The Conscience of a Conservative was first published under the name of Senator Barry Goldwater. The book was a smashing success beyond anyone’s expectations. Over 3.5 million copies sold, and its success garnered Goldwater enough national fame to secure his party’s nomination in 1964. For decades, it has been considered an unparalleled foundational text.

In the final portions of Barry Goldwater’s movement‐​making 1960 book, he turns his pen from domestic affairs and the philosophy of limited government to the realm of foreign affairs and the supposed “Soviet Menace.”