Great Society in the US - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

[@DavidKutzler]

I'm a veteran of the War on Poverty. I was awarded a two-year, full-ride scholarship for my Master's degree to become a certified nurse-midwife by the US Public Health Service. In exchange, I was required to serve in a "Health Manpower Shortage Area" for two years as a commissioned USPS officer (1980-82). I was sent to one of the most impoverished counties in West Virginia where I was the only source for local maternity care for the entire county. While I did improve access to quality maternity care to these impoverished women, I can't claim that I made a big difference in the long term. It was the first time that I had seen generational poverty. Looking at the big picture, nothing was going to change until the culture of poverty changed.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Sadly, it looks like America will soon be back where it was before LBJ's big society.

[@andrewprindiville119]

erasing poverty is a sisyphean task out of reach like world peace. all one can do is keep there side of the street clean. you would have to be able to control peoples actions like make them save money, go back to school, or not abuse substances

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

​@andrewprindiville119, you can't eradicate poverty. All a government can do is provide paths out of poverty. Pity the GOP and Trump doesn't understand that.

[@stephenhawkins3316]

The poor will always be among us Another way of saying it is you provided a floor for someone who hustled and was able to get theirselves out of poverty. We never know what long term impact your efforts achieved. Can't save them all but I bet a few with your help saved themselves.

[@andrewprindiville119]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 there are biden just erased student debt and this gentlemen got a scholarship my mom was awarded a scholarship how do we have all these "safety nets" and poverties worse than ever? how about making college affordable to begin with. democrats need an economics class

[@ekmalsukarno2302]

To David and the entire Cold War crew, please make videos on these following topics: - Argentina during the rule of Juan Peron. That way, all your viewers and subscribers will learn about the unique ideology of Peronism, Peron's cult of personality, his economic policies, and how they all affect Argentina's politics, economy and society to this day. - The history of Thailand during the Cold War. That way, all your viewers and subscribers will learn about the return of Phibun (who governed Thailand during WW2) as well as the numerous on-and-off military governments that governed Thailand during the Cold War. - Gastarbeiters (foreign migrant workers) in both West and East Germany. That way, all your viewers and subscribers will learn about how Germany's Turkish diaspora came into existence. - Indonesia's Chinese diaspora population. That way, all your viewers and subscribers will learn about how this influential community was affected by the governments of both Sukarno and Suharto. Thank you very much.

[@davidk7324]

My wife, a native of Argentina, sees multiple parallels with current events in the US. Peronism, resultant Juntas, and pervasive Argentine corruption and nepotism may provide clues for us.

[@c-scoop9951]

This is my favourite youtube series

[@simongrushka983]

mine too

[@TheColdWarTV]

Thank you both, that means a lot to hear!

[@daveacbickford]

My favourite too! You guys make incredible content, this one in particular was an amazing video! LBJ history vids are often just limited to the Vietnam War, but the homefront was so diverse too, not just limited to anti wa protests. Keep up the incredible work The Cold War team 😊

[@davidk7324]

As a Boomer child (b. 1957) of the Great Society who early on was fascinated by history and geopolitics, I found this episode to be a concise and cogent interpretation of the era that reverberates today. It set up the clash of classical liberalism and neoliberalism. Now we lack a unifying common enemy the USSR provided. China doesn't substitute in the same way, and radical islam lacks staying power. So we're turning on ourselves.

[@bigsarge2085]

Interesting, thank you!

[@ricardoyamada6409]

Here, in Brasil, we are struggling to understand why U.S society is the way it is. Whith the help of this channel,I can understand all by and by. Terrific Job!

[@byronwaldron7933]

Great video! LBJ is definitely one of the most interesting and domestically impressive presidents. But you missed an opportunity to mention the Johnson Treatment and Jumbo!

[@CA999]

I think he was the most productive in presidential history, passing a record amount of legislation? Perhaps relative to the period of time he was in office?

[@penforprez]

Those two were less intrinsic to the topic of the Great Society than they were about LBJ himself.

[@byronwaldron7933]

@@penforprez They aren't intrinsic to the Great Society, but they are intrinsic to LBJ's ability to twist arms and assert dominance in the pursuit of policy goals, which the video briefly touched upon.

[@byronwaldron7933]

@@CA999 FDR's first term might have him beat, but you're possibly correct.

[@murraycramp3947]

Good analysis.

[@michaeldunne338]

One of the long lasting successes of the Great Society was the significant reduction in elderly poverty - that is with a population segment that has grown as our country's demographics has changed to an older society. As noted in by PBS: "The poverty rate for Americans ages 65 and older has dropped sharply during the past 50 years, from nearly 30% in 1966 to 10% today" [today being 2022 data on "Table A-3.Poverty Status of People by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2022" - basically 28.5% to 10.2% from 1966 to 2022].

[@cwilh6044]

If it wasn't for vietnam lbj really would be in the top 5 presidents. And since all of them have their massive faults just by the nature of the position, I'd still personally rank him there along with FDR, Lincoln, Grant, and Teddy rounding out the top 5. Presidents with a (subjectively good) vision and the capacity to achieve it are few and far between but freeing the slaves (Lincoln); crushing the kkk & enacting reconstruction (Grant); breaking up monopolies & pushing conservation (Teddy); fighting the great depression, enacting the New Deal, & fighting the nazis (FDR); and enacting the Civil/Voting/Housing Rights Acts along with the Great Society (LBJ) definitely fits the criteria of men with vision who stood behind their words & promises with deeds & made the U.S. a better nation for it & for having been president.

[@anthonygilford3097]

I did Job Corps after high school because I couldn't afford college. Its not highlighted enough great program

[@Parakeet-pk6dl]

For a young(er) person like me, it’s a new insight that there truly was a time when people thought capitalism was about to bring more equality, rather than improving inequality.

[@Joe-Dead]

capitalism didn't cause inequality, greedy people did. an economic system has no agency to cause anything, people that run it, make rules within it, and cheat it DO. i don't get wtf is with people who attack a system when it is LITERALLY always humans to blame, greedy humans that will game any system you can think of and that is historically PROVEN. the only 'reasoning' for that i can think of is you WANT to help those greedy humans maintain power by wasting time and energy on something that cannot solve the problem even if you REMOVE IT, they'll just game your NEW system starting the same cycle all over again. historically proven mmkay? in every governmental, sociological and economic system ever devised in human recorded history NONE of them have been immune to greedy HUMANS gaming the system to their advantage. the only solution is no matter what the system is, laws, regulation and oversight > eternal vigilance along with voting to make SURE those checks stay in place to PREVENT those greedy selfish leeches from doing their work. stop wasting energy and time blaming something that even if you changed it WOULDN"T STOP THE PROBLEM. those people are still there, and always will be.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

@@Parakeet-pk6dl socialism does much worse.. leftism has never ever done that.

[@Healermain15]

@@jonathanstevey1748 Bringing equality and helping impoverished people is literally the entire point of socialism.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

@Healermain15 no. Socialism only equally distributes misery and poverty. Only ideology with a 100% failure rate.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

@@Healermain15 no. Socialism only produces misery equally. 100% fail rate

[@seabrain1212]

If you'll notice, in each quote from LBJ used here Johnson explicitly names education as a particularly important area. Having read the first book of Robert Carro's biography of Johnson, I think its clear that LBJ's time as a schoolteacher in one of the country's poorest areas deeply affected him. He was nothing if not relentless, and he saw first-hand the tragedy of American poverty and must have felt that something had to be done.

[@penforprez]

Robert Caro is *still* working on his epic LBJ biography at age 89, I think.

[@johnl.7754]

Today (also for couple decades before) wars will not stop other spending priorities (regardless how you think of it). Politicians will just borrow more money to do both at the same time.

[@HeavenlyMandate]

Can you discuss about Indonesian armed forces from "old order era" (early 50s-early 60s)

[@benjaminhamel5280]

Omg I just got why the dog in King of the HIll is named Lady Bird

[@VictorKB96]

Finally a video giving details about the War on Poverty. Until now, only revisionist conservatives had videos on that

[@sprsmoke]

At the time poverty was not the problem it is today. The standard of living was much higher. Welfare destroyed Rome.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

You mean that is was an utter failure...

[@VictorKB96]

@@marcel-ifc17 Also, even the white middle class of the North didn't have the same material conforts that we have today. The domestic technology was way less efficient

[@JamesLee-mp8hk]

"The Promise of the Great Society was shot down over the battlefields of Vietnam." Martin Luther King jr

[@SpiritOfMontgomery]

I don’t think the source list was changed, still is mainly about the caucuses

[@TheColdWarTV]

updated! Thanks for pointing it out

[@SpiritOfMontgomery]

@ no problem! Happy to help:)

[@bryantan3348]

Yeah, it's talking about social upheaval in Georgia

[@Mrgunsngear]

🇺🇸

[@p.s6742]

60 years later all these improvements are in jeopardy. 😢

[@TerracottaPie1987]

Make society great again

[@sankarchaya]

But LBJ was all man. And I say that in all due respect to women, and I love women, but this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he pulled his junk out in front of other politicians, they came out of there, they said, ‘oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’

[@vladilenkalatschev4915]

Unfortunately L. B. Johnson had to deal with the heritage of JFK - the War in Vietnam

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

That went back to Eisenhower. Hard to prove a negative but JFK was deeply skeptical about putting large numbers of US forces in Vietnam. His WW2 experience, then the useless CIA assessments on opposition to Castro (Bay Of Pigs), then the behavior of the Joint Chiefs during the Cuban Missile Crisis shocked him. LBJ on the other hand was far more deferential to the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs, he had nothing to say in the secretly taped discussions during the Cuba crisis. JFK was before becoming President by far the most worldly and traveled person, before or since, to be POTUS. LBJ wasn’t. He was never sure about committing the US to Vietnam but wasn’t confident enough to defy the JCS. He had run in 1964 saying he would not put tens of thousands of American boys in to fight someone else’s war. Within 9 months he started to do just that. Maybe in part due to the wide social reforms this video is about, he felt a need to cement his anti Communist credentials?

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

JFK sent only advisors there, and Eisenhower sent money. Heck, the Vietnam War as we know it started in 1964, JFK has been dead for less than a year. The Vietnam War is truly Johnson's war...

[@thismikewillnot]

My dad was a school boy in Inez Kentucky when LBJ’s helicopter landed on their school football field

[@theberghofer]

Apparently LBJ would throw his cowboy hat out to the crowd from the helicopter. then later get his team to find out where the hat went so he could get it back 🤣

[@brickonator]

Even if a lot of it was done for appearances or to show up the Soviets, it’s still nice to see people suggesting that supporting others would help us succeed rather than success only though brutalizing the enemy. Of course, there was still plenty of brutality in the Cold War, don’t get me wrong.

[@d.m.conroy6717]

somebody read Robert Caro's books

[@jlshel42]

Ah yes the mindset that lead to the scariest phrase in US history: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.

[@robertsmith5744]

The Cold War never ended.

[@alfrancisbuada2591]

Is that Mr. Bean in the beginning of the video?

[@kaiseramadeus233]

Conservatives aren't happy to see this video

[@jonathanstevey1748]

And leftists simp for government and Fascism too much

[@richardkammerer2814]

The damage that done as chronicled by Thomas Sowell was indeed unsettling.

[@thatsjohn3938]

Many fiscally conservatives would like all children in Canada and The USA to have the option of going to a charter school with a voucher like children in Sweden rather than having to be forced to a public school in Toronto, Chicago, Las Angeles or Baltimore.

[@alex4863]

Thank you for making a video of my favorite president on my favorite reform agenda post ww2 “The Great Society” he’s my only reason of southern pride.

[@KDonhoops]

picture of the rock band Great Society in the thumbnail

[@d-boyzinfinity1614]

❤

[@davidllewis4075]

Having been there and lived through it I will go to my grave convinced the bullet which felled Kennedy changed the course of American history for good and for bad.

Amazing that something as forward looking as that was possible back then. And also interesting that is was apparently only possible because of the backdrop of the cold war :)

[@mikebaker2436]

I predict that the comment section on this video is going to be a real dumpster fire.

[@MrBelmont79]

Interesting, but how much did the great society initiatives cost in Dollars? What percentage of the national budget went towards this? ✋🏻🙄

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

Nowhere near what was spent in Vietnam. The LBJ irony, clearly a domestic President he was far less confident on foreign policy so was prone to take bad advice. The Joint Chiefs were gagging for a war. Strange ideas like domino theory which assumed all countries were the same. So that bloody pit in SE Asia ended up blunting the great society and arguably the space program. Plus the resentment seen. In 68, ending racism was very unpopular with large swaths of the US. He said it himself, ‘we’ve lost the South for a generation’. Make that forever.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

@MrBelmont79 about a trillion dollars total and it failed.

[@scotthanson7888]

The real question is what was the cost to society. Espically the poor. The Democratic Party’s goal is to keep poor dependent and voting for them

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

​@@scotthanson7888 It's not like the Republicans did the same. How do you think William McKinley got elected?

[@andrewnlarsen]

I don’t know if this is actually true but there is an old saying here. Johnson lost “his wife” the great society to “his whore” Vietnam

[@murrayscott9546]

Hungry Freaks, Daddy !. Zappa.

[@lipingrahman6648]

The idea was admirable but like so much government programs it was based on wishful thinking and willful ignorance rather than empirical reality.

[@lolwutyoumad]

tell this to the boomers who think the past was all sunshine and rainbows

[@Daniel-jk7pe]

LBJ how many kids did you feed today!

[@neildepoy7329]

Now 60 years later we see what a failure these policies were more people in poverty and higher inequality.

[@dk50b]

As every Great Society initiative aimed at the poorest Americans had been sharply reduced or eliminated the mid 1990s, our current situation has nothing to say about their sucess. Tax policies beginning then have seen almost $10 trillion in cuts to the very wealthiest and a similar amount of corporate welfare. The 8% of Federal spending going to economic security programs cannot possibly make a dent in this widening gulf.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

The graph at 6:40 literally proves you wrong. Did you even watch the video?

[@dk50b]

@alphamikeomega5728 More people aren't in poverty now than before these programs began. The overall rate in the 1959 was 22%, last year it was 11%. However the greatest one year increase since then occurred after expiration of the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit and other income support support in 2022. So yes I stand corrected that only loss of Great Society programs has increased poverty. However, as noted in the video the Vietnam War prevented anything close to full realization. Programs for the elderly, which haven't seen the same cuts, halved their poverty rate since then. Further, inequality didn't begin to skyrocket until the 1990s, with the top .1% earning 45X the bottom 90 through then, with multiple now at 200X.

[@usa1mac]

I'm not a fan of the predicable but unintentaional outcomes of the programs (welfare queens, destruction of the family unit in many communites, increased dependency on the govenment, etc.) but the cold war angle was useful to hear on.

[@mostreal907]

Welfare queens? Have you meet anyone on welfare?

[@DanielYafi]

I always wondered where are these queens? You think they would call ceos that take government subsidies like Elon that

[@bushit123456]

how can fighting poverty cause the destruction of the family unit?

[@alphamikeomega5728]

The family unit was destroyed by easier divorce, women having financial independence and the war on drugs (locking up black fathers, and leaving black women with less and therefore worse choice for partners). If you want to know what to blame for problems, you can (and should) read the abstracts of papers rather than listening to talking heads. Google Scholar is so easy to use!

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

‘The Welfare Queen’ story was told by a B list actor who became President. Who never left California in WW2 but told Europeans on a Presidential trip there in 1984 how he had been there when the camps were liberated. Including to Holocaust survivors. His policies have destroyed the American Middle Class and hammered the working class.

[@KikinImpossible]

Let’s show how much better libertarian capitalism is than authoritarian communism by moving toward authoritarian communism with more taxes, more spending, and more government control. That worked out really well.

[@Seouldrift7]

If there was any success it was not most likely until after the U.S elections of 1966. And the part about civil rights I don't know if LBJ would be championed in that realm giving his comments about black people in America.

[@sprsmoke]

People had civil rights already.

[@Seouldrift7]

@@sprsmoke There was the civil rights act of 1964. Which was not of his proposal.

[@psycoloco1113]

Those comments about having them voting for 400 years have been debunked. However there is no doubt he said the n word numerous times specially around southern conservative Democrats who opposed the CRA, mostly said as a way to build rapport and demonstrate he was on their side. Just like about every other person back in the 50s and 60s the n word rolled off the tongue like water rolls off a ducks back.

[@answerman9933]

Society cannot eliminate poverty. At best, society can just define what poverty is.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

No homeless in Finland - go figure.

[@steelydan146]

Great Society = Welfare Culture

[@sprsmoke]

Yes, it was created on the envy of your successful neighbor. Welfare destroyed Rome and has destroyed America.

[@billhanna2148]

Typical, like school on a sunday No Class and no Clue

[@robertsmith5744]

trunt** = oligarchy culture

[@Healermain15]

Yeah, sounds pretty great.

[@katanabluejay]

The Great Society and it's consequences have been a disaster for America

[@konst80hum]

How has an educated and healthy workforce been a disaster? Because if you didn't have to go to the factory or mine when you were 6 you are one of the beneficiaries. Unless of course your great grandfather was one of the few wealthy around

[@timsmith428]

Spent millions, and nothing changed..Typical Democrat policy..

[@DavidFox]

lmao because pbs and npr never have propaganda programming right?!

[@Jay-ho9io]

Comparing Pravda to PBS is the act of a child who had no experience with both, or an adult who is intentionally choosing to celebrate their stupidity by refusing to acknowledge the relative differences between either. So as an objective, academic evaluation you are either a child, acting like a child, or a willful idiot who's enthusiastic about his idiocy. Which is it?

[@alex4863]

Are you so triggered about Big Bird talking about accepting something/ someone you’re unfamiliar with is as bad as North Korean propaganda? Lay off the Kool-Aid is all I have to say.

[@nvelsen1975]

Why doesn't it surprise me that your videos mainly are anti-vax conspiracies trying to get people killed, and the dumb conspiracy theory that the conservative christian nazis, recognized as righteous christian rulers by the pope in 1933, were somehow occultists? You showcase why public programming is needed: Without it you get isolated and indoctrinated extremists, such as yourself. And the results of that are horrid, as I've seen in '22 shooting at people like you while they were trying to conquer Ukraine.

[@sprsmoke]

@@Jay-ho9io The difference is the Russian people knew they were being propagandized. American sucked it all in and continue to do so.

[@jonathanstevey1748]

Yes American media is propaganda and anyone that thinks otherwise is licking the windows on the short bus.

[@forddon]

Johnson wanted to realize Roosevelts dream of making the United States as much like the Soviet Union as possible

[@nicbahtin4774]

Ironic that's it's destroyed the American society

[@stephenhawkins3316]

I believe it focused on symptoms not the root cause (Mindset). Prior to this poor communities lack of food was the problem. No longer but lack of honest hustle is one problem.

[@nicbahtin4774]

@@stephenhawkins3316 the government replaced the man in the house and so began dismantling of American families none suffered more then the black family whos single parent homes went from 7% to 80%

[@Jay-ho9io]

Found the incel/bigot.

[@alex4863]

@@nicbahtin477460-70’s America was the best economic wealth generation for both minorities and American white majority, economic prosperity started dolphin diving once Nixon came in, you had a mirage of growth under Regan but showed true value once he left hence “Voodoo Economics” n we’ve never changed since with Triple Down Economics.

[@nvelsen1975]

@@nicbahtin4774 Yeah things were sooooo much better when you people (reactionary idiots) were still in charge and starvation and poverty forced people together. ....Which ironically makes your conservative ideology close to that of North Korea; enforced unity by the state forcing you to suffer together.

[@nicbahtin4774]

6:28 stop lying show a graph that shows the 40s and 50s too it will show that falling poverty is the continuation of previous trends.

[@hikareti9503]

He is not lying, he is talking about the Johnson era, not Eisenhower, Truman or Roosevelt.

[@nicbahtin4774]

@hikareti9503 Well he should show it the full graph anyway as the falling poverty is the continuation of previous trends. As the great society ruined everything by replacing the dad in the house with the government.

[@Jay-ho9io]

@@nicbahtin4774 congratulations. You replaced "I don't understand graphs!" With "I don't understand maths!"

[@alphamikeomega5728]

Previous trends, which of course were due to the New Deal (which Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy all supported). But I guess you'd call that socialism? Given the poverty rates before the Great Society, if it was man's job to provide for his family, he was failing, and if poverty fell when the government took over, then good. Of course, I don't believe that men were replaced by government: that's some right-wing clap-trap. So I don't have to believe that the Great Society did a better job than men. But apparently, you do. Your talking point is a self-own.

[@haroldoftherock8973]

It is interesting that to prove capitalism was better than socialism was to adopt socialist policies and tactfully not use the word socialism. And try and ignore that pesky word "welfare" in the constitution

[@thatsjohn3938]

Is it true that the vast majority of federal democrats in Congress voted against the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution while the vast majority of Republicans in Congress voted to pass them?

[@pepagacy]

Those were passed a century before the subject of this video, so of course that would be technically correct. But if those amendments were to be argued in the 1960s as opposed to the 1860s (or even today), you would see far more Democrats be in favor and far more Republicans be opposed.

[@thatsjohn3938]

​@@pepagacy.. Is it true that every southern state had Jim Crow and separate schools laws In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were State Governed by a majority Democrat State Congress and a majority Democrat State Senate., all State supreme Court Democrat justices were nominated to the bench all by Democrat State governor's. Don't get mad at the messenger when the message is true. It amazes me that so many Americans have no Idea about American political History that a Canadian has to give facts.

[@psycoloco1113]

Yes, you also have to understand the nuance of that statement. Politics at those times were very regional, i.e the industrialist north largely stuck together, the agrarian south stuck together. So whoever controlled regional politics pushed regional interests. Politics back then were heavily mixed as well and political party makeup was very mixed. You had norther Democrats who were somewhat liberal and progressive voting a long with southern conservative Democrats who were very right wing. the GOP was also an amalgamation of conservatives, progressives and liberals, and most votes always fell along regional lines not party lines. So when we say democrats opposed something back then we also have to say what wing of the party they were from. Most amendments and legislation that benefitted African Americans were opposed by southern conservative Democrats up to and including the civil rights act of 1964. Most southern conservatives ended up going the way off the GOP after the Reagan revolution and the Gingritch deal with America.

[@swmark78]

@@pepagacy Don't try to explain it to them. They don't know how time works. Or that things change over time.

[@alphamikeomega5728]

The Cynical Historian has a detailed video on the party switch, if you'd like to learn about how the Democratic Party went from conservative and southern to progressive (or neoliberal) and coastal.

[@brucemace5404]

The problem is His making sure everyone and child has food to eat We no longer have no one starving to death on our streets But now we have the most obese people in the world

[@Jay-ho9io]

@@brucemace5404 If your complaint about people no longer starving (which is an accurate We have the second highest amount of malnutrition in NATO) is that we have fat people, you are already a failed human being on every level worth measuring.

[@brucemace5404]

@ Like the fluoride in the water for dental health Most men who got rejected for the draft or volunteer was because of teeth. It was for a good reason like the food But we got side effects Like food additives for preservation

[@alphamikeomega5728]

In Europe, rates of poverty and obesity are lower, and the welfare state is stronger, with universal healthcare everywhere.

[@brucemace5404]

@ and your tax rate is super higher I like keeping the money I work for

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

@@brucemace5404 which as recent events have shown, you more than lose in medical bills (your time will come no matter what you are told b this who see you as not someone who may need healthcare just to be bled). IF you even get any, UHC 33% refusal, others still bad, just half that. You live 4 years less (and rising) compared to other first world countries, no other first world nation has medical bankruptcies, hundreds of thousands per year. When Breaking Bad was shown outside the US the main comment was ‘that couldn’t be set here’. Keep drinking the corporate Kool Aid, you are nothing to them except a someone to be financially bled at the worst time. US spends twice as much per capita for all this, you are 44th in health rankings. 27% on admin (advertising and political lobbying), most others between 6-9% with 100% coverage.

[@caseclosed9342]

“Far-right rhetoric”? Smh, I thought this channel could do better. Barry Goldwater is one of the most misunderstood politicians in American history. Yes, he was anti-communist but he was a different kind of conservative than who had preceded him. He was a member of the NAACP and had pushed for desegregation of public spaces like public schools and the military. He only voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act because he disagreed with certain provisions involving private businesses that he felt could be twisted in ways that were unfair. He later said he may have voted for it if he knew the impact it would have in the broader political landscape later on. Goldwater also supported LGBTQ rights later on and criticized Reagan for his stance on the issue. His main view was that government should be limited but should protect the lives of all citizens. Yes, he tried to appeal to southern whites, but their support for him was complicated and you can think of it similar to pro-Palestinian voters supporting Donald Trump in 2024. It’s too bad the only way Goldwater is seen today is him portrayed as a racist, southern sympathizer and “far-right”…

[@swmark78]

Goldwater gladly accepted Strom Thurmond into the GOP. Afterwards Dixiecrats were drawn more and more into the GOP. He deserves to be seen as a Segregationist sympathizer.

[@caseclosed9342]

@ After Strom Thurmond became a Republican he voted in favor of making Martin Luther King, Jr Day a federal holiday and even voted to extend the protections of a Voting Rights Act - the same act he had filibustered as a Democrat. He also confirmed a black Supreme Court justice. The new generation of southern conservatives that came about when he switched parties didn’t actually care about race like the older generation did. As for the segregationists who voted for Goldwater it’s more complicated. They knew he opposed racial segregation in public spaces but they thought he might let them keep certain encroachments like laws involving private businesses from them. It’s kind of like my above example, do you think Trump is a Hamas sympathizer because he courted liberals who support them?

[@grahambuckerfield4640]

When John McCain was going to succeed Goldwater in his position he told his successor grandly, ‘had I become President you would not have become a POW in Vietnam’. McCain shot back, ‘No, I’d have been one in China!’ ‘In your guts you think he’s nuts’ The most bizarre 1964 ad is a Goldwater one, a rambling, weird, makes no sense talk by John Wayne (WW2 draft dodger who attacked Vietnam war of choice draft dodgers).

[@Armando_Hasanbelliu]

Can you make a video about freemasons?

[@Armando_Hasanbelliu]

And no, it's not about brotherly love, there is more than meets the eye.