Pinback button issued for the formal launch of the Barry Goldwater presidential campaign at Prescott, Arizona, Sept. 4, 1964. Litho.
Although he had been a candidate for most of the year, and had received the Republican nomination earlier in the summer, Goldwater delayed formally launching his campaign until two months before Election Day, giving a speech from the steps of the court house in Prescott, Arizona, the same location where he had announced his candidacy for the Senate a dozen years earlier. Organizers were expecting upwards of 20,000 people, but only 4000-6000 turned out to hear the Senator and his running mate rail against the Johnson administration and promise to scale back the federal government. This button, we are told, was produced in Los Angeles, but didn't reach Prescott until the event was underway and only a few hundred were actually distributed. It remains elusive and a key addition to any Goldwater collection.