Barry Goldwater, (1909-1998) was a five-term US Senator, the Republican Party nominee for President in 1964, he was a Maj. Gen. in the US Air Force Reserves, and he authored the book "The Conscience of a Conservative."
50 years ago he was fed up with the John Birchers and their ever tightening grip on the Republican Party. He called them the "Religious Right." At the time, they were known as the "Moral Majority."
Surprisingly, the straw that broke the camel's back in Barry's case, was the debate about women's bodily autonomy and her right of access to abortion.