Grandpa Goldwater

It is one of the most famous political ads of all time. A little girl innocently plucks petals off a daisy. An ominous male voice begins a countdown to what turns out to be a nuclear explosion. As the mushroom cloud rises, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson intones, "These are the stakes, to make a world in which all of God's children can live or go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die."

When this ad, attacking the extremism of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater ran during the 1964 presidential campaign, another little girl was riding in the caboose of the Goldwater campaign train. In television footage, this 5-year-old -- Goldwater's granddaughter CC -- can be seen climbing on the railing along with two of her siblings, the senator's big hand firmly ensconced on her shoulder, keeping her anchored to the train.

The moppet is doing her job, which was simply "to go out there and be cute" recalls CC Goldwater, now 46. "To me, it was fun. Getting to ride in trains and private jets. We had big, good-looking guys with [earpieces] hanging out of their ears walking around with us, taking us anywhere we wanted. We could have as much candy as we wanted to."

More than 40 years later, CC Goldwater has produced the documentary "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater," an unabashedly admiring -- though not wide-eyed -- attempt to reclaim her grandfather's legacy, and to reconcile the man she adored -- the avid gadgeteer, ham-radio operator, aviator, and truly talented photographer of American Indians -- with the controversial political figure, often heralded as the father of the American conservative movement.

The film plays at the L.A. Film Festival on Friday and Sunday, and will air on HBO in September. It is stocked with interviews from across the political spectrum: George Will; former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a Goldwater protege; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a cowboy hat-wearing Goldwater Girl in her youth; Al Franken; and James Carville, as well as myriad members of the extended Goldwater family, the senator's brother, and his children.

The longtime senator from Arizona, who died in 1998, also has the distinction of losing the White House in the biggest landslide in American history, carrying only six states, or 36% of the popular vote. His famous rallying cry at the 1964 Republican convention -- "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue" -- played to the Johnson political machine, which painted him as a demagogic, racist kook, who'd even consider dropping a little nuke on Vietnam.