n the summer of 1964, presidential candidate Barry Goldwater delivered the most controversial speech in the history of national political conventions when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination. “Mr. Goldwater flung down a challenge with his ‘extremism is no vice’ statement in his acceptance speech,” the New York Times reported.
“My god,” exclaimed one reporter, “he’s going to campaign as Barry Goldwater.”
The reaction was swift and brutal. New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Goldwater’s principal and very liberal rival for the Republican nomination, called the statement “dangerous, irresponsible, and frightening.” Martin Luther King, Jr., saw “dangerous signs of Hitlerism” in Goldwater’s programs. NAACP secretary Roy Wilkins said a Goldwater victory “would lead to a police state.” Six weeks later, at the Democratic national convention, President Lyndon Johnson condemned what he called the tactics of “fear and smear” and warned the electorate about the danger of voting for an “extremist.”
