Answer: Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)
Today marks the 100th birthday of the state of Arizona, whose famous son Barry Goldwater was a frequent Meet the Press guest during his career in Washington. MTP moderators Marvin Kalb and Roger Mudd opened one of those programs, in January of 1985, with an introduction that sounds familiar today – Kalb outlined the battle on Capitol Hill over the country’s huge budget deficit and said “it will take not only economic wisdom, but political courage to tackle and solve that problem, and Washington these days has run up its own big deficits on both of those qualities.” Goldwater was at the time the new chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and one of the most prominent conservatives in the budget fight. On Meet the Press he stood by his controversial statement that to tackle the budget, instead of cutting the military, all Americans should “lower their sights and their way of living.” Kalb and Mudd also pressed him to say whether he believed ‘in his heart’ that the country’s deficit would ever truly be wiped out – you can see his response in the clip below.
Goldwater was known as a fiery and outspoken voice on Capitol Hill. As the program began, Mudd played a soundbite of the Goldwater saying that the deficit “scared the hell” out of him, and said he hoped the Senator would not “cuss” on the air. Goldwater responded, “I promised my wife I would clean up my language.”
Every Monday, Betsy Fischer - the Executive Producer of Meet the Press - poses a trivia question on Twitter about the 63 years of history making moments and guests on Meet The Press. Check back every Tuesday for answers and video clips!
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