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∙ NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN POL ICY. Goldwater advocates a strong defense establishment, aligns himself with a foreign policy that matches the Eisenhower-Dulles view. "I think brinkmanship is a pretty good word." In his running figh-with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, he does not question the reliability of U.S. missiles once they are in flight; what he does say is that it is not yet known whether silo doors and other such ground mechanisms could withstand attack from an enemy's nuclear weapons.
∙ SOUTHEAST ASIA. "The first thing we've got to do is make the decision that we're going to win in Viet Nam. The supplies of the Communist invaders have got to be cut off. This means threatening or actually interdicting the supply routes from Red China, Laos and Cambodia." Asked recently just how this might be done, he listed several possibilities, including the use of small nuclear weapons to "defoliate" the Vietnamese jungle and deprive Communist guerrillas of their cover. He did not say that he advocated such a step, although that was the impression that his listeners received, and the headlines made it appear a definite Goldwater proposal.
∙ UNITED NATIONS. Asked in 1963 if he would like to see the U.S. get out of the U.N., he replied: "Having seen what the United Nations cannot do, I would have to suggest it." But in California he said, "I don't want to get out of the United Nations. I want to make it better."
∙ FOREIGN AID. Goldwater favors the principle of military aid and technical assistance, but he would halt economic aid.
∙SOVIET UNION. "I have always favored withdrawing recognition from Russia. I never favored recognition from the start." In January he said that no President could take such a step without the advice and consent of the Senate. Since then, he has agreed that such consultation is not required by the Constitution, but says he would consult anyway. He now holds that that withdrawal of recognition should be used as a "bargaining device" to gain advantages from Russia. "Russia needs us far more than we need Russia. I would look on recognition as a tool to be used in negotiating for such things as free elections in other countries, for negotiating to get the troops and weapons out of Cuba." He still argues that diplomatic relations with the Soviets are of no value to the U.S. because "we don't know any more about Russia now than we did when we established diplomatic relations 30 years ago."
∙ SOCIAL SECURITY. In New Hampshire, Goldwater was asked if he favored continuing or altering the social security system. Replied he: "I would like to suggest one change, that social security be voluntary." Almost everyone agrees that a voluntary social security system would be actuarially unsound, and Goldwater's remark was certainly a factor in his New Hampshire loss. But in California a fortnight ago, he said flatly that he does not advocate making the system voluntary, and insisted that "anyone who says I am against social security lies."