Before the Storm (128 page)

It started with a notice on my project in
The New York Times Book Review,
and a lesson in how damned
generous
people are. I got missives from Goldwater workers who were so young at the time that they could barely remember the campaign (and from a one-time eleven-year-old who bravely preached on behalf of LBJ every Saturday in an Orange County shopping-center parking lot); and letters from Goldwater press secretaries, finance chairs, ad execs, press corps members, book agents—even the old lady who kept the books at his Phoenix department store. Scholars passed on their own exertions—one an Indian professor who had been on a Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Pennsylvania in 1964, another a master's student from the Netherlands whose research on Strom Thurmond was indispensable. There was even one guy who sent me Goldwater news clippings at random intervals over the course of three years—anonymously. Thanks, whoever you are.

My heart especially goes out to two of these correspondents. Andrew Szanton sent my way the arresting photograph that graces the cover of this book. And about Ryan Hayes—the great lay intellectual of Queens, New York—hardly enough can be said. His stunning command of political detail provided the seed for many of the researches herein. And without the generous loans from his bottomless collection of political paraphernalia—what would I have done without my directory of the Eighty-eighth Congress?—my scholarly life would have been much more difficult. I don't dedicate the book to him. But I do dedicate to him the sentence on his “Harold Stassen's Ticker Tape Parade” soapbox derby car.

Much thanks, too, to those who gave generously of their recollections, time, trust—and, sometimes, hospitality—in author interviews. Those who went beyond the call of duty include Jameson Campaigne Jr. (who gets triple recognition for opening his storehouse of papers to me, and for publishing so many of the biographies and memoirs of conservative figures that I relied upon), Leonard Nadasdy (his loaned dossier on his tenure as Young Republican chair was indispensable), Pam Walton, Ron Crawford, Bill Rusher, Wes McCune, Milton Friedman, Stan Evans, and Graham T. T. Molitor. The breakfast David Keene set up for me with a cadre of conservative movement veterans at the Capitol Hill Club was very helpful, and very cool.

Several scholars were invaluable to me as friends, advisers, sources, inspirations—
and, last but not least, as penners of the letters of recommendation that helped several benefactors see the merits of my case. These include Michael Kazin, Nick Salvatore, David Kennedy, Nelson Lichtenstein, David Farber, and Tom Sugrue. And thank you, thank you, to those benefactors who
did
see the merits of my case: the Rockefeller Archive Center, the LBJ Library, the Dick Goldensohn Fund—and, especially, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Margaret Chase Smith Library. The former's contribution kept me in food, shelter, and used books for a year; the latter gave me not just a check but a hell of a good time.

The thought of my other financial benefactors brings a tear to my eye: my sister, Linda, a lifelong pillar; Jon Cohen, who taught me a thing or two about analytical precision; Allison Miller, whose middle name is Xantha, and what else need be said?; John Palattela and Angela Dillard, who both remind me that I love to think; Lisa Bonacci, a model of courage and devotion; Amy Kossoy, a neighbor in the best sense; Eric Wunderman, who thinks, blessedly, differently; Anil Mudholkar, a friend of a lifetime; Thad Domina, not a research assistant but a mensch; and Grandma and Grandpa Perlstein, whose generosity has allowed me to follow a risky profession, not a safe one, which means everything to me.

I thank those who opened their homes to me: the Kramer family in Phoenix; and dear friends Gita Kapadia, Ben Evans, Jen Stewart, and Jefferson Decker on trips to Chicago. Two others put up with me for even longer, and I want to recognize their patience and friendship: Jon Cohen and William Duty. They are role models, both creatively and intellectually.

I also want to thank some other scholars, writers, editors, and others who gave their encouragement, solidarity, and favors large and small: David Greenberg, Matthew Dallek, Judith Broadhurst, Chris Lehmann, Jeff Shesol, Beverley Solochek, John Andrew, Gregory Schneider, Mike Leiman, Jennifer Mittelstadt, Godfrey Hodgson, Richard Ellis, Jim Sleeper, Scott Sherman, and Jim Miller (whose greatest contribution was an offhand quote in a
Lingua Franca
article about how if he had it to do over again, he might just have written about the rise of the right). And four more magnificent, unique souls: David Glenn and Scott McLemee (living rebukes to any fool who wants to talk about there not being any New York intellectuals left, even though Scott lives in Washington), and Leon Pasker and Margie Good, who have always made me feel big.

Thanks also to my friends at the New York Working Families Party, who gave me my participant-observer training in political volunteering. Knock wood, a book like this will be written about them thirty-five years from now.

Thank you to the archivists at the facilities mentioned above, and also at the Chicago Historical Society, special collections at Cornell University, and the Hoover Institution. If you love reading history, lift a glass to archivists at least once a week; they are the unsung heroes of the enterprise. And thank you, too, William F. Buckley, not only for making it possible for there to be such an interesting movement to write about in the first place, but for opening your papers at Yale to me.

I owe much to my colleagues at
Lingua Franca:
Jeffrey Kittay (for lessons in the value of
chutzpah),
Alexander Star (for lessons in the value of carefulness), and especially
(for lessons in the value of volubility) Daniel Zalewski. I also owe a debt to the American Culture program at the University of Michigan.

There are four people without whom the transition from full-time magazine editor to full-time book author could not possibly have been as smooth as it was. The first is Rebecca Lowen, who commissioned the original book proposal. That our relationship ended there is owing only to the smarts, style, savvy, and friendship of my editor, Paul Elie, who saw something in a book review I wrote and decided I had what it took (ably assisted by Brian Blanchfield and Susan Goldfarb, whose work was tireless).

That review was written for Sue and John Leonard at
The Nation.
It was their mission of encouraging young writers in developing their talents in that magazine's culture section that started—to borrow an antique metaphor that an old
National Review
hand and New Lefty like John would appreciate—the domino effect.

Now I have two families, the Perlsteins (my parents Jerry and Sandi, sister Linda, and brothers Ben and Steve); and the Geiers (Hank, Patty, Frank, Kelly, Buddy, and Sean). I love them both, and thank them for their support. I have two families now because I now have my own family: Kathy Geier, my wife, a partner in every way, to whom I dedicate this book. And last but not least, our little dogs Buster and Checkers. You know, we love those dogs, and I just want to say this right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we're going to keep them.

Abington Township
v.
Schempp

Abstine, James

Acheson, Dean

Acme Bomb and Fallout Shelter Company

Acme Steel

Adenauer, Konrad

Ad Hoc Committee Against Discrimination

Advance magazine

Affluent Society, The
(Galbraith)

AFL-CIO,

; Committee on Political

Education (COPE),

African-Americans,

; in Arizona,

; burning of churches of;

in California; conservative claims

of Communist influence on;

and Democratic Party,

; in Goldwater campaign,

; impact of automation on,

Johnson and;

March on Washington of; in

New York; and 1960 election,

Northern, discrimination

against,

; in

post-Civil War South; random

violence against; and Republican

Party,

; rioting by,

; Rockefeller

funding of colleges for; Southern

White resistance to integration of,

; voter

registration drive for, see Mississippi

Freedom Summer; Welch's views on

Agriculture, U.S. Department of; Bureau of Plant Industry

Aid to Dependent Children

AiResearch

Air Force, U.S. ; Reserve

Air National Guard

Air War College

Alabama; civil rights legislation

opposed by; Republican Party in,

; violence against civil

rights activists in

Alabama, University of

Albee, Edward

Alcoa

Alcorn, Meade

Aldrich, Nelson

Alger, Bruce

Ali, Muhammad

Allen, Steve

Allen-Bradley Company

Allot, Gordon

All the King's Men
(Warren)

Alpaca
(Hunt)

Alsop, Joseph

Alsop, Stewart

America First Committee

American Aggregates

American Airlines

American Bar Association

American Broadcasting Company

(ABC)

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) ; Academic

Advisory Board of

American Ethnology, Bureau of

American Federation of Labor; see also AFL-CIO

American Jewish Congress

American Legion

American Medical Association (AMA) ; Political Action

Committee of

American Motors Corporation

American Opinion
magazine

American Political Science Association

American Psychoanalytic Association

American Security Council Report of the Air
(radio show)

Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA)

Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)

Americans for Goldwater

American Society of Newspaper Editors

American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T)

American University

American Veterans Committee

America, Wake Up!
(radio show)

American Youth for Democracy

Anderson, Admiral George W.

Anderson, John

Anderson, Robert

Anderson, Tom

Andrews, T. Coleman

Angleton, James Jesus

Annenberg, Walter

Appalachian Spring
(Copland)

Appling, Howell

Appropriations Act (1942)

Arendt, Hannah

Aristotle

Arizona: Democratic Party of,

Republican Party of,

; State

Legislature

Arizona, University of

Arizona Federation of Labor

Arkansas Supreme Court

Arms Control Agency, U.S.

Army, U.S.,

Air Corps; Special

Warfare Center; War College,

War Plans Division

Ashbrook, John

Associated Press (AP)

Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)

Atomic Energy Commission Proving Grounds (later Nevada Test Site)

Avondale Mills

Babbitt
(Lewis)

“Baby Tooth Survey”

Baker, Bobby

Baldwin, James

Baptists; Southern

Barnes, Mrs. A. Dabney

Bamett, H. Ross

Baroody, William J., Jr.

Barr, Charlie

Barry Goldwater: Extremist of the Right
(Cook)

Bauman, Bob

Bauman, Carol Dawson

Baylor University

Bay of Pigs invasion

Bean, Louis

Beatles

Beck, Dave

Bell, Daniel

Bell & Howell

Benson, Ezra Taft

Berlin crisis

Bernbach, Bill

Bible, Revised Standard Edition of

Birch, John;
see also
John Birch Society

Birth of a Nation, The
(film)

Bishop, Joey

Black Muslims,
see
Nation of Islam

Blackwell, Mort

Bliss, Raymond

Boeing Aircraft Company

Boggs, Hale

Bolshoi Ballet

Bookbinder, Hyman

Borg-Warner Corporation

Bork, Robert

Boston public schools

Boston Strangler

Boulware, Lemuel

Boutwell, Albert

Bowles, Chester

Boy Scouts of America

Boysen, Rudolph

Bozell, L. Brent

Bozell, Patricia Buckley

Braden, Spruille

Bradlee, Ben

Bradley, Harry Lynd

Bradley Foundation

Brandt, Willy

Braque, Georges

Brave New World
(Huxley)

Brennan, Walter

Bretton Woods Conference

Brewster, Daniel B.

Brewster, Owen

Bricker, John

Bricker Amendment

Bridge at Andau
(Michener)

Bridges, Delores

Bridges, Harry

Bridges, Styles

Brinkley, David