I first met Barry Goldwater in 1957, when I was a 26-year-old reporter for the Associated Press helping cover the Senate Rackets Committee’s investigation of organized labor. I liked him immensely. He was a reporter’s dream: friendly, funny, and oh so helpful, telling just about everything he knew, particularly if it might embarrass the Kennedy brothers — Jack, a member of the committee, and Bobby, its chief counsel.

In 1959, my first full year as Senate correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, the committee’s revelations had made labor reform a popular cause. Goldwater, as ranking minority member of the Labor Committee, was the Republican senator in charge of the issue. The Journal covered the great fight over labor legislation as the Sporting News covered baseball, so my relationship with Goldwater prospered. He liked the Journal, trusted me, and bestowed on me inside information about his strategy.