What if JFK and Barry Goldwater faced each other in 1964?

            One sad reality of modern politics is diminishing relationships, even friendships, across the aisle in Congress. Democrats and Republicans spoke to one another and crafted legislation with the opposing party to benefit the American people. Compromise benefitted everyone and was NOT an ugly word.

            Two unlikely legislative pals were both elected to the Senate in 1952. Both men were World War II veterans from wealthy families on opposite ends of the nation. One was deeply conservative, the other a moderate Democrat. Believe it or not, Massachusetts Senator (and later President) John F. Kennedy and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater were good friends. Had Kennedy not been brutally murdered on the streets of Dallas on November 22, 1963, the election of 1964, and perhaps future campaigns as well, may have been conducted in a more civil manner.

            Goldwater and Kennedy served on the Senate Labor Committee and struck a friendship. Goldwater said “I liked him right from the start. He was an easy fellow to meet- had no reserve at all about him.” Opposites do attract.

            Kennedy became president in 1961, and Goldwater emerged as a frontrunner in 1964. In the fall of 1963, they began discussing an unusual and unprecedented debate structure. In Goldwater’s words, “If Jack Kennedy hadn’t been assassinated, our debates the following year would have shaken up the way we select our presidents thereafter.” Kennedy’s visit to Texas that fall was an early and informal campaign trip.

            The revelation occurred during a 1988 interview Goldwater had with Robert MacNeil of PBS. They planned to follow the Lincoln-Douglas debate format from their famous 1858 Senate campaign in Illinois. There would be no moderators, they would travel together (if possible) and engage in “some good old-fashioned debating.”

            Another factor on Display since 1976 is there would have been no time restrictions. For the last almost five decades, candidates have had to condense their answers to ninety seconds. Longer, more nuanced responses may have raised the level of discourse between the candidates. The forums that exist today are really organized press conferences.

            Goldwater described one other benefit that we could certainly use today. “I think the American people would have been startled to see two men with very different perspectives respectively go at each other in order to discuss the issues confronting the nation- without interruption or inference by the media…I am also certain that our citizens would have been surprised to see the amount of respect and friendship we had for one another despite our obvious differences.”

            Kennedy’s loss was profound on multiple fronts. Maybe in 2028, this type of arrangement could be attempted.