GOLDWATER, BARRY MORRIS
Barry Morris Goldwater was a former U.S. senator and presidential nominee. During almost 40 years in public life, he became the outspoken and controversial leader of the conservative wing of the REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Goldwater was born January 1, 1909, in
Phoenix, Arizona. His paternal ancestors were
Orthodox Jewish innkeepers who emigrated
from Poland in the mid-1800s to join the Cali-
fornia gold rush. Goldwater’s father, Baron
Goldwater,managed the family’s general store in
Phoenix. This store was the humble beginning
of what would become an enormously prof-
itable chain, Goldwater’s Department Stores.
Goldwater’s mother, Josephine Williams, was a
nurse who raised Goldwater and his siblings in
her Episcopalian faith. A woman who loved out-
door activities, she took her children hiking and
camping throughout Arizona and taught them
the colorful history of the region. From her,
Goldwater acquired an abiding love of the
Southwest and a deep appreciation of its people
and its beauty.
Goldwater was a mediocre student who pre-
ferred sports and socializing to studying. At
Phoenix Union High School, he was elected
president of his first-year class, but the principal
advised his father that Goldwater should proba-
bly attend school elsewhere the following year.
Against his strenuous objections, his parents
sent him to Staunton Military Academy, in Vir-
ginia. There, he excelled at athletics and did bet-
ter academically than anyone expected, being
named best all-around cadet in 1928.
Goldwater loved the military and dreamed
of attending West Point. But when he graduated
from Staunton, his father was in ill health, and
Goldwater instead enrolled at the University of
Arizona, at Tucson, to be near his home. His
father died before he had finished his first year
in college. Goldwater left school a year later to
enter the family business.
With his father gone, Goldwater turned to
an uncle for advice and direction. He quickly
worked his way up from junior clerk, to general
manager in 1936, and to president in 1937.
Under his leadership, Goldwater’s became
Phoenix’s premier department store and leading
specialty shop.Goldwater pioneered the five-day
workweek and instituted many progressive
fringe benefits for his employees, including
