May 19, 1964 - A bruising wind-up in the campaign for California’s 86 Republican National Convention votes is in prospect.
“We anticipate it’s going to be the nastiest two weeks in American politics,” predicted Dean Burch, assistant general director for Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. The Goldwater camp is not playing it that way, he said, adding: “It’s going to be one-sided.”
Managers for Governor Nelson Rockefeller disclaimed any such intentions. There was evidence, however, that the New York Governor might take a harder anti-Goldwater line.
A Rockefeller mailing that reached hundreds of thousands of California Republicans today contained a reprint of a Look magazine article packed with Goldwater quotations. A covering letter asked: “Do you want a man with these opinions in the room with the H-bomb button?”
The Look article was published in the issue of April 21, 1964. Some of the quotations go back to 1957. One of these quotations, one year old, was: “I’d drop a low-yield atomic bomb on the Chinese supply lines in North Vietnam or maybe shell ‘em with the Seventh Fleet.”
Possibly aware of an attack to come on some of his remarks on the use of force, Goldwater said on Sunday: “I pledge from the depths of my heart and conscience that as President of this nation I would consider it my foremost duty to keep the peace and to keep freedom at the same time.”
Goldwater’s campaign assistant, Mr. Burch, accused the Rockefeller camp of distortions of the Senator’s positions. As examples, he said the Governor had told audiences, “Goldwater wants to abolish Social Security, to make it voluntary. Do you agree?” Also, “Goldwater wants to withdraw from the United Nations. I consider that irresponsible, don’t you?”
Goldwater has in the past suggested that consideration be given to putting Social Security on a voluntary basis, but has dropped that from his position papers.
A quotation attributed to him a year ago about the U.N. was: “Frankly, I think the fact that it’s proven to be unworkable is ground enough for us to quit wasting our money on it.”
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