[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S886-S887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BARRY GOLDWATER STATUE DEDICATION
Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, I rise to speak about an Arizona original--
former Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.
Senator Goldwater was no stranger to this Senate floor, having served
five terms in this body and having been his party's Presidential
nominee in 1964. By the end of his time here, Goldwater was an elder
statesman and the go-to guy on national security, having chaired the
Committee on Armed Services and the Select Committee on Intelligence
and having reorganized the Pentagon structure with the Goldwater-
Nichols Act. He was also respected for his unapologetic fiscal
conservatism. Goldwater was probably best known for his staunch defense
of personal liberty and for reviving and redefining what it means to be
conservative.
While he may have lost the election in 1964 to Lyndon Johnson, he
laid the groundwork for the Republican Party's future and the eventual
resurgence under Ronald Reagan.
As columnist George Will once noted, it took 16 years to count the
votes from 1964, and Goldwater won.
For many of us, he was a role model. Before I came to Congress, I was
honored to serve as the executive director of the Goldwater Institute,
an Arizona organization that bears his name and his philosophy.
Born before Arizona was even a State, Goldwater, as did so many great
men, honed his passionate interests in the nonpolitical world around
him. He was an avid, published photographer. In fact, Goldwater's
estate contained some 15,000 photographs, many of them of Arizona
landscapes and the people he loved so much.
He also occasionally took his camera to social events, once even
snapping President Kennedy at the White House. Kennedy inscribed the
photo, ``For Barry Goldwater, whom I urge to follow the career for
which he has shown such talent--photography.''
In addition to being a conservative warrior, Goldwater was an actual
warrior, having flown supply missions over ``the hump'' in World War II
and retiring as a major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He
believed in peace through strength.
Barry Goldwater was plainspoken. He was stubborn. He was patriotic.
He was independent. In short, Goldwater embodied the very spirit of
Arizona.
Tomorrow--at long last--Barry Goldwater will be honored with a statue
in the Capitol, representing his beloved Arizona. Goldwater may have
once described himself as ``the most underdog underdog there is,'' but
I can't think of a more deserving recipient nor of a more fitting
representative of our State.
Well done, Barry Goldwater.
I yield the floor.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
[[Page S887]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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