John E. Grenier, 77, a director of Goldwater's '64 campaign
John E. Grenier, a former executive director of the Republican National Committee and one of the architects of Senator Barry M. Goldwater's Southern strategy in his failed bid for the presidency in 1964, died Tuesday in Houston. He was 77 and lived in Birmingham, Ala.
His death was confirmed by his son, John B. Grenier.
Mr. Grenier was a leader among a corps of young, conservative political activists brought together by Goldwater, of Arizona, who rejected the legacy of the New Deal and opposed further concentration of federal power. Mr. Grenier, then 33, was Southern regional director of the Goldwater campaign.
Although the senator received only 38.4 percent of the vote in his bid to unseat President Lyndon B. Johnson, he did carry five traditionally Democratic states in the South - Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina - as well as his home state.
That paved the way to increasing Republican strength in the South and propelled Mr. Grenier to executive director of the party's national committee. He held the post, which is second only to the chairman, through 1965.
The so-called Southern strategy of appealing to conservative Democrats contributed to the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 and to the influence of conservative thinking on the Republican Party to this day.
John Edward Grenier was born in New Orleans on Aug. 24, 1930, the youngest of three children of Charles Jr., a banker, and Beatrice (Schaumburg). Mr. Grenier received his undergraduate and law degrees in 1953 through a five-year program at Tulane University. He then served as a Marine Corps pilot in Korea, rising to captain.
After graduating from Tulane, Mr. Grenier married Lynne Youmans and moved to Birmingham. They were divorced in 1983.
In addition to his son, Mr. Grenier leaves his second wife, Stella (Kontos); a sister, Rosemary Rivet of San Diego; and four grandchildren.
In 1960, Mr. Grenier organized a rally in Birmingham for the Republican presidential candidate, Richard M. Nixon. A year later, Mr. Grenier became chairman of the Jefferson County Young Republicans, and in 1962 was elected chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. 