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U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater’s campaign for president in 1964 marked the beginning of the conservative movement. For the first time, Goldwater made the South a battleground not only for himself but for Republican candidates for Congress and local offices.

At the time, Woodlawn High graduate and LSU student Morton Blackwell, now president of the Leadership Institute, was serving as director of the Louisiana Young Republicans. Fewer than 1 percent of Louisiana voters were Republicans, and Morton knew that finding and training young conservatives was the key to building a strong Republican Party.

In 1963, I was a junior at Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge. Morton asked me to serve as the first teenage Republican chairman in Louisiana and to organize teenage Republican clubs across the state.
In those days, delegates to the national conventions were chosen by party officials, and there were few presidential primaries. Morton and I were hopeful Goldwater would win at the Republican National Convention at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

Morton was selected as a delegate from Louisiana. He told me that if I could get to San Francisco, I could be his page. He said, “You will always remember being the page to the youngest delegate to the convention that nominated Goldwater.” Morton was 24, and I was 17.

However, I had a conflict. The Key Club International Convention was meeting in Dallas, and I was a candidate for international trustee. There would be just enough time to win my election and then jump on a Greyhound bus to San Francisco by myself.

I had saved some money and had just enough for the bus ticket and a few meals but no money for a hotel. I resolved to sleep on the bus all the way to San Francisco.

On stops along the way, I was able to cross the border to visit Juarez, Mexico, and spend a day at Disneyland. After all, I was still just a kid!

I arrived just in time to get to Morton’s hotel, stow my suitcase, and head to the Cow Palace. The convention hall was very much like political conventions today without the high-tech graphics. The excitement was palpable.

The convention featured a classic showdown between conservatives and liberals led by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Gov. George Romney. Since I had floor privileges, I had the freedom to walk up to any delegation and introduce myself. Everyone was so kind and welcoming to a 17-year-old boy from Louisiana!

I had met Sen. Goldwater twice already. This time I carried my personal copy of The Conscience of a Conservative, which he was kind enough to sign.

After the convention, Morton and I drove back to Baton Rouge. There was a lot of time to talk about the future of the conservative movement and of our tiny Republican Party back home in Louisiana.

We could hardly have predicted that 60 years later we would both not only be alive but be named as delegates to the Republican National Convention in the strange-sounding year called 2024.

[Editor’s note: This column has been edited for length and style.]

Woody Jenkins served 28 years in the Louisiana Legislature. He currently chairs the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Party and directs governmental affairs and external relations for Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming.

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