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| 1959 |
During his last term as president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan fights for, and achieves, better benefits and working conditions for actors.
Fidel Castro's "revolution" topples the right-wing Batista government in Cuba. |
| 1960 |
As a "Democrat for Nixon," Reagan champions Nixon’s candidacy for president, delivering more than 200 speeches in his support. |
| 1962 |
G.E. fires Reagan as a political liability when he takes on the Tennessee Valley Authority, as an example of "big government." G.E. has contracts worth millions of dollars.
Reagan switches his political affiliation to the Republican party.
Nelle, Reagan's mother, dies. Although Alzheimer's Disease had not yet been identified, his mother suffered from this condition, as did his older brother, Neil. Reagan himself will be diagnosed with the disease in 1993. |
| 1964 |
Reagan makes his final film appearance, in "The Killers," where for the first time in his career, and rather unconvincingly, Reagan plays a villain.
Becomes host of "Death Valley Days."
October 27: As co-chair of California Republicans for Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona for President, Reagan gives speech: "A Time for Choosing." The speech, a blistering attack on "big government" and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, is an instant success. As Goldwater fades from leadership after losing to Lyndon Johnson, Reagan emerges as the leader of the conservative movement. |
| 1965 |
Reagan's publishes his autobiography, "Where's the Rest of Me?" |
| 1966 |
January 1: Reagan announces candidacy for governor of California. He promises to reduce the waste in government and to "clean up the mess at Berkeley."
November 8: Reagan elected by almost 1 million votes more than incumbent Democratic governor Edmund G. ("Pat") Brown. |
| 1967 |
 January 3: Reagan is sworn in as governor of California. He inherits a $200 million deficit in a state where the governor is required by Constitution to submit a balanced budget.
Reagan proposes a 10% across-the-board cut. There are both needed cuts and unnecessary, unpopular ones, such as cuts in the mental health system and for the University of California.
February 2: Students stage an orderly demonstration in front of the California State Capitol protesting budget cuts and the governor’s request that a tuition be imposed for the first time in the University’s history. Two days later a much louder demonstration takes place with groups carrying signs reading "Tax The Rich. "
June 15: Reagan signs a bill liberalizing California’s abortion law. He will later regret the decision.
October 25: Reagan calls for a harder line on war protestors. |
| 1968 |
May 2: Reagan draft movement for the 1968 presidential nomination takes off, initiated by aide Lyn Nofziger, with the support of Reagan’s "millionaire backers."
August 5: Reagan announces his candidacy for presidential nomination at the Miami Republican Convention. |
| 1969 |
January: Richard Nixon is inaugurated for his first term as president.
 Spring: Reagan sends in the National Guard to break up a student strike at University of California at Berkeley. Armed with bayonets and tear gas, the National Guard occupies Berkeley for 17 days. The event establishes Reagan as a peace-restoring hero for some, a trigger-happy extremist for others.
In spite of campaign promises, California's state budget increases during Reagan's first term as governor. |
| 1970 |
Reagan wins re-election as governor, beating the leader of the California Assembly, Democrat Jesse Unruh.
He calls welfare the biggest single outlay of public funds at the federal, state, and local levels of government. He will have to negotiate with the Democrat-controlled California Assembly for his welfare reform bill to pass. |
| 1971 |
August 11: California legislature enacts a compromise welfare reform. The resulting law and the process which brought it about are widely regarded as a success. |
| 1972 |
Despite arrests that signal the beginning of the Watergate affair, Nixon is reelected in a near-record landslide, but Democrats win majorities in both houses of Congress. |
| 1973 |
January 18: Reagan submits $9.258 billion budget with a $1.1 billion surplus, and gives taxpayers a rebate.
May 1: Reagan defends President Richard Nixon in the midst of Watergate. |
| 1974 |
August 6: A longtime Nixon defender, Reagan admits Nixon deceived the country.
August 9: Under the threat of impeachment, Nixon resigns; Ford becomes president.
November 5: Jerry Brown is elected governor of California, succeeding Reagan. |
| 1975 |
November 20: Reagan opens his presidential campaign. He faces an uphill battle against the incumbent, Gerald Ford, who is backed by the Republican party. |
| 1976 |
February 24: Ford squeaks by Reagan in the New Hampshire primary.
February 27: 11 of 12 former chairs of the Republican National Committee endorse Ford.
March 3: Polls show President Ford leading in the potential race for nomination; Reagan is second.
March 17: The National Republican Conference of Mayors calls on Reagan to withdraw.
March 20: Republican governors call on Reagan to withdraw.
March 23: The Reagan campaign runs out of funds. Consensus among advisors is that he should quit. Reagan announces he won’t. Instead, he gives a national speech attacking President Ford’s and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's policy of détente. He wins the North Carolina primary, 53-46.
August 18: Reagan gets 47.4% of delegates at the Republican Convention in Kansas City.
August 19: Reagan addresses Kansas City convention delegates. His speech, about the tension between the dangers of nuclear weapons and the need to preserve freedom, electrifies the audience. For the next four years, Reagan divides his time betwen working in his ranch, giving speeches and writing a weekly column.
 November: Democrat Jimmy Carter defeats Ford by a narrow margin to become president. |
