Fact was an American quarterly magazine that commented on controversial topics. It was in circulation between January 1964 and August 1967.^[1]

History

The publisher of Fact was Trident Press based in New York City.^[2] The magazine was edited by Ralph Ginzburg and Warren Boroson^[3] and designed by Herb Lubalin.^[4]

Fact was notable for having been sued by Barry Goldwater over a 1964 issue entitled "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater". In Goldwater v. Ginzburg, a federal jury awarded Goldwater $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages, to punish Ginzburg and the magazine for being reckless. The American Psychiatric Association then issued the Goldwater rule reaffirming medical privacy and forbidding commenting on a patient whom the individual psychiatrist has not personally examined.^[5]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the award and the Supreme Courts denied a petition for certiorari (review); Justice Black and Justice Douglas joined a dissenting opinion, rather unusual at the time (1970) on orders denying "cert."^[6]