One of the questions I have been getting as I go around promoting JFK, Conservative is "What about Barry Goldwater?" Wasn't Goldwater, not Kennedy, the real conservative of the day, and wasn't Goldwater a critic of Kennedy? I address this point in the book, but nonetheless it's marvelous to get the following comment from a FutureOfCapitalism reader-participant-watchdog-community member-content co-creator
In 1963, my paternal grandfather was working with the GOP and the fledgling Conservative Party of New York State to draft Sen. Goldwater to run against JFK in 1964 (He later became the Goldwater campaign's NYS Finance Committee chairman in the "quixotic" run against LBJ--not a loss but a coup, ITBT). So my father got to meet the great statesman at the age of 27. He described the meeting as "the most embarrassing moment of my life." Why? Because he told Sen. Goldwater, "I hope you beat that left-wing so-and-so, that fellow-traveler, that..." when "Mr. Conservative" interrupted him. "You can stop there, son," he said. "Jack Kennedy just happens to be my best friend in the Senate. He is a war hero, a dedicated public servant, and a great patriot. A true American. I'm proud to call him my friend, and you should be proud to call him your president."
Given what we know from other sources about JFK and Goldwater, this totally has the ring of truth.