Southern Republicans 3 Assn. and of the South I TEXT OF GOLDWATER STATEMENT ON 1964 ELECTION Following is the complete transcript of Sen. Barry Goldwater's Nov. 4 statement and news conference on the 1964 Presidential election, as recorded by the Associatt'd Press and the New York Times. Have you got those gadgets on? Well, thank you. I have waited until now to make any statement about this election because I wanted to find out more of the details of the vote -- not just the total, but the spread of it, what it might portend at this very early date. I know many of you expected me to make some statement last night, but I have held that off. TELEGRAM TO JOHNSON I have sent the President the following wire, which I think will be available for you, if you don't have it now. "To President Lyndon Johnson, Johnson City, Texas: "Congratulations on your victory . I will help you in any way that I can toward achieving a growing and better America and a secure and dignified peace. The role of the Republican Party will remain in that temper, but it also remains the Party of opposition when opposition is called for. There is much to be done with Viet Nam, Cuba, the problem of law and order in this country, and a product ive economy. Communism remains our number one obstacle to peace, and I know that all Americans will join with you in honest solutions to these problems." NO BITTERNESS 0 have no bitterness, no rancor at all. I say to the President as a fellow politician that he did a wonderful job. I say job. He put together a vote total that is larger than has ever been gained in this country . However, it is interesting to me and very surprising to me that the latest figures that l can get do not reach the total of the 1960 election. I am disappointed in this because I thought the Am erican people would have turned out in greater numbers than they seem to have done. But he did a good job, and I have to congratulate him on it. Also I want to express my gratitude to the more than 25 million people in this country who not necessarily voted for me but voted for a philosophy that I represent, a Republican philosophy that I believe the Republican Party must cling to and strengthen in the years ahead. I want to thank all of you across this Nation who turned out In those numbers to supportmy candidacy and that of Bill Miller and the Republican Party. I don't think that I have ever seen more dedicated people in my life, people who worked as hard, worked as long and produced the results that they did. These people are dedicated to, as I say, the Republican philosophy. There is a two-party system in this country, and we are going to keep it. We are going to devote our days in the years ahead to strengthening the Republican Party, to getting more people into it, and I feel that the young people coming along will provide the army that we need. This effort that we engaged in last Jan. 3 turned out to be a much longer effort than we thought. It is not an effort that we can drop now, nor do we have any intentions of dropping it now. TO REMAIN ACTIVE IN PARTY Being unemployed as of Jan. 3orthereabouts, I will have a lot of time to devote to this Party, to its leadership, and to the strengthening of the Party, and that I have every intention of doing. I want to just ask the people in this country who worked so hard in this election not to be dependent, that we have a job to do, and let's get along with it, because there are many questions that have to be answered. I am very hopeful that the President will now, that the election is over, get along with the answers that we have sought during this campaign. The answers about Viet Nam the answers about Cuba, about communism, communism's continuing growth all around the world, about the growing tendency to the control of our economy and our daily Ii ves in this country. As I say, in my wire, anything that I can do -- and I am sure I speak for all Americans -- anything that we can do to help the President get along with the solution to these problems, we are ready, willing and able to do. Now, with that, I have nothing further today. I will entertain a few questions, not any prolonged period at it, and Mr. Paul Wagner will recognize you. CONSERVATIVE CAUSE Q. Senator, shortly before you formally announced for the Presidency, you said you hoped that if you ran you would not run so bad a race that it would hurt the conservative cause. Do you now think that you have hurt the conservative cause? GOLDWATER: No, Idon'tfeelthattheconservative cause has been hurt; 25 million votes is a lot of votes and a lot of people dedicated to the concept of conservatism, I don't think it has been hurt. Q. You said the cause you believe in is the one the Republican Party must cling to, and yet the size of your vote and the distribution of your loss in traditional Republican areas of the South -this is taken to mean a sizeabledefection,of course and contribution to your repudiation by Republicans. The question is whether the Republican Party voters have not shared in repudiating this philosophy you say the Party must cling to? (Continued on nextpage) Goldwater - 2 GOLDWATER: Well, unfortunately, I think you are right, that my defeat to some degree -- although I wouldn't say a major degree - - was occasioned by Republicans in this country who would not vote or work, I should say, for the top of the ticket. This is in direct contrast to times when the conservatives did not win at the convention when we would go out and work our hearts out for the more liberal or moderate members of the Party. But this is not a repudiation, this was announced -- they announced this as soon as the convention was over, and I think they are entitled to do what they want. l don't think we can build a Republican Party on their concepts which, in my opinion, have no difference at all with the Democratic concepts . OVER-ALL REPUBLICAN SHOWING Q. Senator, this is already being interpreted by other Republicans around the country as a crushing disaster not only because of the size of the Johnson vote, but because of the Governors that went down, senatorial candidates lost and the loss of some 30 seats in the House. What is your feeling on that score? GOLDWATER: Well, I haven't seenthetotalson that end of it yet. I can't tell you how many Governors have lost or won. I think if some Governors and Senators and some Congressmen had more actively supported the ticket they would have been better off. You cannot in this gam e of politics fight your own party. It just doesn't work. We made some good gains in the South in the Congress, which I think we would have made anyway . But we made them. F UTURE POSITION IN PARTY Q. Senator, if I understand you correctly, you are going to stay in as leader of the Party, and perhaps it is too early to ask you this, but do you contemplate that you might be willing to run again in 19687 GOLDWATER: Oh, that is a long time off, and again , this would be at the wish of the Party. It would be my guess that my role would be better played in helping the Party organization, in continuing to raise money for it so that it can operate. As of now, l would think they probably would pick another man to run, and as of now that would be fin e with me . then 1 have the problem of moving my effects out of my office in Washington -- a rather sizable job- - so 1 don ' t know wha t the plan will be after the vacation. We will come back and be he re. And then we will make our plans. CAUSE OF DEFEAT Q. Senator, is there any single factor during the course of the campaign that you think most substantially contributed to your defeat yesterday? GOLDWATER: No, l was thinking about that this morning , when we were talking. I can't think of a ny ma jor mistake that we made. There are always minor mistakes that you make, regardless of whether you win or lose . I think thi s jus t proves that regardless of who the candidate is it is gr owing in creasingl y difficult to upset the man who is in the White House with his tremendous base to start with of Federal employes -- not that they all vote for him -- the base that he starts wi th, oh, the power o f inves tigation, the power of news ability to control ne ws . I think that the Republicans have to realize that they are up agai nst something that we have seen developing in this country for ma ny years , but never seen it in the nature and the proporti on that We are not r unnin g e lections any more we saw it this time. as we used to, and l think we have to study new techn iques, we ha ve to become better versed in propa ganda, we have to ge t closer to the news, closer to you fel lows who handle the news . We have to be constantly on television , and so fo rth and so on, to build over some kind of a -- Hi, P r iscilla, I didn't see you back there -- some kind of machine that can cope w.ith this vast power of the federal machine. THE PRESS Q. Senator, do you expect there will be any efforts over the next coupleofyearsbysomeoftheRepublicans who did not support you enthusiastically to attempt to wrest the leadership of the Party from you? GOLDWATER: Well, I would expectthat,butyou have to keep this in mind. As Jim Farley (former Democratic National Committee Chairman) said the other night, the leadership of the Party, the rebuilding of the Party rests with the ticket that was picked at the national convention, win, lose or draw, and l would see my position here as working with the leadership of the Republican members of the House and the Senate, this historic place where the real political power rests. There is no such thing as a titular head of a Party out of power. The head, the leadership is to be found with Charlie Halleck and with Everett Dirksen in the House and in the Senate. I would be working with them with hand in glove to build a P arty. Q. Senator, last night Paul Fannin said tha t he t hought your defeat was due to your treatment by the press. Do you believe that is true? GOLDWATER: No, I don't think that the working press - ! don't think that you fellows, as I said the othe r night -- you 've been -- I think you've been fair. I think you have to realize that you have your own prejudices. Some of you believe in wha t I say, some of you don't, and this is bound to be r e flected both ways . I do think, though, that the attempt by the, oh, you might say the columnists, that end of the press, both on TV, rad io, and i n th e papers, hurt, because I have never seen or heard of in my life such vitriolic, unbased attacks on one man as has been directed to me. Now, you fellows in the working press haven' t done tha t, but I think of, oh, the things I have been called ri ght down the line - s ometimes they didn't spell it out, but a cowa rd, uneducated , ungentlemanly, a bigot, and all those things - - l ha ve ne ve r in my life seen such inflammatory langua ge as ha s been used by some men who know better, who should write be tter, who s hou ld have enough decency, common, ordinary manners about them to know that no man in this country, for e xample, is ever going to start a war, that no man in this country is ever goi ng to de ny anybody what they have coming to them. I thi nk these people should, frankly, hang their heads in shame because I thin k they have made the fourth estate a rather sad, sorry me ss . And if I were you people I would - - 1968 GOP PRESIDENTIAL OUTLOOK TO MISS SENATE Q. Senator, who would you name as among the two or three leading Republican pres idential possibilities for 1968 in the wake of this situation yesterday ? GOLDWATER: Oh, I wouldn't -- Ihavenobody in mind. ·That is a long time, a long ways off, four years from yesterday. I · wouldn' t want to guess anything. Q. Senator, what are your personal fee lings now that you have to leave Washington and the Senate? GOLDWATER : Well, I am going to miss the Senate , any man would . It is a wonderful experience. I wouldn't traoe those 12 years for anything in the world. lam going to keep my apa rtment in Washington. ldon'tknowwhatlwill do with it . I am not s eeking any employment there, but I will miss the Sena te -- but I will be awful glad to ge t back home. Thank you . I want in closing to tell you that we are trying to get the 727 to stay until Friday, and if that ls the case , you fellows can have anothe r day out in the sun. A lot of you look like you can use it. I want to thank publicly J ack Stewart for the use of the hall. J a ck, we appreciate all you have clone. And how you feel towards me. I have a friendly, warm feelin g towa rds a ll of . you, and hope to see you again somewhere down the pi l.e . Thank you. PARTY CONTROL IMMEDIATE PLANS Q. Senator, can you tell us a little bit about your immediate plans, and then about your plans for after you are unemployed, what you are going to do to maintain this leadership, ,where you are going to write, or what? GOLDWATER: Well, my immediate plans -- I think Peggy and I will take a little r est some place, although we are not tired. I don't know where we will go, but we will go some place. And President Lyndon Johnson Johnson City, Texas Congratulations on your victory. I will help you in any way that I can toward achieving a growing and better America and a secure and dignified peace. The role of the Republican Party will remain in that temper but it also remains the Party of opposition when opposition is called for There is much to be done with Vietnam, Cuba, the problem of law and order in this country, and remains our number