seen in United States presidential electoral history. He returned to the Senate in 1968 and was relected until his retirement in 1987. He was part of the delegation of Republicans to urge Nixon's resignation in 1974. Goldwater died on May 29, 1998, in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
From the guide to the Barry M. Goldwater and Henry Waltemade letters (MS 200), October 22, 1959 - November 11, 1959, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)
