According to close associates, Barry Goldwater had become almost fatalistic about the outcome of the election. "If they don't want us," he said, "they don't have to take us."
But, as the campaign neared its close, he still thought he might have two issues that were worth plugging away on: Communism and corruption.
Although the overthrow of Nikita Khrushchev and explosion of a nuclear device by the Communist Chinese were undoubtedly the sort of events that would work toward the election of Lyndon Johnson, if only because he is an incumbent President and therefore more...