Transcript: Chapter 06

Reagan: I've come to a decision that even a short time ago I would have thought impossible for me to make. And yet I make it with no lingering doubts or hesitation. As of now I am a candidate seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

Dallek: California in the 1960s is a society that is going through tumultuous change. He runs in 1966, as a staunch Goldwater conservative who will restore to the people their autonomy and freedom from government. And it strikes resonant chords with millions of people in California who were bothered by the welfare system, bothered by the high taxes, bothered by the radicalism of the students, bothered by the crime in the streets, bothered by the inner city explosions. And on all those counts, he was very effective and appealing to the mass of suburban voters in California.

Narrator: Democratic Governor Pat Brown underestimated Reagan and the revolt brewing in his state.

Brown: What have my opponent's contributions been to this growing, thriving state of ours. He's divided his time between propaganda pictures against everything from Medicare to the Tennessee Valley Authority and starring in such unforgettable screen epics as Bedtime for Bonzo.

Lyn Nofziger, Press Secretary: They looked at Ronald Reagan, that dumb actor and they said, oh man, this is the guy we want to run against. He has no political experience, he's not going to be able to handle himself well.

Stu Spencer: So we devised a technique where he would give his twenty-minute speech and incidentally Ronald Reagan wrote all his own speeches when he ran for governor in 1966. He'd give the twenty-minute speech and we'd open it to twenty minutes of Q and A for the people there at the meeting or the press, and if he could handle those questions we felt we could get over the hump of here's an empty person who doesn't know anything about government or doesn't have any real ideas.

Reporter: Ronnie, where do you stand on the death penalty?

Reagan: You just expressed a question which is also as much on the minds of the people in the state as Berkeley. This too is a question asked all over the state. And as I've answered to those other people, I would tell you I think all of us have wavered back and forth on this issue because of our Judeo-Christian background our questioning as to our right to take human life. But I believe we have the right to take human life in defense of our own.

Reporter: Do you discount the fact that many women may be influenced by the fact that you are a movie star, you're handsome and young and that sort of thing?

Reagan: Well now, you can't have it both ways. Some of the people on the other side have been suggesting before I became a candidate that I wasn't very acceptable as a movie star. So, no, I do believe that the people are aware of the issues.

Lou Cannon, Journalist: Here Reagan is. He's answering questions. And I came back and I called my editor and he said, what did you think of him. And, I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know why these, why anybody would want to run against this guy. Why would you want to run against somebody who everybody knows and likes and who is friendly and popular?

Narrator: As Reagan gained exposure, his aides began to shape his image.

Nofziger: A political reporter for KPIX in San Francisco said I want to do an interview with Reagan on horseback. And, I said that's a great idea; that really humanizes him. And he had a ranch out in Malibu Canyon -- about 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles. So, we went out there and he came out wearing jodhpurs. And I said, what in the hell are you doing in those jodhpurs. Well, he said, that's how I always ride around here, very huffily. And I said, Ron, we're trying to win an election here, you know. People in California, as they see you in those jodhpurs are going to think you're an Eastern sissy. He says well, this is what you wear when you're jumping horses. I said, we're not jumping horses, we're going for a ride. She wants you to be a cowboy. I want you to be a cowboy because that's what the people here will identify with. So, he said, well all right. So, he went back in and changed into jeans and boots.

Narrator: Reagan would come to embody the great myth of the American west -- the independent cowboy standing tall.

Dallek: It fits into the whole image of him as a kind of tough minded heroic figure someone who is coming to their rescue. And they see him as an honest man, they see him as an honest politician, as someone who speaks his mind.

Reagan: This small minority of beatniks and malcontents and filthy speech advocates have interfered with the primary purpose of that university, and they've brought shame on a great university, a university of which you and I have a right to be very proud and which for many years we have been very proud. The people of this state are entitled to an open hearing to reveal what has been taking place and to fix responsibility.

Smith: There was a sense that traditional values, traditional institutions were being challenged and so, people took a chance and they voted on a Hollywood movie actor against an established and relatively popular incumbent governor.

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