OLD `GOLD' REMAINS BOLD IN HIS POLITICAL VIEWS

Former Arizona senator and 1964 GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater did not mince words with his observations in a recent issue of Parade on the performances of the nation's chief executives over the past 50 years, most of whom the 84-year-old conservative knew by their first names.

On Harry Truman: "Harry Truman was probably the ony president I'd known who came into office knowing what the hell he should know." Lyndon Johnson, however, "was probably the worst president we ever had. I despised him!"Richard Nixon didn't fare much better. "I've always said a man who would lie to his country, to his wife and to his children is no good. That about sums him up." Gerald Ford was at least worthy of respect, Goldwater said, but Jimmy Carter gets even higher marks. "His being a religious man has made him, in my book, a good president."

History, Goldwater predicts, will judge the Ronald Reagan era harshly because of the fundamental damage caused by an outrageous national debt. It's too early to pass judgement on Bill Clinton, Goldwater says, but as for the man he expected to run against in 1964, Goldwater has nothing but fond memories. "If Jack Kennedy had lived, he might have been just great. I liked him, I respected him, and I think he felt the same way about me."