1 00:00:02,002 --> 00:00:07,173 [film crew chatting over one another] 2 00:00:07,215 --> 00:00:09,050 dramatic music 3 00:00:15,557 --> 00:00:21,062 [ indistinct speaking] 4 00:00:23,898 --> 00:00:26,276 Economic future, priority B. 5 00:00:27,944 --> 00:00:29,654 [man] Get the last line in, 6 00:00:29,696 --> 00:00:30,947 be that much more convincing. 7 00:00:32,407 --> 00:00:35,076 dramatic music 8 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:41,166 This is roll one, sound two. 9 00:00:41,207 --> 00:00:44,544 [Director] Stand by and action. 10 00:00:44,586 --> 00:00:48,214 In 1980, we said we would reduce inflation and we have. 11 00:00:48,256 --> 00:00:50,717 We said we would create new jobs, lower taxes, 12 00:00:50,759 --> 00:00:53,595 and rebuild our defenses and we have. 13 00:00:53,636 --> 00:00:56,431 But in the next four years, we must do more. 14 00:00:56,473 --> 00:00:59,392 We must help those who haven't fully shared in the recovery. 15 00:00:59,434 --> 00:01:01,561 We must build a lasting peace for our young, 16 00:01:01,603 --> 00:01:02,812 security for our aging, 17 00:01:02,854 --> 00:01:05,565 and create millions of new jobs. 18 00:01:05,607 --> 00:01:09,486 We pledged cities of promise, a countryside of abundance. 19 00:01:09,527 --> 00:01:12,238 I don't think America ever stops wanting to be better 20 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,909 because Americans are only satisfied with doing our best. 21 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:18,244 [man] 20 seconds. 22 00:01:18,286 --> 00:01:19,079 [man] How much? 23 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:20,747 [indistinct] 24 00:01:20,789 --> 00:01:22,582 - [man] 57, perfect. - [woman] That was good. 25 00:01:22,624 --> 00:01:24,334 - [man] Perfect. - [woman] That was good. 26 00:01:24,375 --> 00:01:26,628 - [man] Okay. - [woman] Okay. 27 00:01:26,669 --> 00:01:29,089 tense music 28 00:01:50,193 --> 00:01:54,906 Ronald Reagan said himself, if you are not a good actor, 29 00:01:54,948 --> 00:01:56,449 you cannot be a good president. 30 00:01:57,492 --> 00:01:59,786 And it came to pass, 31 00:01:59,828 --> 00:02:01,871 it absolutely came to pass. 32 00:02:01,913 --> 00:02:03,039 [crowd cheering] 33 00:02:03,081 --> 00:02:04,916 If someone's running for president, 34 00:02:04,958 --> 00:02:10,046 and they are not willing to do what an actor does, 35 00:02:10,088 --> 00:02:12,715 look good, read your lines well, 36 00:02:13,675 --> 00:02:15,051 you cannot lead. 37 00:02:17,011 --> 00:02:19,764 There were some strange aspects to my father, 38 00:02:19,806 --> 00:02:22,308 particularly by Washington standards. 39 00:02:22,350 --> 00:02:24,394 He was just a very different kind of person. 40 00:02:24,435 --> 00:02:26,729 He was intelligent, 41 00:02:26,771 --> 00:02:29,649 but at the same time, it's like, huh. 42 00:02:29,691 --> 00:02:31,401 You know, knowing him as well as I do, 43 00:02:31,442 --> 00:02:32,986 this is kind of a strange fellow 44 00:02:33,027 --> 00:02:35,321 to be president of the United States. 45 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,327 You couldn't change Ronald Reagan. 46 00:02:41,369 --> 00:02:45,498 We just made sure that he never got off script. 47 00:02:45,540 --> 00:02:49,169 It was our job to protect him, protect him from himself. 48 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:51,629 [crowd] We want Reagan, we want Reagan. 49 00:02:53,256 --> 00:02:56,009 [crowd cheering] 50 00:03:00,054 --> 00:03:03,808 He was a caricature out of American culture. 51 00:03:03,850 --> 00:03:05,768 Here's the story as I see it. 52 00:03:05,810 --> 00:03:09,314 A caricature reinforced by our belief 53 00:03:09,355 --> 00:03:11,441 that what happens in the mass media, 54 00:03:11,482 --> 00:03:12,859 particularly in the movies, 55 00:03:12,901 --> 00:03:15,695 is more real than real life. 56 00:03:15,737 --> 00:03:18,948 And that was the appeal of an actor turned president. 57 00:03:19,991 --> 00:03:21,117 I hope you're a good driver, 58 00:03:21,159 --> 00:03:23,203 you know what you're doing I hope. 59 00:03:23,244 --> 00:03:25,288 Yes, I've been driving this for quite a while. 60 00:03:25,330 --> 00:03:27,790 You probably got used to one new. 61 00:03:27,832 --> 00:03:29,334 I don't want to hurt your feelings, 62 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:32,545 but this is the scroungiest jeep. 63 00:03:33,588 --> 00:03:37,550 Ronald Reagan was an incredible myth maker. 64 00:03:37,592 --> 00:03:42,597 He reinforced a myth of America that served many, 65 00:03:42,639 --> 00:03:45,266 but actually hurt many, many people. 66 00:03:45,308 --> 00:03:48,061 dramatic music 67 00:03:53,149 --> 00:03:54,692 [Reporter] Mr. President, 68 00:03:54,734 --> 00:03:56,027 the Soviets say that your position has made it impossible 69 00:03:56,069 --> 00:03:58,529 to meet in Vienna in September. 70 00:04:05,370 --> 00:04:09,916 Well, we would come to realize that Nancy Reagan 71 00:04:09,958 --> 00:04:14,254 was the most powerful person behind the president. 72 00:04:14,295 --> 00:04:16,422 She was like the studio head. 73 00:04:16,464 --> 00:04:18,424 She was like the consigliere, 74 00:04:18,466 --> 00:04:21,928 because people around her were afraid of her. 75 00:04:21,970 --> 00:04:25,265 And she was kind of the presence over everything. 76 00:04:26,557 --> 00:04:30,228 It was 9% or 8% in the 1970s. 77 00:04:30,270 --> 00:04:33,773 By 1979, it brought it down to 5%... 78 00:04:33,815 --> 00:04:35,942 [crowd laughing] 79 00:04:35,984 --> 00:04:38,611 ...and we are holding it to 7%. 80 00:04:38,653 --> 00:04:41,447 [laughing] 81 00:04:41,489 --> 00:04:42,949 Blow the candle out. 82 00:04:42,991 --> 00:04:43,741 [woman] Make a wish. 83 00:04:43,783 --> 00:04:45,285 Make a wish. 84 00:04:45,326 --> 00:04:47,620 [crowd clapping] 85 00:04:47,662 --> 00:04:49,622 And you have to take the first piece. 86 00:04:49,664 --> 00:04:50,999 [Sam] Did you bake it yourself? 87 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:52,125 As a matter of fact, Sam, 88 00:04:52,166 --> 00:04:53,126 since she cut that one smaller here, 89 00:04:53,167 --> 00:04:55,169 here, take mine, and I'll trade. 90 00:04:55,211 --> 00:04:57,463 No, no, no, no, that's bad luck. 91 00:04:57,505 --> 00:04:59,674 [all laughing] 92 00:04:59,716 --> 00:05:01,968 I have learned not to argue with her superstitions. 93 00:05:04,095 --> 00:05:06,723 So much about the Reagan presidency, 94 00:05:06,764 --> 00:05:10,101 so much about the man was mysterious. 95 00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:11,811 People studied Reagan, 96 00:05:13,062 --> 00:05:16,524 biographers, historians, 97 00:05:16,566 --> 00:05:18,985 and nobody ever really figured him out. 98 00:05:21,154 --> 00:05:25,325 There was this 10% under the surface 99 00:05:25,366 --> 00:05:28,494 that really very few people had access to. 100 00:05:30,038 --> 00:05:31,331 In many respects 101 00:05:31,372 --> 00:05:34,000 Ronald Reagan lived in a world he created. 102 00:05:35,501 --> 00:05:38,171 It's the triumph of the human mind. 103 00:05:38,212 --> 00:05:40,048 It's the triumph of the human imagination. 104 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:45,011 His imagination was gigantic, okay? 105 00:05:45,053 --> 00:05:47,347 And that was true throughout his whole life. 106 00:05:47,388 --> 00:05:49,849 The way he portrayed his own childhood. 107 00:05:50,350 --> 00:05:52,977 The way he had the marriage with Nancy 108 00:05:53,019 --> 00:05:54,228 was kind of imagination, 109 00:05:54,270 --> 00:05:56,814 what the ideal couple would look like. 110 00:05:58,733 --> 00:06:01,152 It was imagination, rather than reality. 111 00:06:02,862 --> 00:06:05,615 He saw himself as a hero, 112 00:06:05,656 --> 00:06:08,534 and he was playing an American hero. 113 00:06:08,576 --> 00:06:10,536 It was a role first in the movies, 114 00:06:10,578 --> 00:06:12,538 and then as a politician. 115 00:06:13,122 --> 00:06:17,543 Reagan was more than an expert on this American mythology. 116 00:06:19,587 --> 00:06:23,674 That was based on an America that really didn't exist. 117 00:06:31,933 --> 00:06:32,725 [Interviewer] Do you actually think of yourself 118 00:06:32,767 --> 00:06:33,726 as a politician? 119 00:06:33,768 --> 00:06:35,353 What? 120 00:06:35,395 --> 00:06:36,687 [Interviewer] Do you think of yourself as a politician? 121 00:06:36,729 --> 00:06:38,314 No, ex-actor. 122 00:06:40,274 --> 00:06:43,486 big band upbeat music 123 00:06:58,584 --> 00:07:00,044 How do you do, everybody? 124 00:07:00,086 --> 00:07:01,712 I'd like to introduce myself. 125 00:07:01,754 --> 00:07:03,673 My name is Ronald Reagan. 126 00:07:03,714 --> 00:07:05,133 A few months ago I was a sports announcer 127 00:07:05,174 --> 00:07:06,884 on a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. 128 00:07:09,595 --> 00:07:11,764 One day I ran into one of these movie talent scouts, 129 00:07:11,806 --> 00:07:13,015 I think I caught him off guard 130 00:07:13,057 --> 00:07:14,475 because the next thing I knew 131 00:07:14,517 --> 00:07:17,061 I was taking a screen test for Warner Bros. in Hollywood. 132 00:07:17,103 --> 00:07:18,271 First picture, 133 00:07:18,312 --> 00:07:19,564 well what do you think it was about? 134 00:07:19,605 --> 00:07:21,274 A radio station. 135 00:07:21,315 --> 00:07:23,317 In these United States, 136 00:07:23,359 --> 00:07:26,737 a man is always innocent until he is legally proven guilty. 137 00:07:29,949 --> 00:07:31,617 [Interviewer] What was it, Mr. Warner, 138 00:07:31,659 --> 00:07:33,035 that caught your eye 139 00:07:33,077 --> 00:07:36,122 when you looked at that first test of Reagan? 140 00:07:36,164 --> 00:07:38,624 Well, he had his personality projected in what, 141 00:07:38,666 --> 00:07:43,129 as I term it, off the screen into the audience, 142 00:07:43,171 --> 00:07:44,297 it comes through. 143 00:07:44,338 --> 00:07:48,759 He had a good smile, happy delivery, 144 00:07:48,801 --> 00:07:50,636 rather a little good sense of humor. 145 00:07:50,678 --> 00:07:53,222 upbeat music 146 00:07:55,183 --> 00:07:59,937 In those days your Hollywood life was a confection. 147 00:07:59,979 --> 00:08:02,398 It was something that gossip columnists created. 148 00:08:10,990 --> 00:08:13,534 That was an era when there were basically 149 00:08:13,576 --> 00:08:17,371 two reigning queens of the gossip columns. 150 00:08:17,413 --> 00:08:19,624 Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. 151 00:08:19,665 --> 00:08:23,503 And they really wrote the story of Hollywood 152 00:08:23,544 --> 00:08:25,004 for the American heartland. 153 00:08:27,089 --> 00:08:30,218 Reagan was often referred to as a lucky man. 154 00:08:30,259 --> 00:08:33,471 Louella Parsons was from his small town. 155 00:08:33,513 --> 00:08:36,516 So for Reagan to be mentioned favorably 156 00:08:36,557 --> 00:08:39,894 or to be written up in a nationally syndicated column, 157 00:08:39,936 --> 00:08:42,188 it made all the difference in the world. 158 00:08:46,817 --> 00:08:49,654 Suddenly, this hugely powerful gossip columnist 159 00:08:49,695 --> 00:08:53,783 latches on to this good-looking, young guy, 160 00:08:53,824 --> 00:08:56,702 essentially becomes his sponsor. 161 00:08:56,744 --> 00:08:58,329 But it starts, as to my mean, 162 00:08:58,371 --> 00:09:00,373 if you took people and built them, 163 00:09:00,414 --> 00:09:03,000 exploited them, and developed them, 164 00:09:03,042 --> 00:09:05,461 as I did with Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, 165 00:09:05,503 --> 00:09:07,672 Norma Shearer, and all of those young women. 166 00:09:07,713 --> 00:09:08,714 [Interviewer] You mean by signing them up, 167 00:09:08,756 --> 00:09:09,840 putting them under contract 168 00:09:09,882 --> 00:09:11,008 and publicizing them? 169 00:09:11,050 --> 00:09:13,886 Well, I think people shop for stars. 170 00:09:13,928 --> 00:09:14,762 Well, here's to you, Louella. 171 00:09:14,804 --> 00:09:16,722 And to you. 172 00:09:16,764 --> 00:09:18,724 Now I see a great many more celebrities coming down here. 173 00:09:18,766 --> 00:09:20,226 I'm gonna try and get some of them up to the microphone 174 00:09:20,268 --> 00:09:21,561 to say hello to you. 175 00:09:21,602 --> 00:09:23,020 I'm sure that you're going to wanna meet... 176 00:09:23,062 --> 00:09:25,606 [Jonathan] In many ways he was playing himself 177 00:09:25,648 --> 00:09:27,233 in almost all of his movies. 178 00:09:28,859 --> 00:09:30,903 He was always the dependable one, 179 00:09:30,945 --> 00:09:32,738 often the best friend 180 00:09:32,780 --> 00:09:35,408 and just had this winning way. 181 00:09:43,416 --> 00:09:47,920 Louella Parsons not only becomes the stage mother 182 00:09:47,962 --> 00:09:50,715 of Ronald Reagan's career, 183 00:09:50,756 --> 00:09:54,218 but she also becomes the godmother 184 00:09:54,260 --> 00:09:57,763 of his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman. 185 00:09:59,307 --> 00:10:02,685 She wanted to bring Ronnie up to Jane's level 186 00:10:02,727 --> 00:10:04,604 'cause he wasn't as big a star. 187 00:10:04,645 --> 00:10:08,274 So when they're seen out together, gives him publicity, 188 00:10:08,316 --> 00:10:09,650 which is good for his career. 189 00:10:10,735 --> 00:10:13,404 He was willing to be influenced 190 00:10:13,446 --> 00:10:15,114 and do whatever she told him to do. 191 00:10:17,325 --> 00:10:20,786 Pretty soon you believe the Hollywood myth. 192 00:10:38,054 --> 00:10:42,808 He was very assiduous about editing and shaping his story 193 00:10:42,850 --> 00:10:45,019 until the story became the reality. 194 00:10:46,145 --> 00:10:49,023 upbeat music 195 00:10:49,065 --> 00:10:50,941 In the '20s, early '30s, 196 00:10:50,983 --> 00:10:53,527 he really wanted to be a football player 197 00:10:53,569 --> 00:10:56,238 because that's how you became a national hero 198 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,407 if you were a young man. 199 00:10:58,449 --> 00:11:00,993 Problem was he was blind as a bat, 200 00:11:01,035 --> 00:11:03,412 he was not terribly fast 201 00:11:03,454 --> 00:11:05,915 and was not really all that large. 202 00:11:05,956 --> 00:11:09,919 So my father never became a real hero on the grid iron, 203 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:12,004 but he did get to be a football leaguer eventually in 204 00:11:12,046 --> 00:11:15,007 "Knute Rockne All American" where he plays George Gipp, 205 00:11:15,049 --> 00:11:18,094 uh, the famous Notre Dame star. 206 00:11:18,135 --> 00:11:19,845 bright music 207 00:11:19,887 --> 00:11:22,682 [crowd cheering] 208 00:11:26,727 --> 00:11:28,187 upbeat music 209 00:11:28,229 --> 00:11:32,525 So when Reagan in that film could connect himself 210 00:11:32,566 --> 00:11:35,528 to being the hero, George Gipp, 211 00:11:35,569 --> 00:11:38,656 it helped put him in the American grain. 212 00:11:40,908 --> 00:11:44,286 And he became Ronald Reagan, All-American. 213 00:11:48,249 --> 00:11:50,918 We're all the heroes of our own stories. 214 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,671 He was just a little better at it than most people, I think. 215 00:11:56,424 --> 00:11:59,510 He has appropriated other American folk tales, 216 00:11:59,552 --> 00:12:01,804 making it difficult at times to distinguish 217 00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:04,056 between the teller and the tale, 218 00:12:04,098 --> 00:12:07,226 between this one American and America itself. 219 00:12:07,727 --> 00:12:12,648 That explains Reagan's intimacy with the American psyche. 220 00:12:12,690 --> 00:12:14,066 He comes at it from within. 221 00:12:16,569 --> 00:12:19,113 [birds singing] 222 00:12:21,699 --> 00:12:23,993 It was always interesting to me 223 00:12:24,034 --> 00:12:25,411 in talking with Ronald Reagan 224 00:12:27,079 --> 00:12:30,207 how he sort of referred and reflected his roots. 225 00:12:30,249 --> 00:12:32,418 Ronald Reagan was born in this house 226 00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:33,919 on February 6th, 1911. 227 00:12:35,504 --> 00:12:37,882 In his book, " Where's the Rest of Me? " 228 00:12:37,923 --> 00:12:40,760 he says, "That's where the whole story began. 229 00:12:40,801 --> 00:12:43,220 My face was blue from screaming. 230 00:12:43,262 --> 00:12:45,556 My bottom was red from whacking. 231 00:12:45,598 --> 00:12:47,099 And my father claimed afterwards 232 00:12:47,141 --> 00:12:48,517 that he was white and shaken. 233 00:12:49,477 --> 00:12:50,936 Ever since my birth, 234 00:12:50,978 --> 00:12:53,272 I have been particularly fond of the colors 235 00:12:53,314 --> 00:12:56,484 that were exhibited, red, white, and blue." 236 00:12:56,525 --> 00:12:59,361 thoughtful music 237 00:13:02,615 --> 00:13:05,534 Both of his parents were Roosevelt Democrats 238 00:13:05,576 --> 00:13:08,454 in a fairly Republican area of Illinois. 239 00:13:11,165 --> 00:13:14,293 The WPA was a big lifeline for them, actually, 240 00:13:14,335 --> 00:13:15,377 during The Depression. 241 00:13:17,004 --> 00:13:19,298 I think my father's early liberalism 242 00:13:19,340 --> 00:13:21,383 probably sprang from that. 243 00:13:24,804 --> 00:13:28,474 FDR had put his father and his brother to work 244 00:13:28,516 --> 00:13:29,892 when they were out of work in The New Deal, 245 00:13:29,934 --> 00:13:31,143 you were grateful for that. 246 00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:38,150 We were poor. 247 00:13:38,192 --> 00:13:41,946 We had problems when my brother and I were boys growing up 248 00:13:41,987 --> 00:13:46,700 that seemed insurmountable to young boys at the time. 249 00:13:48,077 --> 00:13:48,786 [Walters] You mean your father? 250 00:13:48,828 --> 00:13:49,870 Yes. 251 00:13:50,412 --> 00:13:52,957 A lot has been made of Jack's drinking 252 00:13:52,998 --> 00:13:55,125 and that he was an alcoholic. 253 00:13:55,167 --> 00:13:59,338 My father kind of pushed that story a bit himself. 254 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:01,674 Jack's drinking didn't sit well with Nelly. 255 00:14:02,174 --> 00:14:04,885 She would give him hell about this. 256 00:14:04,927 --> 00:14:06,470 I've heard him talk about 257 00:14:08,722 --> 00:14:11,183 Christmases where the little money that they had 258 00:14:11,225 --> 00:14:15,145 would go to alcohol. 259 00:14:15,187 --> 00:14:17,106 He tells some very poignant stories about 260 00:14:18,732 --> 00:14:21,193 going out to find his father in the snow 261 00:14:21,235 --> 00:14:22,528 in the early morning 262 00:14:22,570 --> 00:14:24,864 and pulling him back into the house unconscious. 263 00:14:27,491 --> 00:14:32,246 - [wind whooshing] - soft music 264 00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:38,002 In my father's version of the story, 265 00:14:38,043 --> 00:14:41,672 he, as an 11-year-old boy, grabs his father, 266 00:14:41,714 --> 00:14:43,966 pulls him into the house 267 00:14:44,008 --> 00:14:46,552 and somehow gets him onto his feet 268 00:14:46,594 --> 00:14:50,139 and half carries him up this narrow winding staircase. 269 00:14:51,432 --> 00:14:53,559 I went to see the house, 270 00:14:53,601 --> 00:14:56,228 and I thought about my 11-year-old father 271 00:14:56,270 --> 00:14:59,565 and his 180-pound dad. 272 00:14:59,607 --> 00:15:03,360 And I thought, he didn't drag him into the house, 273 00:15:03,402 --> 00:15:06,155 and he sure as hell didn't get them onto his feet 274 00:15:06,196 --> 00:15:09,241 and, you know, hoist him up these stairs. 275 00:15:09,283 --> 00:15:10,409 This is a story, 276 00:15:12,036 --> 00:15:15,497 a story in which Jack barely appears. 277 00:15:15,539 --> 00:15:18,584 Jack is not a subject, he is an object in the story. 278 00:15:18,626 --> 00:15:20,711 This is a story about my father 279 00:15:20,753 --> 00:15:23,964 and what he would like you to think is his coming of age. 280 00:15:30,262 --> 00:15:32,389 For Reagan, who held himself tight, 281 00:15:32,431 --> 00:15:33,891 that is did not disclose 282 00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:36,393 a lot about what was going on inside, 283 00:15:36,435 --> 00:15:38,604 you'll find this among people who don't want to open up 284 00:15:38,646 --> 00:15:41,106 or make themselves too vulnerable to other people, 285 00:15:41,148 --> 00:15:45,277 they use storytelling to deflect interest 286 00:15:45,319 --> 00:15:49,490 or inquiry into his personality and psyche. 287 00:15:53,410 --> 00:15:56,330 [Ron] He trained himself to ignore the negative 288 00:15:56,372 --> 00:15:57,915 and accentuate the positive. 289 00:15:59,708 --> 00:16:01,919 soft music 290 00:16:07,049 --> 00:16:08,676 [Ron] As the years went by, 291 00:16:08,717 --> 00:16:11,428 Nelly became more and more religious. 292 00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:13,681 And my father became part of her church, 293 00:16:13,722 --> 00:16:15,891 the Disciples of Christ. 294 00:16:15,933 --> 00:16:19,353 She was a preacher and healer 295 00:16:19,395 --> 00:16:21,313 and she invested so much of her own life 296 00:16:21,355 --> 00:16:24,274 and belief systems into her son. 297 00:16:25,734 --> 00:16:27,403 That instilled a belief 298 00:16:27,444 --> 00:16:29,989 in what you could call magical thinking, 299 00:16:30,030 --> 00:16:33,117 that if you will it, it will happen. 300 00:16:33,158 --> 00:16:36,412 That you can write your own story. 301 00:16:36,453 --> 00:16:37,788 And that's what Reagan did. 302 00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:40,499 His whole life created his own reality. 303 00:16:41,542 --> 00:16:43,836 Johnny, what happened to you? 304 00:16:43,877 --> 00:16:46,338 Nothing, I just changed clothes. 305 00:16:46,380 --> 00:16:47,756 You've enlisted. 306 00:16:47,798 --> 00:16:49,967 You knew it was gonna happen sooner or later. 307 00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:51,677 You look wonderful in that uniform. 308 00:16:51,719 --> 00:16:52,845 Not any better than the rest of the fellas, 309 00:16:52,886 --> 00:16:54,179 we all have the same tailor. 310 00:16:54,221 --> 00:16:56,306 upbeat music 311 00:16:56,348 --> 00:17:00,352 Reagan had joined the Army Reserve in '37. 312 00:17:00,394 --> 00:17:04,690 Then when war came, he failed his eye test. 313 00:17:04,732 --> 00:17:07,359 [Optician] Tell me when you see just one, one now. 314 00:17:07,401 --> 00:17:09,445 [Lou] He always was terribly near sighted. 315 00:17:09,486 --> 00:17:11,530 No, still two. 316 00:17:12,406 --> 00:17:15,075 And he spent the war in Culver City 317 00:17:15,117 --> 00:17:18,787 making training films, never left the United States. 318 00:17:18,829 --> 00:17:22,041 He worked under Pearl Jack Warner 319 00:17:22,082 --> 00:17:24,251 making propaganda films, 320 00:17:24,293 --> 00:17:26,086 Charlie, I'm coming home. 321 00:17:26,128 --> 00:17:29,840 [Jonathan] Using his fame to sell war bonds with his wife. 322 00:17:32,384 --> 00:17:33,886 [Director] And action. 323 00:17:33,927 --> 00:17:35,220 [coins rattling] 324 00:17:35,262 --> 00:17:37,347 Ronald Reagan, aren't you ashamed of yourself, 325 00:17:37,389 --> 00:17:39,141 robbing from your own daughter's bank? 326 00:17:39,183 --> 00:17:40,726 What's the big idea, you bandit? 327 00:17:40,768 --> 00:17:42,311 Now, don't fly off the handle, Jenny, 328 00:17:42,352 --> 00:17:43,687 I'm gonna invest it for her. 329 00:17:43,729 --> 00:17:45,814 United States defense bonds. 330 00:17:45,856 --> 00:17:47,399 And the freedom of this country 331 00:17:47,441 --> 00:17:49,401 is the best thing we can buy for our children today. 332 00:17:51,236 --> 00:17:53,238 The propaganda films were important, 333 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,157 but it wasn't fighting. 334 00:17:55,199 --> 00:17:58,660 intense music 335 00:17:58,702 --> 00:18:00,370 During World War II, 336 00:18:00,412 --> 00:18:03,248 Jimmy Stewart was a legitimate war hero. 337 00:18:04,708 --> 00:18:07,920 He left Hollywood, he went overseas. 338 00:18:08,712 --> 00:18:11,381 He flew a bunch of combat missions, 339 00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:12,549 was almost killed. 340 00:18:14,593 --> 00:18:18,555 And if you're Ronald Reagan and you never leave home, 341 00:18:18,597 --> 00:18:21,100 this is hard to take. 342 00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:27,523 To compensate he starts to merge his own life 343 00:18:27,564 --> 00:18:29,108 with his cinematic life. 344 00:18:31,860 --> 00:18:32,778 You know, I've often wondered 345 00:18:32,820 --> 00:18:34,154 if it's the same with other people 346 00:18:34,196 --> 00:18:37,449 as it is with me, that the war, 347 00:18:37,491 --> 00:18:39,576 the four years that I was gone during the war, 348 00:18:39,618 --> 00:18:42,955 seems to have done something in my own sense of time. 349 00:18:42,996 --> 00:18:45,124 It's as if those four years were taken out 350 00:18:45,165 --> 00:18:47,626 and then spliced together. 351 00:19:01,181 --> 00:19:04,017 I came back from the service 352 00:19:04,059 --> 00:19:06,061 after the four years in World War II 353 00:19:06,603 --> 00:19:10,107 and discovered that something was going on in Hollywood. 354 00:19:10,149 --> 00:19:11,483 [crowd jeering] 355 00:19:11,525 --> 00:19:14,069 Some of the people from our own FBI made contact 356 00:19:15,445 --> 00:19:17,948 because of what they saw I was doing, 357 00:19:17,990 --> 00:19:20,284 and I'd become President of the Screen Actors Guild. 358 00:19:20,325 --> 00:19:22,786 And they came wanting some findings from me 359 00:19:22,828 --> 00:19:25,414 on people that I had dealt with and so forth. 360 00:19:25,455 --> 00:19:29,209 And it did give me a real understanding 361 00:19:29,251 --> 00:19:30,627 of the communist menace. 362 00:19:31,587 --> 00:19:34,256 upbeat music 363 00:19:34,298 --> 00:19:36,383 In the early stages of the Cold War 364 00:19:36,425 --> 00:19:39,428 the FBI set out under Hoover 365 00:19:39,469 --> 00:19:41,930 to enroll as many actors as it could 366 00:19:41,972 --> 00:19:45,475 who cooperated with them during the Red Scare. 367 00:19:45,517 --> 00:19:48,353 And Reagan did cooperate with the FBI. 368 00:19:49,396 --> 00:19:51,190 He didn't have what I would call 369 00:19:51,231 --> 00:19:55,444 a coherent political philosophy during any of that time. 370 00:19:55,485 --> 00:19:57,863 He wanted to come out on top 371 00:19:57,905 --> 00:20:00,741 and he would make concessions so he could come out on top. 372 00:20:01,366 --> 00:20:05,037 [Jonathan] He had been adopted by J. Edgar Hoover 373 00:20:05,078 --> 00:20:08,999 and he became a private informant for the FBI 374 00:20:09,041 --> 00:20:10,709 at the expense of his colleagues. 375 00:20:13,086 --> 00:20:15,714 Hollywood was a scary place to be in those times, 376 00:20:15,756 --> 00:20:18,884 because if you were somebody who was actually a communist 377 00:20:18,926 --> 00:20:20,802 or who was associated with a communist, 378 00:20:20,844 --> 00:20:23,764 you couldn't work in Hollywood. 379 00:20:23,805 --> 00:20:26,892 The Screen Actors Guild became part of the instrument 380 00:20:26,934 --> 00:20:29,269 that enforced the blacklist 381 00:20:29,311 --> 00:20:32,272 and routed the communist faction. 382 00:20:32,314 --> 00:20:33,941 [Reporter] George Murphy, Ronald Reagan 383 00:20:33,982 --> 00:20:35,525 and Robert Montgomery 384 00:20:35,567 --> 00:20:38,070 are among the top flight movie actors testifying before 385 00:20:38,111 --> 00:20:40,572 the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington. 386 00:20:40,614 --> 00:20:42,574 [gavel banging] 387 00:20:42,616 --> 00:20:44,368 [Chair] You have no knowledge yourself 388 00:20:44,409 --> 00:20:46,245 as to whether or not any of them 389 00:20:46,286 --> 00:20:48,747 are members of the Communist Party? 390 00:20:48,789 --> 00:20:51,750 Would you refer to them as a disrupting influence 391 00:20:51,792 --> 00:20:52,584 within the Guild? 392 00:20:54,795 --> 00:20:58,090 I happen to be very proud of the industry in which I work. 393 00:20:58,131 --> 00:20:59,424 I have to be very proud of the way 394 00:20:59,466 --> 00:21:01,260 in which we've conducted the fight. 395 00:21:01,301 --> 00:21:04,429 I do not believe that the communist has ever at any time 396 00:21:04,471 --> 00:21:06,431 been able to use the motion picture screen 397 00:21:06,473 --> 00:21:08,809 as a sounding board for his philosophy or ideology. 398 00:21:10,727 --> 00:21:13,772 That was politically skillful on Reagan's part 399 00:21:13,814 --> 00:21:17,901 because he gets his anti-communism credentials, 400 00:21:17,943 --> 00:21:20,696 stay on J. Edgar Hoover's right side, 401 00:21:20,737 --> 00:21:22,406 and also not get tagged 402 00:21:22,447 --> 00:21:25,951 with ruining the careers of his colleagues. 403 00:21:25,993 --> 00:21:29,830 He was willing to do whatever it took to get ahead. 404 00:21:29,871 --> 00:21:32,249 This was Reagan at his most slick. 405 00:21:34,042 --> 00:21:35,669 [Narrator] His embroilment in political affairs 406 00:21:35,711 --> 00:21:37,504 by then were so strong 407 00:21:37,546 --> 00:21:41,091 that his wife Jane Wyman, the actress, sued for divorce. 408 00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:42,801 His concentration on politics 409 00:21:42,843 --> 00:21:44,803 made home life impossible, she said. 410 00:21:47,139 --> 00:21:50,017 She was tired of his politics. 411 00:21:50,058 --> 00:21:52,644 She found it an embarrassment. 412 00:21:52,686 --> 00:21:55,689 It alienated her from the people she liked. 413 00:21:57,899 --> 00:22:00,319 [Ron] And when her career started to take off... 414 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,071 [Presenter] And the winner, Jane Wyman in "Johnny Belinda." 415 00:22:03,113 --> 00:22:06,575 [audience cheering and clapping] 416 00:22:06,616 --> 00:22:09,453 And his was on the down slope. 417 00:22:09,494 --> 00:22:12,497 I think she saw it as a drag on her career. 418 00:22:15,876 --> 00:22:17,669 That was the first time I believe 419 00:22:17,711 --> 00:22:22,674 that he'd been really rejected conclusively by somebody. 420 00:22:22,716 --> 00:22:25,844 And it must've stung terribly. 421 00:22:27,054 --> 00:22:28,847 That made him very wary 422 00:22:28,889 --> 00:22:30,891 about opening his heart to other people. 423 00:22:33,393 --> 00:22:35,687 This was a low point, 424 00:22:35,729 --> 00:22:39,191 probably the lowest point in Ronald Reagan's life. 425 00:22:41,902 --> 00:22:45,238 Religiously, socially, personally, 426 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,032 he really felt a failure. 427 00:22:49,868 --> 00:22:54,081 enchanting music 428 00:23:03,048 --> 00:23:06,468 [Nancy] Hello, so nice of you guys to be here. 429 00:23:06,510 --> 00:23:07,844 Where should we go? 430 00:23:07,886 --> 00:23:10,389 Right over there. 431 00:23:12,391 --> 00:23:14,893 Now I just wanna make a voice check. 432 00:23:14,935 --> 00:23:16,895 [clears voice] Let's see. 433 00:23:20,941 --> 00:23:23,068 Did you ever think that you'd be so much in the public eye 434 00:23:23,110 --> 00:23:24,069 when you were younger? 435 00:23:24,111 --> 00:23:26,905 No, never. [laughs] 436 00:23:26,947 --> 00:23:28,990 [Interviewer] What did you want to be or do? 437 00:23:29,032 --> 00:23:30,409 I just wanted to be married. 438 00:23:31,952 --> 00:23:34,162 [Interviewer] How did you meet your husband? 439 00:23:34,204 --> 00:23:36,873 We met through Mervyn LeRoy. 440 00:23:36,915 --> 00:23:38,708 She was working on a picture with him, 441 00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:40,419 he was directing. 442 00:23:40,460 --> 00:23:44,548 I was getting mail addressed to another Nancy Davis, 443 00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:46,091 was obviously not intended for me, 444 00:23:46,133 --> 00:23:48,009 and it began to be bothersome. 445 00:23:49,094 --> 00:23:51,012 So I mentioned it to Mervyn, 446 00:23:51,513 --> 00:23:54,433 and he said, "Well, I know Ronald Reagan 447 00:23:54,474 --> 00:23:56,268 and he's president of the Screen Actors Guild 448 00:23:56,309 --> 00:23:58,437 and I'm sure that he might be able to help you." 449 00:23:58,478 --> 00:23:59,980 I don't know whether she told you this, 450 00:24:00,021 --> 00:24:01,857 but there are four, 451 00:24:01,898 --> 00:24:03,775 we found out there were four Nancy Davises 452 00:24:03,817 --> 00:24:05,318 connected with this business. 453 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,530 And one of them must have some rather exotic political ideas 454 00:24:08,572 --> 00:24:09,865 because she began getting 455 00:24:09,906 --> 00:24:12,993 notices and invitations to meetings. 456 00:24:13,034 --> 00:24:18,290 And " The Daily Worker " began arriving at her door. 457 00:24:18,331 --> 00:24:21,793 The story involves this Nancy Davis and the Red Scare 458 00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:23,211 and all of that kind of stuff. 459 00:24:23,253 --> 00:24:24,629 I think she just wanted to meet Ronald Reagan. 460 00:24:24,671 --> 00:24:26,047 She knew he was single 461 00:24:26,089 --> 00:24:27,799 and thought he was a pretty handsome guy, 462 00:24:27,841 --> 00:24:29,968 and maybe they could, you know, hit it off. 463 00:24:30,010 --> 00:24:33,305 Well, Ronnie didn't know me, 464 00:24:33,346 --> 00:24:35,474 but I knew him from the pictures. 465 00:24:35,515 --> 00:24:37,392 And I thought that was just a dandy idea. 466 00:24:37,434 --> 00:24:38,727 [laughing] 467 00:24:38,768 --> 00:24:40,145 So Mervyn had him call me, 468 00:24:40,187 --> 00:24:41,646 and we went out to dinner. 469 00:24:41,688 --> 00:24:43,440 We went to see Sophie Tucker, 470 00:24:43,482 --> 00:24:45,609 and after the first show he said, 471 00:24:45,650 --> 00:24:49,488 "Well, being as you've never seen Sophie Tucker before, 472 00:24:49,529 --> 00:24:52,032 how would you like to stay and see the second show?" 473 00:24:52,073 --> 00:24:53,825 [laughter] And I said, "Fine." 474 00:24:55,076 --> 00:24:57,120 And at 3:00 we were still watching 475 00:24:57,162 --> 00:24:58,872 Sophie Tucker at Ciro's. 476 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,958 And then we had dinner the next night. [laughter] 477 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,210 [Interviewer] So it was love at first sight? 478 00:25:03,251 --> 00:25:04,002 Yes. 479 00:25:07,088 --> 00:25:09,799 I don't think that my mother was all that interested 480 00:25:09,841 --> 00:25:11,468 in being a professional actress. 481 00:25:11,510 --> 00:25:13,637 She would've taken it, it would've been fine. 482 00:25:13,678 --> 00:25:16,431 I think she was actually a pretty good actress. 483 00:25:16,473 --> 00:25:18,642 Jan, I thought you'd never get here. 484 00:25:18,683 --> 00:25:19,643 Where's Graham? 485 00:25:19,684 --> 00:25:21,269 He's meeting me here. 486 00:25:21,311 --> 00:25:22,771 Looks like a wonderful party. 487 00:25:22,812 --> 00:25:24,272 It would be even better if it had a host. 488 00:25:24,439 --> 00:25:25,690 [Ron] It didn't take too long 489 00:25:25,732 --> 00:25:27,359 after she arrived in Hollywood 490 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,528 to find divorced actor Ronald Reagan. 491 00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:32,322 [Reporter] Just in case you men haven't noticed 492 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:34,115 the sports shirt Reagan is wearing, 493 00:25:34,157 --> 00:25:35,534 take a good look at it. 494 00:25:35,575 --> 00:25:36,993 It's a one-piece affair 495 00:25:37,035 --> 00:25:39,037 called the Ronald Reagan sports shirt. 496 00:25:41,414 --> 00:25:43,166 [Ron] He was knocking around 497 00:25:43,208 --> 00:25:46,211 in need of a woman to take care of him. [laughing] 498 00:25:46,253 --> 00:25:47,546 [Reporter] I can't help but wonder 499 00:25:47,587 --> 00:25:49,881 what you young ladies are thinking about. 500 00:25:49,923 --> 00:25:52,884 I have a hunch that you're saying, "Lucky colt." 501 00:25:54,219 --> 00:25:56,721 He was now a divorcee. 502 00:25:56,763 --> 00:26:00,517 He was caddying around, the studio didn't like it. 503 00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:04,229 He finds Nancy, and she's gonna keep him out of trouble. 504 00:26:04,271 --> 00:26:07,649 And the studio applauds it, this is the one, right? 505 00:26:07,691 --> 00:26:09,818 And so it's a business relationship. 506 00:26:09,859 --> 00:26:12,988 upbeat music 507 00:26:13,029 --> 00:26:16,575 When Nancy Davis got Ronald Reagan to marry her, 508 00:26:16,616 --> 00:26:18,451 and he was really reluctant, 509 00:26:18,493 --> 00:26:22,539 but because they were pregnant it had to be. 510 00:26:23,707 --> 00:26:27,752 Patti was born seven months after they got married. 511 00:26:27,794 --> 00:26:31,381 She came out a healthy baby at seven and a half pounds. 512 00:26:31,423 --> 00:26:35,385 And so it was very, very hard to pretend, 513 00:26:35,427 --> 00:26:38,722 although Nancy did try and pretend 514 00:26:38,763 --> 00:26:41,474 that it wasn't a shotgun marriage. 515 00:26:44,102 --> 00:26:47,564 Part of Nancy's restructuring of reality 516 00:26:47,606 --> 00:26:51,860 is to say that her daughter Patti was premature. 517 00:26:52,444 --> 00:26:56,448 She was going to control as much as she could 518 00:26:56,489 --> 00:27:00,910 of who she was and how she was presented to the world. 519 00:27:00,952 --> 00:27:01,870 [Interviewer] Aside from your husband, 520 00:27:01,911 --> 00:27:03,955 who is the man that you admire most? 521 00:27:03,997 --> 00:27:05,915 [Nancy] My father. 522 00:27:05,957 --> 00:27:07,876 [Interviewer] Do any women come to mind? 523 00:27:07,917 --> 00:27:11,338 My mother. [laughs] 524 00:27:11,379 --> 00:27:14,841 I'm a family type girl. [laughs] 525 00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:18,136 For the first eight years of Nancy's life 526 00:27:18,178 --> 00:27:20,930 her mother really wasn't around that much, 527 00:27:20,972 --> 00:27:24,392 but that didn't fit into Nancy's fantasy of family. 528 00:27:24,434 --> 00:27:26,811 tense music 529 00:27:27,896 --> 00:27:30,357 Edith Luckett was an actress. 530 00:27:30,940 --> 00:27:36,279 She married an automobile salesman, had Nancy, 531 00:27:36,321 --> 00:27:40,158 but when Nancy was two years old, they separated. 532 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:45,080 Edith went back on stage and left Nancy with her sister. 533 00:27:51,336 --> 00:27:53,171 Underneath all of that 534 00:27:53,213 --> 00:27:55,840 is the idea that I'm somebody who can be left. 535 00:27:55,882 --> 00:27:58,635 You know, my own mother can just leave me. 536 00:27:58,677 --> 00:27:59,969 And that's, you know, 537 00:28:00,011 --> 00:28:03,014 I mean, that's a deep-seated sort of thing. 538 00:28:03,056 --> 00:28:06,267 [Kitty] There was a social insecurity about Nancy Reagan 539 00:28:06,309 --> 00:28:09,396 and she herself said she always felt like 540 00:28:09,437 --> 00:28:11,606 a little girl on the outside looking in. 541 00:28:16,695 --> 00:28:18,780 [Nancy] Oh, well I didn't mean to neglect you. 542 00:28:18,822 --> 00:28:21,366 No, I didn't mean to neglect you. 543 00:28:25,036 --> 00:28:27,747 Eventually, Edith wanted to find herself a husband 544 00:28:27,789 --> 00:28:29,708 and on a cruise over to Europe, 545 00:28:29,749 --> 00:28:32,168 she ran into Loyal Davis. 546 00:28:32,836 --> 00:28:36,339 She was actually about eight years older than he was, 547 00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:40,093 but, you know, she wasn't gonna tell him that. [laughs] 548 00:28:40,135 --> 00:28:41,928 So they became the same age. 549 00:28:43,596 --> 00:28:46,224 Loyal Davis was a prominent neurosurgeon, 550 00:28:46,266 --> 00:28:49,060 and that gave her a sort of entrée into a social class 551 00:28:49,102 --> 00:28:51,896 that had been elusive for her. 552 00:28:53,565 --> 00:28:55,567 Women's ambitions in that era 553 00:28:55,608 --> 00:28:58,069 would play out in their husband's success. 554 00:28:58,111 --> 00:29:01,906 It was really Edith who made a point of 555 00:29:01,948 --> 00:29:04,284 getting to know the right people, 556 00:29:04,325 --> 00:29:08,830 setting the path for this social trajectory in Chicago. 557 00:29:10,457 --> 00:29:13,168 Loyal Davis was a doctor. 558 00:29:13,209 --> 00:29:16,337 Do you know how many social steps that is 559 00:29:16,379 --> 00:29:19,090 up from the used car automobile guy? 560 00:29:20,842 --> 00:29:23,511 She was able to give Nancy a life 561 00:29:23,553 --> 00:29:25,555 that Nancy wouldn't have had otherwise. 562 00:29:28,641 --> 00:29:31,895 Nancy absolutely loved her stepfather, Loyal Davis. 563 00:29:32,562 --> 00:29:37,776 They were close, and he was nut, a right wing nut. 564 00:29:38,777 --> 00:29:43,072 Loyal Davis was famously conservative, 565 00:29:43,114 --> 00:29:46,701 famously racist and antisemitic, 566 00:29:46,743 --> 00:29:50,622 but also very charming, smart, and convincing. 567 00:29:51,372 --> 00:29:56,878 The more liberal Reagan is brought into this social milieu 568 00:29:57,378 --> 00:30:02,300 where they were imbibing Loyal Davis' conservative views. 569 00:30:06,805 --> 00:30:09,432 He was able to convince his son-in-law that 570 00:30:09,474 --> 00:30:13,144 Truman's healthcare plan was socialized medicine. 571 00:30:13,186 --> 00:30:16,731 And that was only one of many incremental conversions 572 00:30:16,773 --> 00:30:18,983 from left to right in Reagan's life. 573 00:30:21,861 --> 00:30:24,489 pulsing music 574 00:30:27,742 --> 00:30:28,868 Our story tonight 575 00:30:28,910 --> 00:30:31,329 asks rather a disturbing question. 576 00:30:31,371 --> 00:30:34,457 How much do you and I really know about ourselves? 577 00:30:34,499 --> 00:30:36,167 Are we honest, for instance? 578 00:30:36,209 --> 00:30:38,044 It's only because circumstances have conspired 579 00:30:38,086 --> 00:30:39,963 to keep us honest. 580 00:30:40,004 --> 00:30:41,381 And if circumstances were to change, 581 00:30:41,422 --> 00:30:43,675 would we also change? 582 00:30:43,716 --> 00:30:47,178 His film career started to take a dive. 583 00:30:48,221 --> 00:30:52,016 Now a guy with responsibilities, a divorce, 584 00:30:52,058 --> 00:30:55,687 two kids from that marriage, soon another, 585 00:30:55,728 --> 00:30:58,773 and then another kid in his second marriage. 586 00:31:00,733 --> 00:31:04,362 Yet the tax man was still coming and collecting his due. 587 00:31:04,404 --> 00:31:07,198 [crowd laughing] 588 00:31:09,075 --> 00:31:13,162 And he just began to feel beleaguered by that. 589 00:31:13,204 --> 00:31:16,374 And I think in a stressful time in my father's life, 590 00:31:16,416 --> 00:31:18,835 I don't mean to insult him, 591 00:31:18,877 --> 00:31:21,504 but he relied a little more on low effort thinking 592 00:31:21,546 --> 00:31:23,214 and became a little more conservative, 593 00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:25,049 much more conservative in fact. 594 00:31:27,260 --> 00:31:31,681 As Ronald Reagan's movie career is going down the tubes 595 00:31:31,723 --> 00:31:36,686 and he's becoming more and more involved in union activities 596 00:31:36,853 --> 00:31:39,606 as the President of the Screen Actors Guild, 597 00:31:39,647 --> 00:31:44,402 he does one gigantic favor for his agent Lew Wasserman. 598 00:31:46,237 --> 00:31:49,407 He cuts a deal where his agency 599 00:31:49,449 --> 00:31:53,411 could also produce television programs. 600 00:31:53,453 --> 00:31:56,372 And it's a blatant conflict of interest. 601 00:31:56,414 --> 00:32:00,043 No agent could wear the two hats 602 00:32:00,084 --> 00:32:02,795 of employee, as an agent, 603 00:32:02,837 --> 00:32:07,759 and employer as a production company. 604 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,595 And the Screen Actors Guild did grant a waiver 605 00:32:10,637 --> 00:32:13,389 to this regulation to MCA. 606 00:32:13,431 --> 00:32:17,393 And of course, that was a quite unprincipled, 607 00:32:17,435 --> 00:32:19,228 wrong thing to do. 608 00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:20,605 [Narrator] It may have been wrong, 609 00:32:20,647 --> 00:32:22,106 but as Reagan saw it, 610 00:32:22,148 --> 00:32:25,109 what was good for business was good for everybody. 611 00:32:25,151 --> 00:32:27,111 At least it was good for Reagan. 612 00:32:27,153 --> 00:32:28,947 dramatic music 613 00:32:28,988 --> 00:32:32,450 When in 1954, MCA launched the flagship 614 00:32:32,492 --> 00:32:35,203 of its television production empire, 615 00:32:35,244 --> 00:32:36,955 Reagan was named host 616 00:32:36,996 --> 00:32:41,417 and given a contract worth over $125,000 a year. 617 00:32:42,001 --> 00:32:44,337 I'm Ronald Reagan speaking for General Electric. 618 00:32:44,379 --> 00:32:47,298 Lew Wasserman was the key there. 619 00:32:47,340 --> 00:32:50,468 He engineered that generous contract 620 00:32:50,510 --> 00:32:53,012 and there were a lot of people who were unhappy with it. 621 00:32:54,055 --> 00:32:56,140 The General Electric contract 622 00:32:56,182 --> 00:33:00,478 was financially a very, very big deal for them. 623 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,481 Also, not to put too fine a point on it, 624 00:33:03,523 --> 00:33:07,318 GE gave them a GE house. 625 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:08,027 [Reporter] Well, the Reagans have started 626 00:33:08,069 --> 00:33:09,612 to build their new home, 627 00:33:09,654 --> 00:33:12,490 and their home's going to have full house power, 628 00:33:12,532 --> 00:33:14,826 so they can live better electrically. 629 00:33:17,537 --> 00:33:20,915 A very cool mid-century modern house with, of course, 630 00:33:20,957 --> 00:33:24,002 every electrical gadget you could possibly 631 00:33:24,043 --> 00:33:25,837 cram into this place. 632 00:33:25,878 --> 00:33:27,338 Behind this picture, 633 00:33:27,380 --> 00:33:30,258 inside here is a projection machine for home movies. 634 00:33:30,299 --> 00:33:31,509 If we want entertainment... 635 00:33:31,551 --> 00:33:34,429 All we do is flick a switch. 636 00:33:34,470 --> 00:33:36,681 [Ron] There were lights everywhere. 637 00:33:36,723 --> 00:33:39,267 By turning the knobs of this dimmer, 638 00:33:39,308 --> 00:33:40,852 we can change the colors, mix them, 639 00:33:40,893 --> 00:33:42,186 and get different effects. 640 00:33:44,105 --> 00:33:45,857 Eye-catching, isn't it? 641 00:33:45,898 --> 00:33:49,360 Curtains were on this electrical thing, until it broke 642 00:33:49,402 --> 00:33:52,363 and we just went back to the usual way. 643 00:33:52,405 --> 00:33:54,073 This is a portable television set. 644 00:33:54,115 --> 00:33:57,201 Most of the time it's out here on the patio or by the pool. 645 00:33:57,243 --> 00:33:59,328 With a steady heat, and the exact timing 646 00:33:59,370 --> 00:34:01,372 of my new automatic skillet, 647 00:34:01,414 --> 00:34:03,791 even a soufflé is easy and safe to make. 648 00:34:03,833 --> 00:34:06,377 My electric servants do everything. 649 00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:08,337 That's why every housewife wants them, 650 00:34:08,379 --> 00:34:11,340 the latest models with the newest improvements. 651 00:34:11,382 --> 00:34:12,925 Because she knows that you really begin to live 652 00:34:12,967 --> 00:34:14,635 when you live better... 653 00:34:14,677 --> 00:34:15,845 Electrically. 654 00:34:17,388 --> 00:34:20,808 He was no longer a grade B movie star. 655 00:34:20,850 --> 00:34:23,644 He became a kind of living advertisement 656 00:34:23,686 --> 00:34:25,396 for corporate America. 657 00:34:26,606 --> 00:34:29,400 melancholy music 658 00:34:31,194 --> 00:34:32,403 [Ronald] A part of my job now 659 00:34:32,445 --> 00:34:34,739 is, twice a year, going around the country 660 00:34:34,781 --> 00:34:38,409 to the plant cities, uh, meeting the employees, 661 00:34:38,451 --> 00:34:40,745 participating in whatever community functions 662 00:34:40,787 --> 00:34:42,246 are going on in that community 663 00:34:42,288 --> 00:34:44,165 that General Electric wants to be a part of, 664 00:34:44,207 --> 00:34:46,584 and tries to be a part of. 665 00:34:47,126 --> 00:34:51,589 [Lou] He went to 39 states, speaking at 138 plants. 666 00:34:53,132 --> 00:34:55,218 He talked to maybe 200,000 people. 667 00:34:58,262 --> 00:35:00,890 He embraces a notion of the free market 668 00:35:00,932 --> 00:35:02,517 and it's now working, 669 00:35:02,558 --> 00:35:04,727 and we don't want a government getting in the way of it. 670 00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:06,771 We don't need government regulation 671 00:35:06,813 --> 00:35:09,982 and there's Ronnie Reagan ready to take advantage of it. 672 00:35:11,901 --> 00:35:15,279 What he developed was a pro corporate view of America. 673 00:35:15,321 --> 00:35:18,241 This was really the political re-education of Reagan. 674 00:35:22,036 --> 00:35:24,080 You have to remember Reagan was 675 00:35:24,122 --> 00:35:26,749 the liberal head of a labor union. 676 00:35:26,791 --> 00:35:29,210 And a few years later, 677 00:35:29,252 --> 00:35:31,921 he is arguing on GE's behalf 678 00:35:31,963 --> 00:35:33,798 that they don't need labor unions, 679 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,634 because of course GE didn't want to be unionized. 680 00:35:39,512 --> 00:35:41,889 He's working for this big corporation 681 00:35:41,931 --> 00:35:44,308 and of course, now he's gonna benefit 682 00:35:44,350 --> 00:35:47,103 if he's in an anti-labor position. 683 00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:49,939 So it was very convenient for him 684 00:35:49,981 --> 00:35:51,816 to take these positions. 685 00:35:51,858 --> 00:35:53,818 And he was able to convince himself of that. 686 00:35:55,695 --> 00:35:58,489 thoughtful music 687 00:36:04,287 --> 00:36:07,665 [Narrator] In 1962, after eight years as GE spokesman 688 00:36:07,707 --> 00:36:09,375 Reagan was fired. 689 00:36:09,417 --> 00:36:11,419 The reasons are unclear, 690 00:36:11,460 --> 00:36:14,046 but at the time, his producer, MCA, 691 00:36:14,088 --> 00:36:15,840 was facing possible indictment 692 00:36:15,882 --> 00:36:17,717 by the Kennedy Justice Department 693 00:36:17,758 --> 00:36:19,552 for monopolistic practices. 694 00:36:20,553 --> 00:36:22,638 There was this allegation 695 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:27,310 that his lucrative job with GE was a kickback 696 00:36:27,351 --> 00:36:30,730 because of the waiver that he had granted MCA. 697 00:36:35,234 --> 00:36:37,778 I think he really resented 698 00:36:37,820 --> 00:36:40,990 that he was essentially a target 699 00:36:41,032 --> 00:36:43,367 of the Kennedy Justice Department. 700 00:36:43,409 --> 00:36:46,704 And that was the last straw that convinced him 701 00:36:46,746 --> 00:36:48,539 to change his party registration. 702 00:36:51,918 --> 00:36:54,045 Mrs. Reagan, your husband used to be a Democrat. 703 00:36:54,086 --> 00:36:55,880 As a matter of fact, I hear that he once wanted 704 00:36:55,922 --> 00:36:58,007 General Eisenhower to run on the Democratic ticket. 705 00:36:58,049 --> 00:36:59,175 Yes. 706 00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:00,801 [Interviewer] What, in your opinion, 707 00:37:00,843 --> 00:37:03,888 made him switch from being a Democrat to being a Republican? 708 00:37:04,931 --> 00:37:07,642 Well, he says that he didn't leave his party, 709 00:37:07,683 --> 00:37:08,976 his party left him, 710 00:37:09,018 --> 00:37:10,686 that the Democratic Party of today 711 00:37:10,728 --> 00:37:15,066 is not the Democratic Party that he joined as a young man. 712 00:37:15,107 --> 00:37:17,735 dramatic music 713 00:37:21,614 --> 00:37:24,367 [crowds jeering] 714 00:37:27,286 --> 00:37:28,621 [gun banging] 715 00:37:28,663 --> 00:37:31,207 There was all of this demonstration and protest 716 00:37:31,249 --> 00:37:35,086 in the '60s from the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, 717 00:37:35,127 --> 00:37:37,546 as well as the civil rights movement. 718 00:37:38,798 --> 00:37:41,842 There were many different groups coming forward and saying, 719 00:37:41,884 --> 00:37:44,428 "We want transformational change." 720 00:37:44,929 --> 00:37:48,516 By saying, "The Democratic Party left me," 721 00:37:48,557 --> 00:37:51,018 what Reagan's really saying was, 722 00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:52,603 "You're supposed to be the party 723 00:37:52,645 --> 00:37:54,772 of the hard-working white people, 724 00:37:54,814 --> 00:37:58,693 and if you are elevating the rights of others, 725 00:37:58,734 --> 00:38:02,280 you're working against my interests". 726 00:38:06,909 --> 00:38:10,204 And this was something that presidential candidate 727 00:38:10,246 --> 00:38:12,123 Barry Goldwater also believed at that time. 728 00:38:12,164 --> 00:38:17,086 And it was part of the rising tide of conservatism. 729 00:38:17,712 --> 00:38:21,132 And the Republican Party went more and more to the right. 730 00:38:21,173 --> 00:38:24,302 Reagan really understood the big picture. 731 00:38:24,343 --> 00:38:26,887 He knew middle America, 732 00:38:26,929 --> 00:38:29,682 and the principles and values that he embraced 733 00:38:29,724 --> 00:38:31,976 were conservative Republican principles. 734 00:38:32,018 --> 00:38:33,477 The Goldwater boom 735 00:38:33,519 --> 00:38:36,439 for the presidential nomination is well underway. 736 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,607 It's been a long time since the Republicans 737 00:38:38,649 --> 00:38:41,485 have picked an avowed and militant conservative, 738 00:38:41,527 --> 00:38:43,154 but then it's been a long time 739 00:38:43,195 --> 00:38:45,281 since they've had anyone who seems to have made 740 00:38:45,323 --> 00:38:47,658 conservatism as politically attractive 741 00:38:47,700 --> 00:38:49,618 as Senator Goldwater has. 742 00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:52,913 In 1964 Barry Goldwater's running for president 743 00:38:52,955 --> 00:38:55,249 as this reactionary. 744 00:38:55,291 --> 00:38:59,420 And one of his surrogates at the time is Ronald Reagan. 745 00:38:59,462 --> 00:39:01,839 [indistinct conversations] 746 00:39:01,881 --> 00:39:03,632 It's very important to understand 747 00:39:03,674 --> 00:39:06,761 just how outside of the mainstream their ideas were. 748 00:39:07,303 --> 00:39:11,432 They really were tilting against the notion 749 00:39:11,474 --> 00:39:14,769 of the government should work for regular people. 750 00:39:14,810 --> 00:39:18,314 They were promoting government should work for big money. 751 00:39:18,356 --> 00:39:21,317 That's a really extreme idea. 752 00:39:23,486 --> 00:39:25,654 So the question is how you sell an extreme idea 753 00:39:25,696 --> 00:39:26,739 to the American public. 754 00:39:29,575 --> 00:39:33,371 Late in the campaign, and we're talking October 1964, 755 00:39:33,412 --> 00:39:36,040 Barry Goldwater knew he was heading for defeat, 756 00:39:36,082 --> 00:39:37,792 but he wanted to go down fighting. 757 00:39:37,833 --> 00:39:39,126 And they had to raise some money, 758 00:39:39,168 --> 00:39:41,962 so they had a national broadcast. 759 00:39:42,004 --> 00:39:45,091 And Goldwater says, "Get Ronnie to do it." 760 00:39:45,132 --> 00:39:49,178 So Ronald Reagan, whose star had never shone 761 00:39:49,220 --> 00:39:52,056 all that brightly as an actor, 762 00:39:52,556 --> 00:39:56,560 suddenly was a rookie star on the political scene. 763 00:39:56,602 --> 00:39:58,646 A sponsor has been identified, 764 00:39:58,687 --> 00:40:00,564 but unlike most television programs, 765 00:40:00,606 --> 00:40:03,901 the performer hasn't been provided with a script. 766 00:40:03,943 --> 00:40:05,236 As a matter of fact, 767 00:40:05,277 --> 00:40:06,904 I have been permitted to choose my own words 768 00:40:06,946 --> 00:40:10,533 and discuss my own ideas regarding the choice 769 00:40:10,574 --> 00:40:13,077 that we face in the next few weeks. 770 00:40:13,119 --> 00:40:14,745 Ronald Reagan stepped in 771 00:40:14,787 --> 00:40:16,705 with the "Time for Choosing" speech, 772 00:40:16,747 --> 00:40:19,834 which explained what the conservative vision 773 00:40:19,875 --> 00:40:22,336 for the Republican Party was. 774 00:40:22,378 --> 00:40:24,964 The full power of centralized government, 775 00:40:25,005 --> 00:40:26,257 this was the very thing 776 00:40:26,298 --> 00:40:28,759 the founding fathers sought to minimize. 777 00:40:28,801 --> 00:40:31,762 They knew that governments don't control things. 778 00:40:31,804 --> 00:40:33,556 A government can't control the economy 779 00:40:33,597 --> 00:40:35,766 without controlling people. 780 00:40:35,808 --> 00:40:38,102 And they know when a government sets out to do that, 781 00:40:38,144 --> 00:40:41,730 it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. 782 00:40:41,772 --> 00:40:43,607 They also knew, those founding fathers, 783 00:40:43,649 --> 00:40:46,485 that outside of its legitimate functions, 784 00:40:46,527 --> 00:40:49,780 government does nothing as well or as economically 785 00:40:49,822 --> 00:40:52,992 as the private sector of the economy. 786 00:40:53,033 --> 00:40:56,996 To give a speech in 1964 about the threat of government, 787 00:40:57,037 --> 00:40:58,873 the threat of welfare, 788 00:40:58,914 --> 00:41:02,585 that's the sort of rhetoric that aims to scare people. 789 00:41:02,626 --> 00:41:05,379 It became a theme for Ronald Reagan, 790 00:41:05,421 --> 00:41:07,423 and this became the way in which 791 00:41:07,465 --> 00:41:10,259 the Republican Party recast itself. 792 00:41:10,301 --> 00:41:13,053 You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. 793 00:41:13,095 --> 00:41:14,972 We'll preserve for our children 794 00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:17,475 this, the last best hope of man on earth, 795 00:41:17,516 --> 00:41:19,435 or we'll sentence them to take the last step 796 00:41:19,477 --> 00:41:21,645 into a thousand years of darkness. 797 00:41:21,687 --> 00:41:23,147 We will keep them in mind 798 00:41:23,189 --> 00:41:26,609 and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. 799 00:41:26,650 --> 00:41:29,487 He has faith that you and I have the ability 800 00:41:29,528 --> 00:41:33,616 and the dignity, and the right to make our own decisions 801 00:41:33,657 --> 00:41:35,868 and determine our own destiny. 802 00:41:35,910 --> 00:41:36,952 Thank you very much. 803 00:41:36,994 --> 00:41:39,663 [crowd clapping] 804 00:41:45,377 --> 00:41:48,214 He gives this speech and the phones light up 805 00:41:48,255 --> 00:41:49,673 and the money pours in. 806 00:41:50,758 --> 00:41:53,677 And some people noticed. 807 00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:55,846 [Reporter] Henry Salvatori, President of a group called 808 00:41:55,888 --> 00:41:58,015 the Anti-Communist Voters League, 809 00:41:58,057 --> 00:41:59,683 a millionaire from the oil industry 810 00:41:59,725 --> 00:42:01,685 and a prominent backer of Goldwater, 811 00:42:01,727 --> 00:42:03,812 told Bill Styles what happened next. 812 00:42:03,854 --> 00:42:06,690 He made his talk on national TV, 813 00:42:06,732 --> 00:42:10,361 which just was received throughout the nation 814 00:42:10,402 --> 00:42:12,112 with tremendous enthusiasm 815 00:42:12,154 --> 00:42:15,032 and resulted in millions of dollars 816 00:42:15,074 --> 00:42:16,992 coming into the campaign. 817 00:42:17,034 --> 00:42:20,412 So we knew that he had a terrific 818 00:42:22,081 --> 00:42:24,124 capacity to move people. 819 00:42:24,166 --> 00:42:27,044 And shortly after the Goldwater defeat, 820 00:42:27,086 --> 00:42:29,338 three or four of us got together, 821 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:33,384 and we decided that we had to look for someone 822 00:42:33,425 --> 00:42:35,511 who had the qualifications 823 00:42:35,553 --> 00:42:38,931 that would make him an electable candidate. 824 00:42:38,973 --> 00:42:41,934 And Ronnie Reagan was the man we all agreed 825 00:42:41,976 --> 00:42:44,061 would be that particular fella. 826 00:42:45,604 --> 00:42:48,232 This group of California millionaires, 827 00:42:48,274 --> 00:42:51,777 Justin Dart, Holmes Tuttle, Alfred Bloomingdale, 828 00:42:51,819 --> 00:42:53,696 what they call the Kitchen Cabinet, 829 00:42:53,737 --> 00:42:55,531 they needed somebody who could sell 830 00:42:55,573 --> 00:42:59,743 their free market ideology, sell their idea 831 00:42:59,785 --> 00:43:01,912 of getting the government out of their lives, 832 00:43:01,954 --> 00:43:06,625 whether that was lower taxes or less regulation. 833 00:43:08,377 --> 00:43:11,005 They also had a common cause with 834 00:43:11,046 --> 00:43:14,300 anti-communism, anti-civil rights. 835 00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:20,347 And they found in this actor the perfect front man for them. 836 00:43:20,639 --> 00:43:22,099 [Reporter] Have you seen my old friend, 837 00:43:22,141 --> 00:43:23,934 Henry Salvatori lately? 838 00:43:25,477 --> 00:43:28,272 I talked to him, uh, Thursday. 839 00:43:28,314 --> 00:43:31,191 tense music 840 00:43:31,233 --> 00:43:34,570 They sat down in '65 with Stu Spencer. 841 00:43:34,612 --> 00:43:36,071 And they said to Stu, 842 00:43:36,113 --> 00:43:38,782 "How much would it cost to run a gubernatorial campaign?" 843 00:43:38,824 --> 00:43:39,908 And Stu says, "I don't know, I've never won one". 844 00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:42,286 He said, "$2.5, $3 million, I don't know, 845 00:43:42,328 --> 00:43:44,079 say $2.5 million". 846 00:43:44,121 --> 00:43:45,414 And Holmes said, "Well, gentlemen, 847 00:43:45,456 --> 00:43:46,999 there's 10 of you here. 848 00:43:47,041 --> 00:43:49,084 it's gonna be the most expensive lunch you ever had. 849 00:43:49,126 --> 00:43:51,295 Pull out the checkbooks, 850 00:43:51,337 --> 00:43:52,963 and write out checks for $2.5 million". 851 00:43:53,005 --> 00:43:54,256 [Reporter] The election campaign 852 00:43:54,298 --> 00:43:56,258 was run by a political consulting firm 853 00:43:56,300 --> 00:43:57,343 known as Spencer Roberts. 854 00:43:59,887 --> 00:44:02,056 We were not ideologues. 855 00:44:02,514 --> 00:44:07,186 Our criterion was good human being, smart, 856 00:44:07,227 --> 00:44:10,481 not too many scandals, that was it. 857 00:44:10,522 --> 00:44:12,316 And our next meeting was with Reagan. 858 00:44:15,819 --> 00:44:18,822 People don't understand what a big gamble it was, 859 00:44:18,864 --> 00:44:21,492 but the guy had something that we liked, 860 00:44:21,533 --> 00:44:25,829 freshness, articulation, a belief system. 861 00:44:25,871 --> 00:44:28,207 We said, "You know, this is, maybe the guy." 862 00:44:30,292 --> 00:44:33,003 As of now, I am a candidate 863 00:44:33,045 --> 00:44:35,172 seeking the Republican nomination for governor. 864 00:44:37,216 --> 00:44:39,134 [Narrator] To coach Reagan, Spencer hired a team 865 00:44:39,176 --> 00:44:41,011 of behavioral scientists. 866 00:44:43,222 --> 00:44:45,474 Through his actoral training, 867 00:44:45,516 --> 00:44:47,601 he was used to working off of cue cards. 868 00:44:47,643 --> 00:44:50,813 So what we did was take five-by-eight cards, 869 00:44:50,854 --> 00:44:54,983 organize them into a total of 13 black books 870 00:44:55,025 --> 00:44:56,735 on 17 issues of California. 871 00:44:56,777 --> 00:44:59,405 And it was amazing how he would take all of them, 872 00:44:59,446 --> 00:45:01,532 not miss anything that we said 873 00:45:01,573 --> 00:45:02,741 and click the things off [fingers clicking] 874 00:45:02,783 --> 00:45:04,034 like that, one, two, three. 875 00:45:05,744 --> 00:45:06,745 Now, would there be anyone here 876 00:45:06,787 --> 00:45:07,913 who would want to make a bet that 877 00:45:07,955 --> 00:45:09,957 somebody isn't cooking up two budgets, 878 00:45:09,998 --> 00:45:12,960 depending on who's going to wind up governor? 879 00:45:13,001 --> 00:45:16,213 The interesting part of those meetings, 880 00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:19,007 we were in the living room of their home in the Palisades 881 00:45:19,049 --> 00:45:23,721 and over there is sitting Nancy Reagan with the big eyes. 882 00:45:24,221 --> 00:45:28,350 She was very alert and she was absorbing. 883 00:45:30,769 --> 00:45:32,896 It was politics 101 for her. 884 00:45:32,938 --> 00:45:36,233 She had no idea what her husband was getting into. 885 00:45:37,526 --> 00:45:39,528 She didn't care about politics. 886 00:45:39,570 --> 00:45:41,405 She didn't have a political ideology. 887 00:45:41,447 --> 00:45:43,073 She just wanted to help him. 888 00:45:43,115 --> 00:45:44,700 Whatever was good for him, 889 00:45:44,742 --> 00:45:46,577 that's what she was gonna be promoting. 890 00:45:46,618 --> 00:45:48,412 [Reporter] How do you feel about that, Mrs. Reagan? 891 00:45:48,454 --> 00:45:51,248 I agree with everything he says, I always do. [laughs] 892 00:45:51,290 --> 00:45:56,336 There is absolutely no question that Nancy Reagan 893 00:45:56,503 --> 00:46:00,549 worked socially to help her husband politically. 894 00:46:00,591 --> 00:46:02,634 She had seen her mother do it. 895 00:46:02,676 --> 00:46:05,971 She knew how effective it was. 896 00:46:06,013 --> 00:46:08,265 They had such a partnership 897 00:46:08,307 --> 00:46:11,810 that he couldn't have been who he was without her. 898 00:46:14,563 --> 00:46:18,942 The Kitchen Cabinet wives ran their social lives. 899 00:46:18,984 --> 00:46:22,321 And Nancy connected with these women, 900 00:46:22,362 --> 00:46:26,450 in some cases became very close friends with them. 901 00:46:26,492 --> 00:46:28,285 bright music 902 00:46:28,327 --> 00:46:30,037 [Narrator] With her friend Betsy Bloomingdale, 903 00:46:30,078 --> 00:46:32,456 Nancy Reagan took a drive out to Lake Malibu 904 00:46:32,498 --> 00:46:33,457 and the Reagan ranch. 905 00:46:35,667 --> 00:46:36,627 Right here. 906 00:46:38,587 --> 00:46:40,047 All my fences need painting. 907 00:46:41,256 --> 00:46:43,050 I really did paint all these, 908 00:46:44,009 --> 00:46:46,762 and Ronnie really did build them all. 909 00:46:46,804 --> 00:46:49,389 My parents were never very wealthy, really. 910 00:46:51,183 --> 00:46:53,894 You know, they had this house because GE built it for them. 911 00:46:53,936 --> 00:46:54,812 [Nancy] You know what I need? 912 00:46:54,853 --> 00:46:56,396 I need some kibble for the dog. 913 00:46:56,438 --> 00:46:58,315 [Shop Worker] A 25-pound bag? 914 00:46:58,357 --> 00:47:01,068 [Ron] But a lot of these other people like Justin Dart 915 00:47:01,109 --> 00:47:03,111 and, you know, and the Bloomingdales and all, 916 00:47:03,153 --> 00:47:05,447 these were people who had a lot of money. 917 00:47:05,489 --> 00:47:06,573 [Nancy] You know what, Al? 918 00:47:06,615 --> 00:47:07,699 Name it. 919 00:47:07,741 --> 00:47:08,951 I haven't got any money. [Laughs] 920 00:47:08,992 --> 00:47:09,827 [Shop Worker] Sign that. 921 00:47:13,872 --> 00:47:16,041 Appearances are important. 922 00:47:16,083 --> 00:47:19,336 They were paramount to the Reagans, 923 00:47:19,378 --> 00:47:22,130 and they lived a moneyed life. 924 00:47:22,172 --> 00:47:26,093 But she really got concerned and she called Holmes Tuttle, 925 00:47:26,134 --> 00:47:29,930 and she cried several times and said, 926 00:47:29,972 --> 00:47:32,266 "Ronnie and I can't afford to do this." 927 00:47:32,307 --> 00:47:35,102 And Holmes Tuttle reassured her and said, 928 00:47:35,143 --> 00:47:38,397 "Don't worry, there's private money." 929 00:47:38,438 --> 00:47:40,524 And you know, he was right. 930 00:47:40,566 --> 00:47:43,277 They didn't have to worry from that point forward. 931 00:47:45,070 --> 00:47:46,864 [Reporter] Here she is in the Galanos showroom, 932 00:47:46,905 --> 00:47:48,866 picking out some clothes. 933 00:47:48,907 --> 00:47:52,035 The only thing she loves better than picking them out 934 00:47:52,077 --> 00:47:53,537 is wearing them. 935 00:47:53,579 --> 00:47:54,371 That's pretty, 936 00:47:55,664 --> 00:47:57,082 I'd like that in another color. 937 00:48:00,085 --> 00:48:03,589 Don't need a gray dress, but I'd like it in another color. 938 00:48:03,630 --> 00:48:04,590 [Male] So, you're gonna have to tell me 939 00:48:04,631 --> 00:48:06,216 what you're gonna need for the fall. 940 00:48:06,884 --> 00:48:10,053 And then we can work a plan, it's a little difficult 941 00:48:10,095 --> 00:48:12,431 right at this moment, until I know exactly what you want. 942 00:48:12,472 --> 00:48:15,225 [Nancy] Oh, look, red. [laughing] 943 00:48:15,267 --> 00:48:18,437 tense rapid music 944 00:48:19,021 --> 00:48:23,358 Any campaign, you're looking for some thematic. 945 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:26,737 We were sitting around one day, two or three top people. 946 00:48:27,279 --> 00:48:31,241 And one of them was a preacher who came from Texas. 947 00:48:31,283 --> 00:48:36,246 This guy knew people, and his business is screwing people. 948 00:48:36,538 --> 00:48:40,542 He had a lot of money in the name of the Lord. 949 00:48:40,584 --> 00:48:44,087 That guy says, sitting next to me, he says, 950 00:48:44,129 --> 00:48:46,298 "How about citizen politician?" 951 00:48:47,299 --> 00:48:49,176 And I looked at him, I said, "You got it." 952 00:48:50,135 --> 00:48:51,929 That's where it came from. 953 00:48:51,970 --> 00:48:54,598 [Reporter] Reagan's campaign as a citizen politician 954 00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:56,767 with common sense answers to problems 955 00:48:56,808 --> 00:48:59,311 has enormous appeal in California. 956 00:49:00,437 --> 00:49:02,272 The people have a definite feeling 957 00:49:02,314 --> 00:49:04,274 that maybe they'd like a change 958 00:49:04,316 --> 00:49:06,985 from the professional politician. 959 00:49:07,027 --> 00:49:10,864 By that time he's been on camera for 29 years. 960 00:49:13,325 --> 00:49:18,288 He fuses these two worlds, image-making and politics. 961 00:49:18,455 --> 00:49:20,791 [Reporter] At age 61, Governor Brown 962 00:49:20,832 --> 00:49:23,669 is trying for an almost unprecedented third term. 963 00:49:23,710 --> 00:49:26,088 That is his biggest liability. 964 00:49:26,129 --> 00:49:27,923 Brown has a good record as Governor, 965 00:49:27,965 --> 00:49:29,883 but after eight years in office 966 00:49:29,925 --> 00:49:32,135 he has become a focal point for discontent. 967 00:49:34,888 --> 00:49:39,977 Sacramento was seen as being a corrupt place. 968 00:49:40,018 --> 00:49:43,605 So I think that the movie that Reagan has in his mind 969 00:49:43,647 --> 00:49:46,024 is "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". 970 00:49:46,066 --> 00:49:48,276 It's about an outsider 971 00:49:48,318 --> 00:49:50,654 who represents a breath of fresh air. 972 00:49:50,696 --> 00:49:53,115 I don't think I'm gonna be much help to you 973 00:49:53,156 --> 00:49:54,491 down there in Washington, Senator. 974 00:49:54,533 --> 00:49:56,118 [audience laughing] 975 00:49:56,159 --> 00:49:59,955 I'll do my best with all my might. 976 00:49:59,997 --> 00:50:03,500 Reagan absorbed himself into that role completely. 977 00:50:03,542 --> 00:50:06,336 And he believes in the myths that are 978 00:50:06,378 --> 00:50:09,339 at the root of these characters. 979 00:50:09,381 --> 00:50:11,174 I'm a citizen, I'm not an office holder, 980 00:50:11,216 --> 00:50:13,176 or a party official. 981 00:50:13,218 --> 00:50:15,929 And I have gone wherever I've been asked to. 982 00:50:15,971 --> 00:50:17,848 I'll make a speech at a bus stop 983 00:50:17,889 --> 00:50:19,933 if enough people are waiting. 984 00:50:19,975 --> 00:50:21,810 Reagan played the voiceover 985 00:50:21,852 --> 00:50:26,231 for the myth of Good Guy America, and it worked. 986 00:50:28,734 --> 00:50:31,486 [Reporter] Can Governor Brown stop Ronald Reagan? 987 00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:34,865 Will California turn to a Republican governor this year, 988 00:50:34,906 --> 00:50:37,868 or will it continue with Democrat Pat Brown? 989 00:50:41,288 --> 00:50:43,498 It looks now, at this early day, like 990 00:50:44,958 --> 00:50:47,878 Mr. Reagan has won this campaign. 991 00:50:47,919 --> 00:50:50,714 [crowds cheering] 992 00:50:53,717 --> 00:50:56,178 bright music 993 00:51:02,642 --> 00:51:07,147 His story was one of a hero in his mind. 994 00:51:07,189 --> 00:51:09,066 Playing a politician, though, 995 00:51:09,107 --> 00:51:10,317 he got to be that hero. 996 00:51:12,861 --> 00:51:15,781 He could do that by having wealthy, powerful friends, 997 00:51:18,700 --> 00:51:23,038 but he had always depended on my mother to be his rock. 998 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,749 She knew he was an actor at his core, 999 00:51:25,791 --> 00:51:27,626 so she would give him encouragement. 1000 00:51:30,128 --> 00:51:31,838 She was a strong woman. 1001 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,424 Presented herself as the little lady, 1002 00:51:34,466 --> 00:51:37,928 but she became a very much more powerful force 1003 00:51:37,969 --> 00:51:39,096 behind the scenes. 1004 00:51:43,642 --> 00:51:44,768 He lived in a world, 1005 00:51:47,312 --> 00:51:50,440 he didn't need you or me. 1006 00:51:50,482 --> 00:51:52,567 He needed Nancy. 1007 00:51:52,609 --> 00:51:56,822 He would not have got elected governor without Nancy, 1008 00:51:56,863 --> 00:51:58,698 or president without Nancy. 1009 00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:04,412 And I don't find anybody as close as those two were. 1010 00:52:07,332 --> 00:52:09,334 That's the sort of thing you don't mess with. 1011 00:52:18,510 --> 00:52:23,306 [Pilot] 727 transit flight to Sacramento, our state capital. 1012 00:52:23,348 --> 00:52:24,724 enchanting music 1013 00:52:24,766 --> 00:52:26,226 [airplane engines roaring] 1014 00:52:26,268 --> 00:52:27,477 [Reporter] This charming woman 1015 00:52:27,519 --> 00:52:30,063 flying over the land she loves, 1016 00:52:30,105 --> 00:52:33,650 no longer gets mail meant for three other Nancy Davises. 1017 00:52:33,692 --> 00:52:36,611 She long ago left the world of the Nancy Davises. 1018 00:52:36,653 --> 00:52:39,656 She's now the one and only Nancy Reagan, 1019 00:52:39,698 --> 00:52:41,324 First Lady of California. 1020 00:52:44,703 --> 00:52:47,706 [Nancy] California, what a wonderful state. 1021 00:52:47,747 --> 00:52:50,709 I think if I had to choose the one thing that I love best, 1022 00:52:50,750 --> 00:52:53,295 it would be the place in a state where there's water. 1023 00:52:53,336 --> 00:52:55,547 The lakes are lovely of course, 1024 00:52:55,589 --> 00:52:57,007 but there's nothing in the world like the beaches. 1025 00:52:57,048 --> 00:52:59,759 [waves crashing] 1026 00:53:01,219 --> 00:53:03,471 Call me sentimental if you want to, 1027 00:53:03,513 --> 00:53:05,307 but the song says it all 1028 00:53:05,348 --> 00:53:08,435 and I still get a lump in my throat when I hear it, 1029 00:53:08,476 --> 00:53:12,147 "America the beautiful, from sea to shining sea." 1030 00:53:13,231 --> 00:53:16,109 sentimental music 1031 00:53:29,915 --> 00:53:35,962 tense rapid music