Pure Goldwater - Hardcover

Why did you write the book now?
My father's journals are rich with personal observations and feelings that have never been seen before. I am sure my father would not mind them being published for he enjoyed stirring the water of public opinion.

What is the story behind your collaboration with John Dean on this book?
John was doing research for another article at the AZ Historical Foundation located at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona when we stumbled upon several boxes containing my father's journals. These papers were presumed lost. We both came to the same idea that the public should see these and thus started the collaboration.

Will the personal writings in this book change public opinion of who Barry Goldwater, Sr. was?
Yes, they will see a kinder and gentler man who really cared about his country, his family, his party, and the average human being's welfare.

Do you think there is a message that this book has to offer today's presidential hopefuls?
Yes, get politics out of the gutter. Politics and government needs to be restored to a higher level of honesty and dedicated service. Start getting along and stop all the bitter partisan fighting.

Has the Republican Party changed since your father's time in office? If so how?
Conservative Republicans have been taken over by the religious right, the so-called social conservatives. My father had a deep faith in God but he never felt a need to put a bumper sticker on his car or dictate to anyone else how or what to believe. The demand of some to vote for a candidate strictly on the basis of religious views deeply troubled him, as such dictates violated freedom of choice and personal privacy, the antithesis of the original philosophy of the Conservative movement, of which he was a founder.

Why is Goldwater conservatism still relevant today?
Because it is all about maximizing individual freedom. This country is the only country founded on freedom but today we are slowly losing these to a growing government.

John W. Dean is a former Nixon White House counsel and the New York Times-bestselling author of Worse than Watergate and Conservatives without Conscience. Barry M. Goldwater, Jr. is a former Congressman from California, and is the son of Senator Barry Goldwater.