Goldwater did in fact NOT win, instead, he lost to the incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson in spectacular fashion. Johnson would take 61.1% of the popular vote, giving him the largest share of the popular vote of any candidate since the largely uncontested 1820 election. This event would change how mental health practitioners would speak publicly about any president or presidential candidate.
By 1973, ‘The Goldwater Rule’ would be adopted into the field of psychiatry’s code of ethics, it stated, “It is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion [on a public figure] unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization.” From that point on mental health practitioners have stuck by this rule, that was until one Donald J. Trump sat behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office in 2016.
