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A Casual Hint. If that be so, the fact will surely become apparent in the months to come, when Goldwater will be exposed to all the white-hot testing of a leading presidential possibility. In the meanwhile, his attractive personality is enough to carry him forward. Last week Goldwater slipped out to Arizona for a quick round of speaking engagements and a little relaxation at his Phoenix home. He was up and dressed at about 5 a.m. (he keeps fit on four or five hours of sleep a night), watered some of his favorite cactus plants, checked on his beloved gadgets: the waterfall pump was on the fritz; so was the electrical gizmo that drops his movie screen from the ceiling. Drifting over to his ham radio set, he put out a CQ call, picked up a fellow ham in Fort Worth and began talking. "It certainly is a pleasure to work with you, Ron . . . The handle here is Barry . . . that's Baker Adam Roger Roger Yankee . . ." The two conversed for a while about inputs and outputs, antennas and split-stator capacitors. Then Barry dropped a casual hint. "I also operate out of Washington, too, Ron . . . Say, before we sign off, I want to do a little business with you . . . There's a bill in the United States Senate that I'm interested in. I want to send you a copy, and if it sounds all right to you, I wish you'd write your Senators and push it." By this time, Ron began to suspect that Baker Adam Roger Roger Yankee was no ordinary ham. Could it be that his last name was Golf Oscar Lima Delta Whisky Adam Tango Echo Roger? "Say," he said, "would you have anything to do with pushing that bill personally, Barry?" Delighted that Ron had caught on and was properly impressed, Goldwater owned up to his identity, and Ron promised to read the bill. "Well, Ron," said Barry, "it's been mighty good working you. So I'll say the best of 73s [regards]." With that, Barry signed off.
At a G.O.P. gathering in Tucson, Goldwater got caught in a crush of admirers. "We're working and praying for you," gushed one woman. "I hope you'll accept a draft," said a man. At last, he broke away from a little old lady who had been bugging him to repeal the repeal on Prohibition, and drove over to the airport. There Pilot Goldwater, a major general in the Air Force Reserve, piled into a twin-engined Beechcraft Bonanza (one of two small planes that he owns with his brother), took the controls, said, "Let's see if this thing will fly," gave her the gun. In the air, he decided that the control wheel was stiff, told the plane's regular hired pilot, "Let's get it fixed. Remember now, a new wheel if we have to, but let's get it fixed."