Goldwater

Goldwater is a surname that has been carried by several notable figures in American public life. The most prominent is Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), an American businessman and politician from Arizona who served as a U.S. Senator for Arizona from 1953 to 1965 and again from 1969 to 1987. He was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 1964, losing to Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater’s 1964 campaign and his later writings helped shape the development of modern American conservatism.

In psychiatry, the Goldwater Rule refers to an ethical guideline that discourages professionals from offering opinions about a public figure’s mental health without having personally examined the person. The rule emerged from controversy surrounding public commentary about Goldwater during the 1964 campaign and has since informed professional standards.

The Goldwater Institute is a think tank based in Phoenix, Arizona. Established in 1988 and named after Barry Goldwater, it advocates for limited government, individual rights, and free-market policies, and it has influenced state-level policy debates in Arizona and beyond.

Barry Goldwater Jr. (born 1938) is the son of Barry Goldwater and has been involved in business and public life as a private citizen and occasional political figure.

Beyond individuals, the surname is most often encountered in reference to people, institutions, or concepts named after Barry Goldwater. The term does not denote a single, separate entity outside these associations.