The Election of 1964

Goldwater's nomination bore eloquent testimony to the burgeoning political and economic strength of the South and the West, the fastest­growing regions of the country. A lifelong resident of Arizona, Goldwater epitomized the feelings common among westerners in the United States, namely, an anti­East animus and a sharp dis­ trust of the federal government. Westerners loved Goldwater's acid­tongued attacks on the federal government and on the East; he once even declared that he wanted to saw off "the Eastern Seaboard [to] let it float right out into the Atlantic."