Goldwater Sues For Libel (Press, 8 May 1968)
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Summary: Goldwater Sues For Libel (Press, 8 May 1968)
The trial of Barry Goldwater's $2 million libel suit against "Fact" magazine commenced on 7 May 1968, with his wife providing testimony regarding his mental health. Goldwater's attorney, Roger Robb, described a 1964 article from "Fact" titled “1189 Psychiatrists Say Goldwater is Psychologically Unfit to be President” as "scurrilous." This article allegedly contained defamatory statements suggesting that Goldwater had experienced two nervous breakdowns and exhibited latent homicidal and homosexual tendencies. During the trial, Mrs Goldwater asserted that her husband had never received psychiatric treatment but acknowledged that he had once been exhausted while working long hours in a department store in 1937. She explained that in their Indiana upbringing, such exhaustion was referred to as a nervous breakdown. Following a period of rest in Honolulu, she claimed he returned to good health. Defence attorney Harris Steinberg argued that Goldwater’s decision to sue "Fact" was motivated by its publisher, Mr Ginzburg, who had a pending conviction for mailing obscene material and was waiting for a potential prison sentence. Steinberg pointed out that Goldwater had not taken legal action against other publications that had published similar claims, suggesting that the lawsuit was targeting "Fact" specifically due to Ginzburg’s legal troubles. The magazine claimed to have conducted extensive research, sending out questionnaires to 12,356 psychiatrists, with 2,417 responding. Of those, 1,189 psychiatrists deemed Goldwater unfit for the presidency, while 657 found him fit, and 571 felt they lacked sufficient information to make a judgement. Steinberg noted that the article aimed to inform the public during a critical time when the question of nuclear weapons was on many minds. He also highlighted that Goldwater had previously made statements indicating that he considered the article to be fair comment. Information regarding his purported nervous breakdowns had been referenced from other magazine articles quoting Mrs Goldwater. The trial reflects the tense atmosphere surrounding the 1964 Republican presidential candidate as he sought to clear his name amid challenging accusations related to his mental fitness for leadership.
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