--- description: In 1964, many politicians chose to speak out against the man their party had selected for presidential nominee. What happened next? title: What Happened to Republicans Who Rejected Goldwater image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf296e62b65e24ee6/6988936f196cf4cfbd03b9f4/goldwater1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [politics](/tag/politics/) ## politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Happened to Republicans Who Rejected Their Party's Nominee in 1964  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 19, 2016 5:14 PM CUT  Partisans of both parties were at work on 1964 Barry Goldwater billboard in Denver Partisans of both parties were at work on 1964 Barry Goldwater billboard in DenverDuane Howell—Denver Post / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 19, 2016 5:14 PM CUT Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, some members of his own party who opposed him are facing an unusual decision: What do you do when you disagree with your party’s nominee? Is it better to support him, in the name of [party unity](http://time.com/4304829/reince-priebus-never-trump-republican-national-committee-convention/ "undefined")? To “[denounce but not reject](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/donald-trump-paul-ryan-nominee-muslims/419448/ "undefined"),” as the _Atlantic_ put it back in December? Focus on [down-ballot races](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/05/06/jeb-bush-says-he-wont-vote-for-donald-trump/ "undefined")? [Wait](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/paul-ryan-i-m-not-ready-endorse-donald-trump-n568871 "undefined") and see? Particularly for those who hope to run for national office on a Republican ticket in the future, the decisions they make about Trump now may have serious career consequences down the line. That’s just one lesson of the election of 1964. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") That year, the Republican party nominated the ultra-conservative Barry Goldwater, an Arizona Senator who would end up losing in a major landslide to incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson. The scales were already tipped against the party, as the country was still reeling from the assassination of popular Democratic President John F. Kennedy. But the nomination of a man the London _Times_ [called](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-06-12/page/35/ "undefined") “so blatantly out of touch with reality, so wild in his foreign policy, so backward in his domestic ideas and so inconsistent in his thinking” that his nomination would be a “serious blow to American prestige” threw the party into further uproar. Goldwater’s main [rivals](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-10-11/spread/46/ "undefined") for the nomination, early in the race, were seen as Nelson Rockefeller, George Romney, William Scranton and James Rhodes. Richard Nixon’s name was also discussed. **MORE:** [See Barry Goldwater on the cover of TIME in 1964](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-06-12/page/1/ "undefined") Rockefeller’s reputation had been sorely damaged by a divorce and remarriage. In[ July of 1963](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-07-26/page/23/ "undefined"), Rockefeller warned the party that it was “in real danger of subversion by a radical, well-financed and highly disciplined minority.” Goldwater was able to [portray](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-09-20/page/33/ "undefined") himself as the voice of party unity in response (something Trump is now [trying](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/us/politics/donald-trump-seeks-republican-unity-but-finds-rejection.html "undefined") too). Rockefeller[ fought hard throughout the primary season](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/rockefellers-campaign/ "undefined"), pulling no punches in his attacks on his rival for the nomination. During the general election, Rockefeller [said](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-09-25/page/40/ "undefined") that he supported the Republican ticket but mostly abstained from public appearances outside New York, or even from mentioning Goldwater by name. Four years later, Rockefeller ran again, and again failed to get the nomination. As TIME [pointed out ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-02-09/page/31/ "undefined")back in 1968, “his failure to back Barry Goldwater in 1964 still rankle\[s\] among party workers.” Romney [refused to support ](http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/11/01/rethinking-george-romney/ "undefined")Goldwater’s run in 1964, and Michigan Democrats even [referred](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-09-25/page/40/ "undefined") to Goldwater as an “albatross” around their governor’s neck. Romney [succeeded](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-11-04/page/5/ "undefined") in hanging onto the governor’s mansion but he, too, failed to secure the presidential nomination in 1968. **MORE:**[ Watch History’s Most Infamous Political Ads](http://time.com/3259576/daisy-ad-1964/ "undefined") In July of 1963, Scranton had [said](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-07-03/page/29/ "undefined") that “the evidence against \[the success of\] a Goldwater candidacy is so devastating as to be incapable of complete error”—but that if Goldwater were nominated, he would “support him and work for him, whatever the long odds of his being elected.” After Goldwater cinched the nomination, Scranton didn’t quite follow through: he [told ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-07-17/page/33/ "undefined")crowds he would continue to fight to prevent the Republican party from becoming “some ultra-rightist society.” Even Ohio Governor Rhodes, who had eventually given his convention delegates to Goldwater, [waited](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-09-25/page/41/ "undefined") to see how his state’s Republicans would respond to Goldwater before he provided any significant support. Having Goldwater on the ticket was also seen to [hurt](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-10-09/page/29/ "undefined") the chances of other Republicans, just by dint of association, and some down-ballot candidates [decided](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-07-17/page/33/ "undefined") it would be more in their favor to actively oppose the presidential nominee. [Others](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-07-31/page/35/ "undefined") up for reelection, like Maryland Senator J. Glenn Beall, took a halfway stand, asking Goldwater to clarify his positions. (Former president Dwight Eisenhower [said](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-06-05/page/35/ "undefined") in June of 1964—as President George W. Bush has [said](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/george-bush-participate-president-campaign/ "undefined") more recently—that he would not participate in any movement to push the nomination in one direction or the other.) But not everybody was against Goldwater. Richard Nixon, for example, publicly [supported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1964-08-21/page/18/ "undefined") the idea that it was O.K. for people in the same party to disagree, which left room for Goldwater. And Ronald Reagan[ famously campaigned ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-ronald-reagans-a-time-for-choosing-endures-after-all-this-time/2014/10/23/d833c49e-587a-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29%5Fstory.html "undefined")for Goldwater, with the speech that helped to [launch](http://time.com/3889533/25-moments-changed-america/ "undefined") not only his political career but also a new conservative movement. They may not have been supporting the future president in 1964—but, perhaps not coincidentally, they ended up future presidents themselves. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4338450/republican-barry-goldwater-donald-trump-1964/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4338450/republican-barry-goldwater-donald-trump-1964/"},"headline":"What Happened to Republicans Who Rejected Their Party's Nominee in 1964","datePublished":"2016-05-19T17:14:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:35:58.005Z","description":"Some politicians made that tough decision in 1964","url":"https://time.com/4338450/republican-barry-goldwater-donald-trump-1964/","keywords":["politics","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf296e62b65e24ee6/6988936f196cf4cfbd03b9f4/goldwater1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf296e62b65e24ee6/6988936f196cf4cfbd03b9f4/goldwater1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Goldwater Billboard","caption":"OCT 16 1964, OCT 18 1964; In Politics, It's Give and Take; Partisans of both parties have been at wo","creditText":"Duane Howell—Denver Post / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4338450/republican-barry-goldwater-donald-trump-1964/","name":"What Happened to Republicans Who Rejected Their Party's Nominee in 1964"}}]}] ```