A GOP convention that seems strangely familiar

The 6-acre site is best known as the home of the annual Grand National Livestock Expo, Horse Show and Rodeo, but its rich history is varied and colorful. The Cow Palace has hosted concerts by The Beatles and Rolling Stones as well as sporting events that included the Golden State Warriors’ first NBA championship in 1975. Its other offerings list the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The greatest show, however, had to be the 1964 GOP convention where U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona won the presidential nomination over rivals New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and William Scranton, governor of Pennsylvania. The raucous gathering was the second Republican presidential convention held at the Cow Palace. In 1956, the party renominated President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon, a ticket that won handily over the Democrats’ Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.

Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a decision that was sure to draw the ire of more liberal elements. It did. An estimated 35,000 anti-Goldwater protesters marched from the Ferry Building in San Francisco to that city’s Civic Center. Each day there were demonstrations at the Cow Palace, but, surprisingly, there were no arrests made during the July event.

The restraint shown by law enforcement drew the praise of both the Congress of Racial Equality, which spearheaded the protests, and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. James Fitzgerald, the chairman of the board, said the lack of arrests “reflected not only a good image for the county throughout the nation, but it saved the taxpayers approximately $100,000” because jails and courts would have been “jammed.”

Goldwater is remembered for this line from his acceptance speech, which received thunderous cheers at the Cow Palace: “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Liberals warned that electing Goldwater would be dangerous.

During the ensuing presidential campaign, an anti-Goldwater television ad showed a little girl picking petals from a flower in a loves-me, loves-me not manner suddenly being vaporized by a nuclear explosion. The ad had a brief shelf life after drawing outcries about unfairness.

Another anti-Goldwater TV commercial featured a self-described Republican voter, actually an actor, say the GOP candidate “scares” him and notes “weird groups” support him. The ad would never work today because the actor smoked throughout.

Goldwater and his running mate William Miller ended up getting trounced by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey. The Democrats garnered 44 of 50 states and the District of Columbia. The popular vote was 61 percent in favor of Johnson and Humphrey.

The convention was covered gavel-to-gavel by news reporters, estimated to outnumber delegates 2-1. The journalists included Jerry Blizin of the St. Petersburg Times. Years later he recalled that the conventioneers cheered when news people were ordered off the floor. He said he was “physically shoved” toward the doors. Most of the anger was directed at television reporters working for the three major networks that were covering the convention live for the first time.

The Rear View Mirror by history columnist Jim Clifford appears in the Daily Journal every other Monday. Objects in The Mirror are closer than they appear.