Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus

I really enjoyed Rick Perlstein's Nixonland, in spite of its structural flaws and shaky thesis. Unfortunately, Perlstein's first book - an exploration of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater's disastrous yet epochal 1964 Presidential campaign - is not quite as good as his second.

Goldwater is certainly an interesting and important figure. His Presidential campaign was the extension of a budding conservativism, angry at the moderation preached by Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, with young Jeremiahs like William F. Buckley and M. Stanton Evans leading the charge to restore traditional values. As Perlstein shows, the new conservativism was not a gaggle of stuffy old fogeys opposing progress; it was as much a youth movement as the "New Left" and budding counterculture. Seeing liberalism as America's consensus ideology, the conservatives enjoyed framing themselves as rebels - hence Evans' book, Revolt on the Campus. And Barry Goldwater's campaign against Lyndon B. Johnson was the ultimate rebellion.

Goldwater's staunch anti-Communist, anti-big government, pro-free market and law and order platform was roundly rejected in 1964, due to a variety of factors: a Republican Party divided between conservatives and establishment moderates like Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney, Goldwater himself, whose heart never seemed quite in it, the extremism of his supporters, and the ruthlessness of LBJ. Goldwater's seemingly-radical stance frightened Americans who weren't ready for the division that would explode into violent culture war a few years later. Still, Goldwater's defeat sewed the seeds of the modern conservative movement, and Ronald Reagan would win in an comparable landslide sixteen years later, running on an almost identical platform.

As in Nixonland, Perlstein crams the narrative with digression and details, some illustrative and revealing, others notsomuch. These anecdotes serve a better purpose in Nixonland, where he was trying to paint a broad picture of a complex time period, and digressions from the main topic served a purpose. The portrait of early '60s America is surprisingly limited in comparison, focusing mostly on Goldwater and the GOP, and there's no sense of breadth or scope; as such, digressions like a five-page plot description of Doctor Strangelove and seem out of place. Some topics are brought up and dropped with little fanfare - in particular, Henry Cabot Lodge and Richard Nixon's abortive bids for the GOP nomination. There seems little consistency to what Perlstein is interested in, and at times the narrative suffers for its rambling imbalance of content.

Still, Perlstein's book is definitely worth a look. He paints a vivid picture of conservativism in the early '60s, finding its sea legs as a political force and not yet ready for the big time. His portrait of Goldwater himself is far more sympathetic and layered than his pure-evil portrayal of Richard Nixon - an honest man with earnest principles, but not entirely comfortable as the Republican Party's standard-bearer. If his analysis of Goldwater's appeal occasionally smacks of condescension, he ably shows Goldwater's political importance. 1964 was a disaster, but it was a harbinger of things to come - for the Republican Party, and America in general.

This is a wonderfully written political history about an extremely significant period in America. Except for Eisenhower's two terms (of course, his fame as the architect of D-Day helped him win), the Presidency had been held by the democrats since 1932. A liberal political philosophy prevailed, especially during JFK's brief term. It seemed as though Conservatism was dead and buried. The development of the Conservative movement in the years leading up to the election of 1964 did not help Barry Goldwater, but it did set the stage for Nixon and Reagan, although that was far from obvious at the time. Although the book is extremely (even minutely) detailed, it is so well written that it was a joy to read. Reading it, I couldn't help but notice many parallels to the most recent presidential election. People always seem to believe that the current election and political climate is "the worst", but that just isn't so. Many presidential elections - including that of 1964 - have been at least as contentious, if not more so. This is the first book of a trilogy, with Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge relating the elections of Nixon and Reagan.

I read a short-ish column in the latest issue of The Baffler by Perlstein, and that piqued my interest. I bought this for my Kindle and I was off to the races. As I was born in 1965, the era in question wasn't one I lived through, so apart from what I read about Civil Rights and the period from the late 1950's through the mid 1960's, colored by high school level history texts, and the brief treatment in my one US history course in college, I knew my knowledge was thin.

The writing is both detailed and engaging, starting with documenting the early rise of the far right, the "movement conservatism" and its fulcrum in the embodiment of Barry Goldwater. While I knew what happened in the presidential election of 1964, the path to it is well laid out by Perlstein, and well supported with his research. The writing is crisp, and entertaining, yet poignant. I highly recommend this, and will be reading the other two volumes penned by Perlstein.

Perlstein is one of the best nonfiction writers in America - period. His writing is infused with a novelistic sense of irony and keen adjective usage (quiet brilliant, really). BEFORE THE STORM doesn't suffer from the droll, cardboard language of many history/political books. It crackles with heavy wattage.

The history in this volume is so comprehensive, one wonders if Perlstein has been so immersed in 1960s politicking that he hasn't seen a 21st Century sun in a quite a while. He not only traces the origin of the Republican party's drastic embrace of conservatism, he explores the background of every ad man, adviser, contributor, and idealogue that cluttered the universe that swirled around Barry Goldwater and thrust him into a role perhaps he was unprepared for. In fact, despite the ruggedly evocative image of Goldwater on the cover, he's actually a minor player in this crowded cast. It's a remarkable look into the kind of politicking that doesn't just happen behind closed doors, it happens with only a PO Box and a telephone.

Unfortunately, Perlstein is a victim of his own expansive research. The book delves not just into the high-level politicking that occurred at conventions, it delves into the intramural, parliamentary arcana of sub-groups within the Republican party. The reader will learn how the Young Republicans chose their leader in the 1960s, for example. Perhaps it's crucial to fully understand the dynamics of the rise of Goldwater, but it's brutal reading - despite Perlstein's avidity. The same goes for the detailed description of every campaign stop and speech made during the 1964 election by both candidates.

I'll reiterate my opening comment - Perlstein is one of the best nonfiction writers in America. NIXONLAND is a landmark text. In fact, NIXONLAND is so nuanced and brilliant, I think a reader might be better advised to pick up that title instead. It covers the bullet-points of Goldwater and captures the extreme nature of not only 1960s politics, but 1960s history.

Forge through the morass and you'll be rewarded - but you can't ignore the morass.

I bought Before the Storm after reading Perlstein's Nixonland expecting it to be not a prequel, but the first of what will most likely be multi-volume history of the rise of the conservative movement in the United States. Before the Storm not only fulfilled, but exceeded those expectations as one learns the roots of conservative ideas and how slowly they were put into words to that could be consumed by the average American one day. Before the Storm is also about how the conservative movement found their standard-bearer in Barry Goldwater, who was reluctant to take up the call and when he did surrounded himself with those unequal to the task of a national political campaign. But as Perlstein shows while Goldwater's official campaign failed, the political operatives that has set-up his nomination before being discarded had established themselves in "unofficial" citizen groups planting the beginnings of an army to be reaped later by Ronald Reagan.

If one could find faults it would be that Perlstein didn't give an in-depth description of the 1952 GOP Convention that conservatives always pointed out as being stolen from them, it was referenced many times but never delved into.

To those wanting understand our present political landscape, I recommend this book to know how it developed in the past.

I'm late coming to this book, published twelve years ago as I write, but I'm glad a friend suggested it and Rick Perlstein's other exhaustive political history, [[ASIN:074324303X Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America]].

Perlstein is tireless in his research, adept at story-telling, and, as I suggested, exhaustive in execution.

If you are curious about the back room machinations that turned America from progressive and somewhat democratic socialist, into the conservative bastion of 2013, this book is well worth a read. If you wonder how Barack Obama, clearly to the right of Richard Nixon on multiple issues, has been characterized as a liberal, socialist threat to capitalism, here are the roots. If you never understood why Bill Clinton, again, well to the right of Richard Nixon on multiple issues, remains cast as "liberal," this will help you see the highly effective game plan.

Conservatives and ultra-conservatives, starting in 1964, learned to push the hot-button social issues that have convinced vast numbers of voters to vote against their own best interest over and over and over again.

Yikes.

A few months ago I read Rick Perlstein';s outstanding look at the rise of Ronald Reagan in his magisterial ":The invisible Bridge. That book is the third of three volumes the political scholar has written about American twentieth century politics. The first volume is Before the Storm and the second book in the series is Nixonland. The first book is the subject of this review.
Perlstein';s thick book draws a detailed history of American politics from the rise of conservatives such as Clarence Manion to the defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964 to Lyndon Johnson in the presidential sweepstakes. Johnson won re-election by a massive victory over Goldwater the Arizona Senator but Vietnam would bring him down. The Republicans broke up the solid Democratic South as southerners angered by the civil rights movement and passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by the US Congress turned the South into a Republican stronghold. Ronald Reagan would be the first Goldwater Republican to win the Oval Office in his 1980 victory over POTUS incumbent the hapless Jimmy Carter.
Civil unrest and the fear of such right wing groups as the John Birch Society, Young Americans for Democratic Freedom and candidates from the West whose first icon was Goldwater caused the liberal eastern establishment to wake up and take notice. Today is a deeply divided nation between African-Americans and Whites, liberals and conservatives and big government vs. opponents of the Washington leviathan,
The book is filled with colorful characters . Goldwater s chief foes for the 1964 Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller the fabulously wealthy governor of New York;' George Romney the governor of Michigan'; Bill Scranton governor of Pa. ;' Margaret Chase Smith Senator from Maine and Richard Nixon who had lost to JFK in the 1960 campaign for chief executive. Conservative leaders such as William F. Buckley, William Rusher, Robert Welch and other conservative luminaries are discussed at length.
Rich Perlstein has produced an excellent book filled with anecdotes as he has the ability to make history come alive. An excellent book which would be suitable for classroom usage in college courses on American political history.
The book needs better editing! For instance, the Rev. Jerry Falwell was pastor of Thomas Roads Baptist Church in Lynchburg Virginia and not in Lynchburg Tennessee as reported in the book The print is small and hard to read for those like the reviewer who has weak eyesight. Recommended.

So many "political histories" are unreliable screeds by hyperpartisans on left or the right. What makes "Before the Storm" so different is the synthesis of original, objective research on the birth of the modern conservative movement.

What makes the history so fresh is the amount of original research and reporting, Perlstein details the people and events that were buried by history in the landslide loss of Barry Goldwater in 1964. These "losers" would become the foot soldiers and organizers of the conservative movement that became the winners of the 1970s and '80s. Thoughtful, intelligent, and well-researched, this is one of the best political histories that I've ever read.

To those moronic, negative reviewers who claim Perlstein is "biased", I'd direct you to his criticism of Bill Moyers (the now-soft-spoken "journalist" who got his start as a bare-knuckle dirty campaigner for LBJ), and Perlstein's respectful tone toward conservative activists.

To read this as the 2016 campaign unfolds is a bit of a surreal experience. On the one hand it is explanatory, how did the Republican party of Eisenhower become the party of Reagan and then eventually Trump? Goldwater's fusing of true conservativism, values voters, and segregationists made for the eventual coalition that elected Reagan and this year nominated Trump (despite his very anti-Goldwater views on the size of government -- the issues that most animated Goldwater).

On the other hand there are also chilling parallels to 2016. People are/were angry and fearful. Then they were angry about a country that was changing (as the civil rights and women's movement unfolded) and about the possible communist menace. Now they are angry about a world that is changing (globalization) and the menace of terrorism. And defending the status quo is an establishment politician with a history that fairly or not inspires distrust.

Trump is not Goldwater and there is every reason to think that Goldwater would hold the eastern real estate mogul in great contempt. But Trump is not possible without the world that Goldwater and his supporters created. This book gains relevance with each passing day.

The book is at its five star best when it is describing movements writ large like the civil rights movement and the reaction to it. It is also good with the insights on well known characters like Goldwater, Nixon, and Nelson Rockefeller. It's only weak point is that the details of political insiders and the myriad movements that made up the rise of conservativism are very hard to keep track of. A Shakespeare style (and the tale is Shakespearean) dramatis personae would have been useful.

Until I read this book, Movement Conservatism was always a mystery to me. Perlstein is clearly not a conservative himself, but he is sympathetic enough in his retelling of the Draft Goldwater movement and the social anxieties that gave rise to it that I feel like I finally have some sense where conservatives are coming from.

Considering that Goldwater-style conservative values -- once ridiculed as beyond the fringe -- are now the core ideology of the Republican Party, it's pretty important to understand the story this book tells. How did this undercurrent of American political thought suddenly irrupt after 30 years of the New Deal, submerge for another 15, become ascendant under Reagan, and now seek to retrench as the dominant political/policy paradigm for the 21st century?

It's a very interesting and detailed story, and it's well told. If modern American politics interests you, you really have no choice but to read it.