1 00:00:04,754 --> 00:00:08,550 [man] Hey, hey. Hey. Hey, hey. Gentlemen? 2 00:00:10,677 --> 00:00:12,596 [indistinct conversations] 3 00:00:12,637 --> 00:00:14,347 [man] All right? All right. 4 00:00:14,389 --> 00:00:16,933 [man] Glad to have you in Mississippi. 5 00:00:16,975 --> 00:00:18,893 Governor, welcome to Mississippi. 6 00:00:18,935 --> 00:00:20,478 Thank you so much for coming again. 7 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,441 dramatic music 8 00:00:24,482 --> 00:00:28,778 [cheers and applause] 9 00:00:36,244 --> 00:00:38,622 [helicopter blades whirring] 10 00:00:43,501 --> 00:00:48,715 [cheers and applause] 11 00:00:55,138 --> 00:00:58,558 [cheering] 12 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,310 [helicopter blades whirring] 13 00:01:00,352 --> 00:01:02,896 [crowd] R, R, R-E-A. 14 00:01:02,937 --> 00:01:05,607 G, G, G-A-N. 15 00:01:05,649 --> 00:01:08,234 R-E-A, G-A-N. 16 00:01:08,276 --> 00:01:11,821 Reagan, Reagan! Go, Reagan! 17 00:01:16,785 --> 00:01:20,455 [crowd] We vote Reagan! We vote Reagan! 18 00:01:20,497 --> 00:01:23,708 We vote Reagan! We vote Reagan! 19 00:01:23,750 --> 00:01:26,044 [man] This time, it's a real pleasure 20 00:01:26,086 --> 00:01:29,005 to present to you Ronald Reagan. Governor. 21 00:01:29,047 --> 00:01:33,301 [cheers and applause] 22 00:01:33,343 --> 00:01:35,679 [Lopez] In 1980, Ronald Reagan 23 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,140 wins the Republican nomination for President, 24 00:01:39,182 --> 00:01:41,726 and he faces an incredibly important decision-- 25 00:01:41,768 --> 00:01:44,979 how will he introduce himself to the country? 26 00:01:45,021 --> 00:01:47,816 Nancy and I have never seen anything like this, 27 00:01:47,857 --> 00:01:51,027 because there isn't anything like this any more than... 28 00:01:51,069 --> 00:01:53,488 [cheers and applause] 29 00:01:53,530 --> 00:01:56,825 [Lopez] He has a letter from a Southern official 30 00:01:56,866 --> 00:02:00,286 that invites him to come down to Neshoba County 31 00:02:00,328 --> 00:02:02,706 to the county fair there. 32 00:02:03,415 --> 00:02:08,461 Neshoba County was infamous for one reason and one reason only. 33 00:02:08,503 --> 00:02:10,505 [man] This is backwoods Mississippi, 34 00:02:10,547 --> 00:02:12,132 silent and suspicious. 35 00:02:12,173 --> 00:02:15,009 It is hostile country with a hostile attitude 36 00:02:15,051 --> 00:02:17,011 towards civil rights workers. 37 00:02:17,053 --> 00:02:18,805 James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, 38 00:02:18,847 --> 00:02:20,724 and Michael Schwerner went to Mississippi 39 00:02:20,765 --> 00:02:22,684 to help register Negroes as voters. 40 00:02:22,726 --> 00:02:24,811 [man] They have been missing since Sunday. 41 00:02:24,853 --> 00:02:27,439 They've been the focus of a whole country's concern. 42 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,526 [Lopez] 1964, three civil rights workers were kidnapped, 43 00:02:31,568 --> 00:02:35,655 lynched, their bodies stuffed in an earthen dam, 44 00:02:35,697 --> 00:02:38,575 and not found for over a month. 45 00:02:51,963 --> 00:02:54,758 [Lopez] 16 years later, 46 00:02:54,799 --> 00:02:57,802 there wasn't a voter alive in Neshoba County 47 00:02:57,844 --> 00:02:59,345 who hadn't been alive 48 00:02:59,387 --> 00:03:02,182 when those three civil rights workers were killed. 49 00:03:02,223 --> 00:03:03,725 [cheers and applause] 50 00:03:03,767 --> 00:03:06,853 [Wiley] He chose that place to stand up 51 00:03:06,895 --> 00:03:11,232 and look at the white South and say, 52 00:03:11,274 --> 00:03:13,610 "I'm for states' rights." 53 00:03:22,827 --> 00:03:25,038 [Lopez] This phrase, "states' rights," 54 00:03:25,079 --> 00:03:28,082 was prevalent across the South. 55 00:03:28,124 --> 00:03:32,378 We are defending the right of the people of Virginia 56 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:35,632 and of Alabama to decide some questions for themselves. 57 00:03:35,673 --> 00:03:40,011 Get back to conservative government, state rights. 58 00:03:40,053 --> 00:03:42,263 Not just the saying, "states' rights," 59 00:03:42,305 --> 00:03:44,641 but the real meaning of states' rights. 60 00:03:44,682 --> 00:03:48,603 "States' rights" has always in the South meant 61 00:03:48,645 --> 00:03:51,731 the North can't tell us what to do about race. 62 00:03:51,773 --> 00:03:55,860 And the federal government can't tell us 63 00:03:55,902 --> 00:03:57,737 that Black people are equal. 64 00:03:57,779 --> 00:04:01,074 It cannot tell us to integrate our schools. 65 00:04:01,115 --> 00:04:04,285 It was a flat out signal to an old South 66 00:04:04,327 --> 00:04:07,914 that thought the Civil War was not over. 67 00:04:07,956 --> 00:04:10,250 [woman] The real purpose of Reagan's trip is a speech 68 00:04:10,291 --> 00:04:13,878 to the Urban League in New York tomorrow on Black unemployment. 69 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:15,880 In Mississippi, it was difficult to find 70 00:04:15,922 --> 00:04:18,341 a Black face in the crowd. 71 00:04:18,383 --> 00:04:20,468 [Johnson] He is saying to white America, 72 00:04:20,510 --> 00:04:22,011 "You can trust me. 73 00:04:22,053 --> 00:04:25,265 "You can trust me to make sure that the forces of change 74 00:04:25,306 --> 00:04:29,143 in civil rights and equality will not affect your life," 75 00:04:29,185 --> 00:04:31,938 and he received little or no criticism for that. 76 00:04:31,980 --> 00:04:34,566 It's one of the reasons Reagan's record on race 77 00:04:34,607 --> 00:04:36,651 has not been sufficiently examined, 78 00:04:36,693 --> 00:04:39,445 and we're suffering for the consequences to that today. 79 00:04:43,950 --> 00:04:45,577 Our guest today on Meet The Press 80 00:04:45,618 --> 00:04:48,288 is screen and television actor, Ronald Reagan, 81 00:04:48,329 --> 00:04:49,914 who this week announced he would seek 82 00:04:49,956 --> 00:04:53,543 the Republican nomination for Governor of California. 83 00:04:53,585 --> 00:04:54,752 We've reached a period 84 00:04:54,794 --> 00:04:56,296 in which the philosophical differences 85 00:04:56,337 --> 00:04:59,173 between the two parties are so great 86 00:04:59,215 --> 00:05:02,093 that it's high time that more people from the rank and file 87 00:05:02,135 --> 00:05:04,971 of the citizenry involve themselves 88 00:05:05,013 --> 00:05:08,391 so that we can have government that's of and by 89 00:05:08,433 --> 00:05:10,101 as well as for the people. 90 00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:12,937 [Lopez] Ronald Reagan developed the political persona 91 00:05:12,979 --> 00:05:15,815 that we know in the 1960s. 92 00:05:15,857 --> 00:05:17,191 [crowd cheering] 93 00:05:17,233 --> 00:05:19,694 [male reporter] It is not always possible to tell the real 94 00:05:19,736 --> 00:05:23,406 from the unreal, the actual from the artificial, 95 00:05:23,448 --> 00:05:25,116 truth from fiction. 96 00:05:25,158 --> 00:05:27,827 Just so you all know, what you have been watching 97 00:05:27,869 --> 00:05:29,954 is a Hollywood movie premiere. 98 00:05:29,996 --> 00:05:34,167 What you are about to see is a California political campaign. 99 00:05:34,208 --> 00:05:38,254 [marching band music playing] 100 00:05:41,132 --> 00:05:43,968 [klaxon horn honking] 101 00:05:46,346 --> 00:05:47,639 [horn honks] 102 00:05:49,140 --> 00:05:51,559 [Ron Jr.] When he began his political career, 103 00:05:51,601 --> 00:05:52,977 I remember him saying that, 104 00:05:53,019 --> 00:05:54,771 well, he didn't know about running 105 00:05:54,812 --> 00:05:56,272 for Governor of California, 106 00:05:56,314 --> 00:05:59,192 but he would go out and make some speeches. 107 00:05:59,233 --> 00:06:00,735 [applause] 108 00:06:00,777 --> 00:06:04,113 He would judge the audience reaction to that. 109 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:09,619 And if the audience seemed to want him to run 110 00:06:09,661 --> 00:06:11,412 for Governor of California, 111 00:06:11,454 --> 00:06:15,833 well, then, sure he wouldn't-- he wouldn't let them down. 112 00:06:15,875 --> 00:06:18,336 For a long time, America sophisticates 113 00:06:18,378 --> 00:06:19,921 couldn't take Ronald Reagan seriously. 114 00:06:19,963 --> 00:06:22,757 As an actor, he had seemed corny to them. 115 00:06:22,799 --> 00:06:25,218 And remember, Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap. 116 00:06:25,259 --> 00:06:27,261 [man] As a politician, he seemed improbable. 117 00:06:27,303 --> 00:06:30,515 [man] Ronald Reagan has played many roles. 118 00:06:30,556 --> 00:06:32,767 This year, he wants to play governor. 119 00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:34,811 [Brown] You know, I'm running against an actor. 120 00:06:34,852 --> 00:06:37,105 No shot at Abraham Lincoln, don't you think? 121 00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:38,106 [laughter] 122 00:06:38,147 --> 00:06:40,733 You know, the press just love to call him 123 00:06:40,775 --> 00:06:44,153 a fading actor or "B" actor, 124 00:06:44,195 --> 00:06:46,489 and that upset him. 125 00:06:46,531 --> 00:06:48,157 [Ronald] The manner in which the other team 126 00:06:48,199 --> 00:06:51,119 has been campaigning, it's time that some people 127 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,371 are reminded that actors are people. 128 00:06:53,413 --> 00:06:55,331 [Nancy] Decision to run for Governor-- 129 00:06:55,373 --> 00:06:58,626 that was a mutual decision that we both, 130 00:06:58,668 --> 00:07:02,588 um, spent a couple of very sleepless nights over. 131 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:04,549 My wife, Nancy. 132 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:07,260 [Nancy] That meant a major change in our lives. 133 00:07:07,301 --> 00:07:09,387 It had to be a mutual decision. 134 00:07:09,429 --> 00:07:11,806 [Ron Jr.] When my parents entered politics, 135 00:07:11,848 --> 00:07:14,017 the whole new cast of characters arrived. 136 00:07:14,058 --> 00:07:16,602 I was used to, you know, Jimmy Cagney 137 00:07:16,644 --> 00:07:18,187 coming over around Christmas. 138 00:07:18,229 --> 00:07:21,107 But now there's this whole political crowd, 139 00:07:21,149 --> 00:07:24,235 new kind of money people. 140 00:07:24,277 --> 00:07:27,280 That was a new social circle for them. 141 00:07:27,321 --> 00:07:30,324 My mother was much more socially focused 142 00:07:30,366 --> 00:07:33,369 and acutely focused than my father was. 143 00:07:33,411 --> 00:07:35,163 She understood the value 144 00:07:35,204 --> 00:07:37,123 of having wealthy, powerful friends. 145 00:07:37,165 --> 00:07:39,584 And she was much more involved 146 00:07:39,625 --> 00:07:41,794 in cultivating those friendships. 147 00:07:41,836 --> 00:07:43,588 [Nancy] Thank you all for your work. 148 00:07:43,629 --> 00:07:46,632 Both my husband and I appreciate it. 149 00:07:46,674 --> 00:07:50,470 Reagan was running for Governor against Pat Brown... 150 00:07:50,511 --> 00:07:51,512 [crowd cheering] 151 00:07:51,554 --> 00:07:53,723 And he was a liberal New Deal politician. 152 00:07:53,765 --> 00:07:59,228 Brown created this tremendous infrastructure in California. 153 00:07:59,270 --> 00:08:03,483 Ordinary folks wondered, "Why are my taxes going up?" 154 00:08:03,524 --> 00:08:06,486 And there's Ronnie Reagan ready to take advantage of it. 155 00:08:06,527 --> 00:08:09,947 He's been singing this song about big government, 156 00:08:09,989 --> 00:08:11,491 and it plays well. 157 00:08:11,532 --> 00:08:13,493 You know, for a number of years, 158 00:08:13,534 --> 00:08:16,204 I have been protesting the growth of government. 159 00:08:16,245 --> 00:08:18,206 We have increased our population 18%. 160 00:08:18,247 --> 00:08:22,460 We've increased the number of recipients of welfare 49%. 161 00:08:22,502 --> 00:08:26,380 At that time, conservatism was very much on the fringes 162 00:08:26,422 --> 00:08:27,548 of American politics. 163 00:08:27,590 --> 00:08:30,551 Remember, Ronald Reagan campaigned 164 00:08:30,593 --> 00:08:33,054 for Goldwater in 1964. 165 00:08:33,096 --> 00:08:34,639 Barry Goldwater stood 166 00:08:34,680 --> 00:08:36,140 in the middle of what was happening in America, 167 00:08:36,182 --> 00:08:38,101 and it was still screaming segregation forever. 168 00:08:38,142 --> 00:08:40,895 So for Reagan to attach himself so comfortably 169 00:08:40,937 --> 00:08:43,189 was a sign of where he wanted to go long term. 170 00:08:43,231 --> 00:08:46,651 Governor Brown also called you a party crasher this morning. 171 00:08:46,692 --> 00:08:47,944 - I know. - Said that you're not in 172 00:08:47,985 --> 00:08:52,156 the, uh, progressive Republican side of your party. 173 00:08:52,198 --> 00:08:53,491 Well... 174 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:57,453 [man] He's called federal aid education a tool of tyranny. 175 00:08:57,495 --> 00:08:59,664 [Brown] He opposed Social Security. 176 00:08:59,705 --> 00:09:01,999 He wanted to make it voluntary. 177 00:09:02,041 --> 00:09:04,001 On the Redwoods, he feels that we have enough 178 00:09:04,043 --> 00:09:06,254 of the natural resources of our state. 179 00:09:06,295 --> 00:09:09,173 These are all taken from speeches that he's made 180 00:09:09,215 --> 00:09:11,551 either recently or during the past four or five years. 181 00:09:11,592 --> 00:09:16,389 I think his refusal to denounce the John Birch Society 182 00:09:16,430 --> 00:09:18,724 as almost every other Republican leader 183 00:09:18,766 --> 00:09:20,268 in the United States has done, 184 00:09:20,309 --> 00:09:23,104 I think all of these things indicate a philosophy 185 00:09:23,146 --> 00:09:26,899 that would be very dangerous to the people of our state. 186 00:09:26,941 --> 00:09:30,027 The John Birch Society was this fringe group 187 00:09:30,069 --> 00:09:33,990 that believed in all sorts of conspiracy theories, 188 00:09:34,031 --> 00:09:36,409 some of them anti-communist, some of them are just 189 00:09:36,450 --> 00:09:39,537 absolutely absurd fluoride in the water 190 00:09:39,579 --> 00:09:42,999 being intentionally put there to dumb down American voters, 191 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,418 concentration camps in Alaska. 192 00:09:45,459 --> 00:09:48,713 Most of the membership came out of the Republican Party, 193 00:09:48,754 --> 00:09:52,258 and it was a problem for Republicans. 194 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,760 For a political operative like Stu Spencer, 195 00:09:54,802 --> 00:09:59,348 his fear was that Reagan had gotten ahold of a bad script, 196 00:09:59,390 --> 00:10:01,309 and that bad script could be supplied 197 00:10:01,350 --> 00:10:03,769 by the John Birch Society, 198 00:10:03,811 --> 00:10:07,690 because some things are apropos to talk about 199 00:10:07,732 --> 00:10:09,942 and some things not. 200 00:10:09,984 --> 00:10:13,196 [Lopez] They also had a very strong strain 201 00:10:13,237 --> 00:10:15,114 of anti-Black racism. 202 00:10:15,156 --> 00:10:18,409 [Wiley] There was a concerted far right effort 203 00:10:18,451 --> 00:10:22,121 to undermine the legitimacy of the civil rights movement 204 00:10:22,163 --> 00:10:23,789 and the demands for equality 205 00:10:23,831 --> 00:10:28,586 that included even attacking Martin Luther King, Jr. 206 00:10:28,628 --> 00:10:33,341 as a communist even though he wasn't. 207 00:10:33,382 --> 00:10:36,344 One of the things that happened in this country 208 00:10:36,385 --> 00:10:39,805 as a result of winning passage of civil rights 209 00:10:39,847 --> 00:10:44,560 was literally a fracturing of what white politics had been. 210 00:10:44,602 --> 00:10:47,855 The arc of the moral universe is long, 211 00:10:47,897 --> 00:10:49,774 but it bends toward justice. 212 00:10:49,815 --> 00:10:53,903 [Wiley] You have people who left the Democratic Party 213 00:10:53,945 --> 00:10:55,988 and became Republicans 214 00:10:56,030 --> 00:10:59,033 because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 215 00:10:59,075 --> 00:11:02,620 [Ronald] I spent most of my life as a Democrat, 216 00:11:02,662 --> 00:11:04,872 and I recall very well 217 00:11:04,914 --> 00:11:08,084 when the moment came to change and to re-register, 218 00:11:08,125 --> 00:11:10,711 when the leadership of the Democratic party 219 00:11:10,753 --> 00:11:13,005 repudiated the constitutional concepts 220 00:11:13,047 --> 00:11:15,424 of individual freedom and local autonomy, 221 00:11:15,466 --> 00:11:16,801 and states' rights, 222 00:11:16,842 --> 00:11:18,135 and the little intellectual elite 223 00:11:18,177 --> 00:11:22,556 in the nation's capital can engage in social tinkering, 224 00:11:22,598 --> 00:11:25,434 then I say to you, you didn't leave your party. 225 00:11:25,476 --> 00:11:28,104 The leadership of that party left you. 226 00:11:28,145 --> 00:11:33,442 [cheers and applause] 227 00:11:40,157 --> 00:11:42,159 [man] White America watches in horror 228 00:11:42,201 --> 00:11:45,037 as the people of Watts, California, riot, 229 00:11:45,079 --> 00:11:48,499 crying, "Burn, baby, burn." 230 00:11:48,541 --> 00:11:50,209 [man] It began with the arrest by white officers 231 00:11:50,251 --> 00:11:52,837 of the California Highway Patrol of two young Negroes. 232 00:11:52,878 --> 00:11:55,006 There was an argument. There was a scuffle. 233 00:11:55,047 --> 00:11:56,966 By then, a crowd of several hundred Negroes had gathered, 234 00:11:57,008 --> 00:11:59,510 and the story of police brutality 235 00:11:59,552 --> 00:12:01,345 quickly spread through the community. 236 00:12:01,387 --> 00:12:03,723 [officer] Put your hands up. 237 00:12:03,764 --> 00:12:05,349 -Get them up. -Get your hands up. 238 00:12:05,391 --> 00:12:07,727 [Wiley] The Watts uprising was very much 239 00:12:07,768 --> 00:12:09,645 an expression of pain and anger 240 00:12:09,687 --> 00:12:12,857 at the failure of society to recognize 241 00:12:12,898 --> 00:12:16,944 what Black people had been asking for for generations, 242 00:12:16,986 --> 00:12:18,779 which was a fair shot 243 00:12:18,821 --> 00:12:21,073 at being able to support yourself and your family. 244 00:12:21,115 --> 00:12:24,994 It was also very frightening for people who were white. 245 00:12:25,036 --> 00:12:27,788 It was the notion that, 246 00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:30,416 "This could spill over into my community." 247 00:12:30,458 --> 00:12:33,377 And so it's very easy for Ronald Reagan then 248 00:12:33,419 --> 00:12:36,005 to come in and manipulate that fear. 249 00:12:36,047 --> 00:12:38,049 California also leads in some things 250 00:12:38,090 --> 00:12:41,969 that unfortunately give us no sense of pride. 251 00:12:42,011 --> 00:12:45,389 The only thing that's gone up more than spending is crime. 252 00:12:45,431 --> 00:12:47,808 Our city streets are jungle paths after dark. 253 00:12:47,850 --> 00:12:51,896 [Lopez] Reagan used the term "jungle paths" to talk about 254 00:12:51,937 --> 00:12:55,816 the areas in our cities populated by African Americans. 255 00:12:55,858 --> 00:12:59,362 This was a way to trigger racist stereotypes. 256 00:12:59,403 --> 00:13:04,033 He used these terms that hearkened back to Africa. 257 00:13:04,075 --> 00:13:06,952 [Ronald] The jungle is closing in on this little patch 258 00:13:06,994 --> 00:13:09,914 that we have been civilizing for so long a time. 259 00:13:09,955 --> 00:13:13,250 [Shearer] Reagan is in effect saying, 260 00:13:13,292 --> 00:13:16,379 "These are people who are breaking the law, 261 00:13:16,420 --> 00:13:19,131 and I will protect you against them." 262 00:13:19,173 --> 00:13:20,716 We need law and order, 263 00:13:20,758 --> 00:13:24,345 and that's exactly what Reagan campaigned on. 264 00:13:24,387 --> 00:13:27,139 You wanted law and order in this town. You got it. 265 00:13:27,181 --> 00:13:28,682 [gunshot] 266 00:13:28,724 --> 00:13:31,394 When white people heard "law and order," 267 00:13:31,435 --> 00:13:32,812 they heard him saying, 268 00:13:32,853 --> 00:13:34,730 "I am going to stop the hordes of liberals 269 00:13:34,772 --> 00:13:37,358 and Black and brown people from invading your neighborhood." 270 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:41,320 [Wiley] They bring violence. They bring crime. 271 00:13:41,362 --> 00:13:44,281 All of those are deeply imbedded stereotypes 272 00:13:44,323 --> 00:13:49,578 that get played out in that tough-on-crime stance. 273 00:13:49,620 --> 00:13:51,288 patriotic music 274 00:13:51,330 --> 00:13:54,500 [Lopez] In 1966, it's no longer acceptable 275 00:13:54,542 --> 00:13:59,839 for a political figure to use explicitly racist terms. 276 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:04,427 So a new language developed, and Ronald Reagan was a pioneer. 277 00:14:04,468 --> 00:14:07,263 It was a language that allowed people 278 00:14:07,304 --> 00:14:10,433 to oppose integration on a principle 279 00:14:10,474 --> 00:14:14,562 that supposedly had nothing to do with race. 280 00:14:15,688 --> 00:14:17,314 That's what dog whistle politics is. 281 00:14:17,356 --> 00:14:21,193 The use of coded language to trigger 282 00:14:21,235 --> 00:14:23,446 unacceptable social hatreds 283 00:14:23,487 --> 00:14:26,240 while pretending that's not what you're doing. 284 00:14:26,282 --> 00:14:28,367 Reagan can turn around and say, "Me? 285 00:14:28,409 --> 00:14:30,202 I didn't say anything about race. 286 00:14:30,244 --> 00:14:33,622 I just mentioned people commit crimes, 287 00:14:33,664 --> 00:14:35,749 gangs, inner cities, 288 00:14:35,791 --> 00:14:38,544 a pathological culture, no respect for work, 289 00:14:38,586 --> 00:14:42,465 jungle paths, nothing about race there at all." 290 00:14:42,506 --> 00:14:46,469 [helicopter blades whirring] 291 00:14:46,510 --> 00:14:48,387 [man] Do you think the Fair Housing Act in California 292 00:14:48,429 --> 00:14:50,931 is an ineffective or a bad method 293 00:14:50,973 --> 00:14:52,224 of assuring open housing? 294 00:14:52,266 --> 00:14:57,229 It runs the risk of by President giving to government a power 295 00:14:57,271 --> 00:14:59,398 that government should not have, 296 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,901 and this is the infringement on the right 297 00:15:01,942 --> 00:15:05,613 of the individual to private possessions 298 00:15:05,654 --> 00:15:09,200 and the control ownership of those possessions. 299 00:15:09,241 --> 00:15:11,619 When he ran for Governor, fair housing 300 00:15:11,660 --> 00:15:14,914 anti-discrimination was a big issue. 301 00:15:14,955 --> 00:15:17,208 classical cello music 302 00:15:17,249 --> 00:15:22,213 You have to remember in the '50s you could not sell your house 303 00:15:22,254 --> 00:15:24,590 to a Black person. 304 00:15:24,632 --> 00:15:26,342 This wasn't your private choice. 305 00:15:26,383 --> 00:15:28,511 This was imposed upon you 306 00:15:28,552 --> 00:15:31,388 by the entire real estate industry. 307 00:15:31,430 --> 00:15:34,475 Under federal housing programs, 308 00:15:34,517 --> 00:15:37,561 banks would not loan to African Americans 309 00:15:37,603 --> 00:15:41,774 if they tried to live in white neighborhoods. 310 00:15:41,815 --> 00:15:44,985 This was legalized segregation. 311 00:15:45,027 --> 00:15:46,612 [woman] Everybody that lives here has been hassling me. 312 00:15:46,654 --> 00:15:47,780 [man] Why? 313 00:15:47,821 --> 00:15:49,907 Because you're not safe walking the streets at night. 314 00:15:49,949 --> 00:15:51,367 You cannot leave the house. 315 00:15:51,408 --> 00:15:55,746 The people were frightened to death of integration. 316 00:15:55,788 --> 00:15:58,582 They thought, "This will hurt our schools. 317 00:15:58,624 --> 00:15:59,875 It'll make our neighborhood unsafe. 318 00:15:59,917 --> 00:16:02,920 Therefore the only thing I have in value in this world, 319 00:16:02,962 --> 00:16:07,675 my house, will lose its value." It was the hottest issue. 320 00:16:07,716 --> 00:16:10,177 Will you lose your neighborhood? That was it. 321 00:16:10,219 --> 00:16:14,431 [Lopez] While campaigning, Reagan would say, 322 00:16:14,473 --> 00:16:15,724 "I'm against prejudice, 323 00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:17,893 but I also support property rights." 324 00:16:17,935 --> 00:16:21,021 And one of the inherent rights of property 325 00:16:21,063 --> 00:16:25,192 is the right to dispose of it any way a person sees fit, 326 00:16:25,234 --> 00:16:29,321 even if that meant not selling to African Americans. 327 00:16:29,363 --> 00:16:31,448 That's a classic dog whistle. 328 00:16:31,490 --> 00:16:34,702 [Ronald] I do not believe that we can without in seriously 329 00:16:34,743 --> 00:16:38,581 endangering our basic freedoms, that we can violate 330 00:16:38,622 --> 00:16:41,875 this constitutional right of the individual. 331 00:16:41,917 --> 00:16:46,046 But I myself, I'll tell you now, do not subscribe to it. 332 00:16:46,088 --> 00:16:49,091 I'm willing to sell my house. A matter of fact 333 00:16:49,133 --> 00:16:51,135 if there's anyone listening wants to buy to a farm, 334 00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:54,096 I've got a farm for sale right now. 335 00:16:54,138 --> 00:16:57,600 [Derek] In effect, Reagan's definition of freedom 336 00:16:57,641 --> 00:17:01,687 included the so-called freedom to discriminate. 337 00:17:01,729 --> 00:17:03,022 [crowd cheering] 338 00:17:03,063 --> 00:17:07,109 [Wiley] He understood that there were many white voters 339 00:17:07,151 --> 00:17:11,530 in California who, because of racial integration, 340 00:17:11,572 --> 00:17:14,825 did not want to see their lives changed. 341 00:17:14,867 --> 00:17:18,621 He's sounding a message that has appeal-- 342 00:17:18,662 --> 00:17:23,375 "I warned people that this actor's gonna defeat Pat Brown," 343 00:17:23,417 --> 00:17:25,961 and it turned out to be true. 344 00:17:26,003 --> 00:17:28,881 Place your left hand upon the Bible 345 00:17:28,922 --> 00:17:31,050 and raise your right hand. 346 00:17:31,091 --> 00:17:34,136 [Lopez] Reagan had demonstrated that racial resentment 347 00:17:34,178 --> 00:17:37,723 wasn't confined to the white supremacist South. 348 00:17:37,765 --> 00:17:42,269 Even in California you could use race as way to win votes. 349 00:17:42,311 --> 00:17:45,481 dramatic music 350 00:17:45,522 --> 00:17:49,526 My native country, thee 351 00:17:49,568 --> 00:17:54,031 Land of the noble free 352 00:17:54,073 --> 00:17:59,161 Thy name I love 353 00:17:59,203 --> 00:18:02,539 casual xylophone jazz music 354 00:18:02,581 --> 00:18:04,917 [indistinct conversations] 355 00:18:04,958 --> 00:18:06,460 [Nancy] Mr. and Mrs. Deacon Anderson. 356 00:18:06,502 --> 00:18:07,920 -Mr. Reagan, Mrs. Kent. -[woman] Hello, 357 00:18:07,961 --> 00:18:10,047 -Hello, Reagan. -From Carmel. 358 00:18:10,089 --> 00:18:11,173 -Good to see you. Hello. -Hello there. Oh! 359 00:18:11,215 --> 00:18:12,508 -Oh, my friend. -A pleasure. 360 00:18:12,549 --> 00:18:14,176 Oh, yes, your friend, your dearest friend. 361 00:18:14,218 --> 00:18:15,719 How are you? It's nice that you can be here. 362 00:18:15,761 --> 00:18:17,262 Oh, we're so thrilled to be here. 363 00:18:17,304 --> 00:18:19,098 -Nice to see you. -Hello. 364 00:18:19,139 --> 00:18:22,559 [Kelley] When Nancy became First Lady of California, 365 00:18:22,601 --> 00:18:24,728 first of all, she was fit to be tied 366 00:18:24,770 --> 00:18:29,316 to have to leave Beverly Hills and go to Sacramento. 367 00:18:29,358 --> 00:18:33,445 I mean, she loved the fact that Ronnie was governor 368 00:18:33,487 --> 00:18:37,449 but Sacramento? No, she did not like that at all. 369 00:18:39,284 --> 00:18:40,828 [Ron Jr.] The original Governor's mansion 370 00:18:40,869 --> 00:18:44,373 was this Victorian wedding cake of a place, 371 00:18:44,415 --> 00:18:47,626 this four-story thing with the cupola on top and, you know, 372 00:18:47,668 --> 00:18:51,839 all these stairways and rooms that were never used, 373 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,592 so you could spend a lot of time exploring this big house. 374 00:18:55,634 --> 00:18:57,594 It was kind of cool for a little kid, 375 00:18:57,636 --> 00:19:01,432 but on the other hand, it was right downtown, 376 00:19:01,473 --> 00:19:03,892 with a motel and two gas stations 377 00:19:03,934 --> 00:19:05,102 on the other corner. 378 00:19:05,144 --> 00:19:07,396 [man] Nancy shows some other governors' wives 379 00:19:07,438 --> 00:19:09,231 California's Governor's Mansion. 380 00:19:09,273 --> 00:19:12,317 -[Nancy] Quite a busy street. -[woman] I should say so. 381 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,945 All the freeway traffic comes here. 382 00:19:14,987 --> 00:19:17,322 -There's no grounds around. -[Nancy] No. 383 00:19:17,364 --> 00:19:18,907 It's unfortunate. 384 00:19:18,949 --> 00:19:21,660 It's--It's just gotten surrounded by the city. 385 00:19:21,702 --> 00:19:22,619 [woman] Yeah. 386 00:19:22,661 --> 00:19:24,329 [Nancy] It's lovely to look at, 387 00:19:24,371 --> 00:19:26,373 but it really does need some paint, doesn't it? 388 00:19:26,415 --> 00:19:30,836 intriguing orchestral music 389 00:19:30,878 --> 00:19:36,717 There the jelly beans. [laughs] Ronnie loves jelly beans. 390 00:19:36,759 --> 00:19:38,969 [woman] Is this your son's decision? 391 00:19:39,011 --> 00:19:41,597 -Oh, this is my husband. -Oh, your husband? 392 00:19:41,638 --> 00:19:43,599 When I said Ronnie, I meant big Ronnie. 393 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,184 [laughter] 394 00:19:45,225 --> 00:19:47,561 [Spencer] When she and I went out to see the mansion 395 00:19:47,603 --> 00:19:49,313 for the first time, 396 00:19:49,354 --> 00:19:52,983 they had ropes on the second story over fire escapes. 397 00:19:53,025 --> 00:19:56,653 They had two young kids at the time, 398 00:19:56,695 --> 00:19:59,990 and she looks at me and she just, 399 00:20:00,032 --> 00:20:03,118 "I'm not living there." [laughs] 400 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,788 [Nancy] Don't you find every governor's wife 401 00:20:05,829 --> 00:20:08,373 and every governor that I've ever talked to, 402 00:20:08,415 --> 00:20:10,083 they want a home. 403 00:20:10,125 --> 00:20:13,921 They don't want to be there. All day they're in downtown, 404 00:20:13,962 --> 00:20:15,756 but... -They really do need it. 405 00:20:15,798 --> 00:20:18,258 The job itself, just you really need someplace 406 00:20:18,300 --> 00:20:20,344 to get away from it all. -[Nancy] Yes, you do. 407 00:20:20,385 --> 00:20:22,262 [traffic light clicks] 408 00:20:22,304 --> 00:20:25,432 [Kelley] She really made quite a scene about it 409 00:20:25,474 --> 00:20:27,351 and said she wouldn't live there. 410 00:20:27,392 --> 00:20:29,520 Well, if she wasn't gonna live in it, 411 00:20:29,561 --> 00:20:31,522 the governor wasn't gonna live in it. 412 00:20:31,563 --> 00:20:33,982 [Nancy] Something should've been done a long, long time ago, 413 00:20:34,024 --> 00:20:37,069 and it's awful that the governor of the largest state 414 00:20:37,110 --> 00:20:40,155 is scrounging around trying to find a place to live? 415 00:20:40,197 --> 00:20:42,282 Whoever heard of anything like that? 416 00:20:42,324 --> 00:20:44,952 Uh, really, isn't it disgraceful? 417 00:20:44,993 --> 00:20:46,495 Uh, I don't know about that. [ chuckles ] 418 00:20:46,537 --> 00:20:49,414 [laughs] I can't get you to commit yourself. 419 00:20:49,456 --> 00:20:51,166 [laughter] 420 00:20:51,208 --> 00:20:54,294 [Kelley] The Kitchen Cabinet bought a large house 421 00:20:54,336 --> 00:20:57,881 for the Reagans in a better part of town. 422 00:20:57,923 --> 00:21:01,051 Nancy felt much more comfortable moving there, 423 00:21:01,093 --> 00:21:03,303 and that's what they did. 424 00:21:07,349 --> 00:21:08,851 Well, I was very happy as a kid 425 00:21:08,892 --> 00:21:11,270 when they moved to a quieter neighborhood. 426 00:21:12,354 --> 00:21:14,690 Nice house with a pool and, you know, 427 00:21:14,731 --> 00:21:17,985 big yard and trees to climb and all the rest of that. 428 00:21:18,026 --> 00:21:20,946 I thought this is-- this is a vast improvement. 429 00:21:20,988 --> 00:21:22,489 [laughs] 430 00:21:22,531 --> 00:21:24,449 [man] In 1969, a group of Governor Reagan's friends 431 00:21:24,491 --> 00:21:25,909 bought the present mansion. 432 00:21:25,951 --> 00:21:29,454 They charged the governor $15,000 a year until this year 433 00:21:29,496 --> 00:21:32,457 when the legislature agreed to pick up the rent. 434 00:21:32,499 --> 00:21:34,209 [man] $15,000 does sound like a lot of money in rent. 435 00:21:34,251 --> 00:21:36,879 It sure does. It is a lot of money in rent. 436 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:38,338 [man] I just was wondering more if 437 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:39,673 it would've costed you more to have actually 438 00:21:39,715 --> 00:21:42,301 bought the house and paid it off at that rate. 439 00:21:42,342 --> 00:21:44,136 I'm not very good at arithmetic. I don't know, 440 00:21:44,177 --> 00:21:48,140 but I just know we-- we, uh, we couldn't afford 441 00:21:48,181 --> 00:21:52,686 to--to buy a house, no, really, shouldn't be asked to, actually. 442 00:21:52,728 --> 00:21:55,480 As I say, the state is supposed to provide 443 00:21:55,522 --> 00:21:59,359 living quarters for the governor. 444 00:22:00,777 --> 00:22:02,321 [woman] Mrs. Reagan thinks 445 00:22:02,362 --> 00:22:04,698 that both the state capital and the Governor's Mansion 446 00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:07,659 should be points of pride for California residents. 447 00:22:07,701 --> 00:22:10,287 And what Mrs. Reagan has started as attempts to beautify 448 00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:14,499 the mansion have perhaps turned into political issues. 449 00:22:14,541 --> 00:22:16,168 Can I walk in front of you? 450 00:22:16,209 --> 00:22:21,423 [Ron Jr.] My mother--she was used to Hollywood kind of PR, 451 00:22:21,465 --> 00:22:23,967 where, you know, for the most part, 452 00:22:24,009 --> 00:22:27,554 everybody's there to kind of boost you, you know. 453 00:22:27,596 --> 00:22:30,599 Now it seemed like everybody was there to tear you down. 454 00:22:30,641 --> 00:22:34,853 [Nancy] I don't like viciousness and, um, uh, 455 00:22:34,895 --> 00:22:38,982 it's wrong, and that's why politics has the bad name 456 00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:42,319 it has and, uh, that's why it's very difficult 457 00:22:42,361 --> 00:22:44,821 to get good men to go into politics. 458 00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:46,281 It's very, very hard, 459 00:22:46,323 --> 00:22:49,576 and the people are the losers. [sighs] 460 00:22:49,618 --> 00:22:52,788 Nancy Reagan had had a bit of an introduction 461 00:22:52,829 --> 00:22:57,125 to press coverage with the Governor's Mansion 462 00:22:57,167 --> 00:23:01,588 that the Joan Didion piece for The Saturday Evening Post 463 00:23:01,630 --> 00:23:03,006 did it for her. 464 00:23:03,048 --> 00:23:07,135 It was entitled Pretty Nancy. 465 00:23:07,177 --> 00:23:12,724 She talked about Nancy's frozen smile and the gaze, 466 00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:17,354 "g-a-z-e" gaze, became her trademark. 467 00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:19,940 Women made fun of it. 468 00:23:19,982 --> 00:23:22,317 She would just be like this all the time 469 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:25,404 looking at him, and I don't think it was put on. 470 00:23:25,445 --> 00:23:30,325 It's a 1950s woman trying to shore up her man. 471 00:23:30,367 --> 00:23:31,994 Do we want to center these on the wall 472 00:23:32,035 --> 00:23:33,328 and then-- but then work around it? 473 00:23:33,370 --> 00:23:34,621 Is that--I think that's the best--Hmm? 474 00:23:34,663 --> 00:23:37,457 And perhaps we have room for hanging three right here. 475 00:23:37,499 --> 00:23:39,001 Don't you think it would be better 476 00:23:39,042 --> 00:23:44,172 to put all of those, uh, maybe down there, 477 00:23:44,214 --> 00:23:47,551 where they'd be the most visible rather than here? 478 00:23:47,592 --> 00:23:48,760 [man] And having here-- and having there to themselves. 479 00:23:48,802 --> 00:23:50,762 Yeah, right, and that--and that next. 480 00:23:50,804 --> 00:23:54,057 -[man] Yes, I think so. -See, I'm sorry, ma'am, 481 00:23:54,099 --> 00:23:55,767 but unauthorized personnel aren't allowed in here. 482 00:23:55,809 --> 00:23:57,602 -[laughs] -Hi, honey. 483 00:23:57,644 --> 00:23:59,187 Hi. 484 00:23:59,229 --> 00:24:03,567 [Ron Jr.] My parents were somewhat old-fashioned people. 485 00:24:03,608 --> 00:24:05,819 Look at these. Oops! 486 00:24:05,861 --> 00:24:07,029 [exhales deeply] 487 00:24:07,070 --> 00:24:09,990 [Ron Jr.] That was just as well, given that they were going 488 00:24:10,032 --> 00:24:11,908 into Republican politics. 489 00:24:11,950 --> 00:24:15,245 You know, Nancy, you'll see Patty later on. 490 00:24:15,287 --> 00:24:16,455 Hello. 491 00:24:16,496 --> 00:24:19,958 [Ron Jr.] They could stand as this symbol of the old America, 492 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,753 you know, the America we miss so much. 493 00:24:22,794 --> 00:24:26,965 You could see it in the TV shows of the '50s-- 494 00:24:27,007 --> 00:24:33,513 a lot of conservatives thought the nuclear family, 495 00:24:33,555 --> 00:24:36,099 the husband as breadwinner, the little woman 496 00:24:36,141 --> 00:24:41,855 staying home with the apron, the happy Black servant, 497 00:24:41,897 --> 00:24:45,859 this was kind of the natural order of things. 498 00:24:45,901 --> 00:24:47,360 [man] Like many a housewife, 499 00:24:47,402 --> 00:24:50,906 Nancy Reagan likes to shop herself when she can. 500 00:24:50,947 --> 00:24:52,824 [Kelley] Nancy felt her persona 501 00:24:52,866 --> 00:24:55,869 would be non-threatening to America 502 00:24:55,911 --> 00:24:58,872 and non-threatening to the Republican Party, 503 00:24:58,914 --> 00:25:04,836 and it worked. It worked for the Reagans. 504 00:25:04,878 --> 00:25:07,589 They were scared of The Beatles, for Godsakes. 505 00:25:07,631 --> 00:25:09,925 The Beatles. 506 00:25:09,966 --> 00:25:13,428 The '60s were very difficult for my father. 507 00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:17,599 He was unable to fathom this whole new long-haired 508 00:25:17,641 --> 00:25:20,435 rock-and-roll, pot-smoking reality. 509 00:25:20,477 --> 00:25:22,104 [Ronald] This fellow that was doing the talking 510 00:25:22,145 --> 00:25:24,481 had a haircut like Tarzan, he walked like Jane, 511 00:25:24,523 --> 00:25:28,068 and smelled like cheetah. [laughter] 512 00:25:28,110 --> 00:25:33,281 rock and roll music 513 00:25:33,323 --> 00:25:36,368 Hey, by the way you be sure to listen to WYBC's Viewpoint 514 00:25:36,409 --> 00:25:38,829 when Jason Roberts talks with Governor Ronald Reagan. 515 00:25:38,870 --> 00:25:41,039 -[Ronald] Okay, wait a second. -[man] Yeah, roll the tape. 516 00:25:41,081 --> 00:25:43,291 [man] Since Sunday, the California governor 517 00:25:43,333 --> 00:25:46,586 has been guest lecturer at Yale University. 518 00:25:46,628 --> 00:25:47,754 [man] How do you feel? 519 00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:50,632 Well, uh, a little nervous at the moment. 520 00:25:50,674 --> 00:25:55,095 It's, uh, but then I was always nervous about an examination. 521 00:25:55,137 --> 00:25:57,681 [indistinct conversations] 522 00:25:57,722 --> 00:26:03,311 [Shearer] I first met Reagan when he came to Yale University 523 00:26:03,353 --> 00:26:05,605 at the end of the first year as governor. 524 00:26:05,647 --> 00:26:09,568 I probably knew more than the average Yalie 525 00:26:09,609 --> 00:26:12,279 about him because I was from California. 526 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,197 Uh, I actually I gave the impression a lot. 527 00:26:14,239 --> 00:26:16,700 He was a bit taken aback by what I what I would call 528 00:26:16,741 --> 00:26:19,411 the critical reception that he got. 529 00:26:19,452 --> 00:26:24,624 We asked penetrating, journalist-like questions. 530 00:26:24,666 --> 00:26:28,503 He was not used to be put on the spot. 531 00:26:28,545 --> 00:26:30,505 Could you tell me in what ways you've been active 532 00:26:30,547 --> 00:26:33,383 for civil rights in your career? 533 00:26:41,391 --> 00:26:44,019 As a sports announcer many years ago, 534 00:26:44,060 --> 00:26:46,938 baseball opened its rule book with a line, 535 00:26:46,980 --> 00:26:49,816 "Baseball is a game for Caucasian gentlemen." 536 00:26:49,858 --> 00:26:52,694 Baseball is a game for Caucasian gentlemen. 537 00:26:52,736 --> 00:26:56,323 Only whites were allowed to play baseball in the big leagues. 538 00:26:56,364 --> 00:26:59,284 I editorialized constantly against this. 539 00:26:59,326 --> 00:27:03,205 Was editorializing against the gentlemen's agreement 540 00:27:03,246 --> 00:27:06,625 that kept Blacks from playing organized baseball. 541 00:27:06,666 --> 00:27:09,878 And one man defied that rule. 542 00:27:14,216 --> 00:27:16,676 And today, baseball is far better off. 543 00:27:16,718 --> 00:27:21,056 [Shearer] The notion that he was an aggressive activist 544 00:27:21,097 --> 00:27:23,767 who supported Jackie Robinson's right 545 00:27:23,808 --> 00:27:27,646 to play baseball was, again, not true. 546 00:27:27,687 --> 00:27:32,067 It's just an example of him not really wanting to see 547 00:27:32,108 --> 00:27:36,446 and also not admitting the depth of the issue 548 00:27:36,488 --> 00:27:38,698 of discrimination in the country. 549 00:27:38,740 --> 00:27:40,700 Each time you've spoken about civil rights, 550 00:27:40,742 --> 00:27:43,036 you've talked about the integration of baseball 551 00:27:43,078 --> 00:27:44,913 about Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson. 552 00:27:44,955 --> 00:27:46,748 It--it's become repetitious, 553 00:27:46,790 --> 00:27:49,376 and it seems to me a sad concept of civil rights. 554 00:27:49,417 --> 00:27:52,295 The real problems are questions of housing, 555 00:27:52,337 --> 00:27:53,964 of crime in the ghetto. 556 00:27:54,005 --> 00:27:57,050 It's always as if it's coming out of something that's been-- 557 00:27:57,092 --> 00:27:59,261 that's memorized, that if they question you 558 00:27:59,302 --> 00:28:01,137 for more than five minutes, you break down. 559 00:28:01,179 --> 00:28:04,266 I just--I don't believe that you really have mastered 560 00:28:04,307 --> 00:28:05,934 the subjects you're talking about. 561 00:28:05,976 --> 00:28:07,894 [Ronald] Well, let me ask you something. 562 00:28:07,936 --> 00:28:12,148 What is the democratic machine in Chicago? 563 00:28:12,190 --> 00:28:13,942 [arguing at once] 564 00:28:13,984 --> 00:28:18,029 Instead of arguing the facts with us, he was sort of saying, 565 00:28:18,071 --> 00:28:20,991 "You're too young to understand how the world works." 566 00:28:21,032 --> 00:28:23,118 This is one of the things that you should learn. 567 00:28:23,159 --> 00:28:24,995 And, Derek, you ought to learn this most of all 568 00:28:25,036 --> 00:28:27,497 if you're going to pursue journalism. 569 00:28:27,539 --> 00:28:31,876 [Shearer] Reagan saw himself as a patriot. 570 00:28:31,918 --> 00:28:33,628 contemplative music 571 00:28:33,670 --> 00:28:35,213 He wasn't self-critical. 572 00:28:35,255 --> 00:28:40,051 He didn't wanna examine America in any critical way 573 00:28:40,093 --> 00:28:44,264 because he accepted America as it was. 574 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,561 The notion that if you followed other music 575 00:28:49,602 --> 00:28:51,563 or another lifestyle, 576 00:28:51,604 --> 00:28:54,149 or if you disagreed with the war in Vietnam 577 00:28:54,190 --> 00:28:56,443 or if you got too excited about voting rights 578 00:28:56,484 --> 00:29:00,280 for Black people that you were actually challenging 579 00:29:00,322 --> 00:29:04,492 his America, his unexamined America. 580 00:29:04,534 --> 00:29:08,330 [Ronald] College is the world apart from the world. 581 00:29:08,371 --> 00:29:10,498 But this year on the beautiful campus 582 00:29:10,540 --> 00:29:13,543 of the University of California at Berkeley, 583 00:29:13,585 --> 00:29:16,463 college was also this. 584 00:29:16,504 --> 00:29:18,048 [chanting indistinctly] 585 00:29:18,089 --> 00:29:22,344 [Ronald] This small minority of beatniks and malcontents 586 00:29:22,385 --> 00:29:24,220 and filthy speech advocates 587 00:29:24,262 --> 00:29:26,014 have interfered with the primary purpose 588 00:29:26,056 --> 00:29:27,140 of that university, 589 00:29:27,182 --> 00:29:29,726 and they've brought shame on a great university, 590 00:29:29,768 --> 00:29:31,770 a university of which you and I have a right 591 00:29:31,811 --> 00:29:32,979 to be very proud 592 00:29:33,021 --> 00:29:35,732 and which, for many years, we have been very proud. 593 00:29:35,774 --> 00:29:38,318 [crowd cheering] 594 00:29:42,614 --> 00:29:43,573 [Shearer] At three in the morning 595 00:29:43,615 --> 00:29:45,700 on Thursday, the 15th of May, 596 00:29:45,742 --> 00:29:48,286 300 uniformed fully equipped police 597 00:29:48,328 --> 00:29:51,498 occupied the park, and a fence was erected. 598 00:29:51,539 --> 00:29:53,249 [man] And unless you leave, 599 00:29:53,291 --> 00:29:55,543 you will be arrested for trespassing. 600 00:29:55,585 --> 00:29:59,964 [Shearer] That same day, a rally was held on campus. 601 00:30:00,006 --> 00:30:02,342 [man] Don't let those pigs beat the shit out of you. 602 00:30:02,384 --> 00:30:05,011 Don't let yourselves get arrested on felonies. 603 00:30:05,053 --> 00:30:07,138 Go down there and take the park. 604 00:30:07,180 --> 00:30:10,725 [cheering] 605 00:30:10,767 --> 00:30:12,018 [man] Take the park! 606 00:30:12,060 --> 00:30:15,438 [Shearer] People's Park involved students 607 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,273 protecting a piece of land 608 00:30:17,315 --> 00:30:19,275 that the university wanted to expand on. 609 00:30:19,317 --> 00:30:21,945 [crowd] We want the park! We want the park! 610 00:30:21,986 --> 00:30:23,988 [Scheer] The university overreacted. 611 00:30:24,030 --> 00:30:27,534 On the local level, the police were coming in, 612 00:30:27,575 --> 00:30:31,079 and then Reagan came in with the authorization 613 00:30:31,121 --> 00:30:34,040 on the state level of the National Guard. 614 00:30:34,082 --> 00:30:36,626 suspenseful music 615 00:30:39,921 --> 00:30:43,216 [indistinct chanting] 616 00:30:45,135 --> 00:30:46,636 [helicopter propeller whirring] 617 00:30:46,678 --> 00:30:51,307 Suddenly, you have troops there with guns and bayonets. 618 00:30:51,349 --> 00:30:53,351 [gunshot] 619 00:30:53,393 --> 00:30:57,439 [crowd shouting indistinctly] 620 00:31:01,776 --> 00:31:04,154 [Shearer] If you were watching the TV coverage, 621 00:31:04,195 --> 00:31:07,615 it looked like that it was a riot. 622 00:31:07,657 --> 00:31:11,077 The optics of it for Reagan were great. 623 00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:15,123 It played into all the tropes of the conservative movement 624 00:31:15,165 --> 00:31:18,084 about young people. 625 00:31:18,126 --> 00:31:20,628 [interviewer] Did you personally agree with it? 626 00:31:20,670 --> 00:31:24,007 Yeah. I'm that generation. 627 00:31:24,048 --> 00:31:26,718 Bomb the bastards. 628 00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:29,762 [gunfire] 629 00:31:29,804 --> 00:31:32,056 [indistinct shouting] 630 00:31:32,098 --> 00:31:33,475 dramatic music 631 00:31:33,516 --> 00:31:35,059 [indistinct shouting] 632 00:31:35,101 --> 00:31:39,606 [helicopter propeller whirring] 633 00:31:43,234 --> 00:31:46,029 [Scheer] Reagan blamed everything bad that happened 634 00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:48,948 on the students and the university. 635 00:31:48,990 --> 00:31:52,160 On the campus, it was you who are adults. 636 00:31:52,202 --> 00:31:55,497 You who are entrusted with those young people and their guidance, 637 00:31:55,538 --> 00:31:58,082 have a responsibility to make it plain to them 638 00:31:58,124 --> 00:31:59,209 from the very beginning 639 00:31:59,250 --> 00:32:01,461 that you yourselves do not tolerate 640 00:32:01,503 --> 00:32:02,962 the kind of conduct 641 00:32:03,004 --> 00:32:05,048 that has led to the burning of Wheeler Hall. 642 00:32:05,089 --> 00:32:06,382 [man] The overwhelming majority 643 00:32:06,424 --> 00:32:09,385 of the faculty and students are against violence, 644 00:32:09,427 --> 00:32:12,096 have done more to curb violence than you 645 00:32:12,138 --> 00:32:13,348 and created an atmosphere-- 646 00:32:13,389 --> 00:32:14,933 -[Ronald] Listen. -[man] No one wants to listen. 647 00:32:14,974 --> 00:32:16,809 -No one... -You are a liar. 648 00:32:16,851 --> 00:32:19,979 All of it began the first time some of you who know better, 649 00:32:20,021 --> 00:32:22,190 and are old enough to know better, 650 00:32:22,232 --> 00:32:25,068 let young people think that they have the right 651 00:32:25,109 --> 00:32:26,819 to choose the laws they would obey 652 00:32:26,861 --> 00:32:30,782 as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. 653 00:32:30,823 --> 00:32:34,494 [Wiley] Reagan was able to play on the insecurity 654 00:32:34,536 --> 00:32:37,288 about a world that was radically changing. 655 00:32:37,330 --> 00:32:39,916 From young people on college campuses, 656 00:32:39,958 --> 00:32:43,211 from the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations 657 00:32:43,253 --> 00:32:45,630 as well as the civil rights movement, 658 00:32:45,672 --> 00:32:49,551 Reagan was linking all of this demonstration 659 00:32:49,592 --> 00:32:52,804 and protest as a grand threat. 660 00:32:52,845 --> 00:32:56,641 [Ronald] It's time we recognize that this is nationwide. 661 00:32:56,683 --> 00:32:57,934 This is a plot. 662 00:32:57,976 --> 00:33:01,187 There is a conspiratorial side to it. 663 00:33:01,229 --> 00:33:04,649 [Scheer] What should have been seen as positive expressions 664 00:33:04,691 --> 00:33:06,568 of legitimate concern, 665 00:33:06,609 --> 00:33:08,111 Ronald Reagan gets hacked. 666 00:33:08,152 --> 00:33:10,697 He made no bones about it. 667 00:33:10,738 --> 00:33:15,118 Anybody who talks about these structural problems 668 00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:20,248 of race or peace and class is the enemy, a traitor. 669 00:33:20,290 --> 00:33:23,918 suspenseful music 670 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,505 [man] The Governor and The Students, 671 00:33:27,547 --> 00:33:29,549 an unedited, unrehearsed dialogue 672 00:33:29,591 --> 00:33:31,968 between Governor Ronald Reagan 673 00:33:32,010 --> 00:33:33,928 and California students. 674 00:33:33,970 --> 00:33:35,638 groovy music 675 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,016 [man] Governor, I know you kind of decided 676 00:33:38,057 --> 00:33:39,601 whether or not to receive the Republican 677 00:33:39,642 --> 00:33:42,437 presidential, um, nomination for President. 678 00:33:42,478 --> 00:33:45,732 But would you like to be President? 679 00:33:45,773 --> 00:33:48,192 It's a job that--I think it starts with the people. 680 00:33:48,234 --> 00:33:51,446 But I could never find myself 681 00:33:51,487 --> 00:33:53,865 just saying, "Oh, I want to be President, 682 00:33:53,906 --> 00:33:55,825 and I'm gonna go out and talk to people into it." 683 00:33:55,867 --> 00:33:59,912 My father came from a generation where being nakedly ambitious 684 00:33:59,954 --> 00:34:03,458 was not seen as a positive characteristic. 685 00:34:03,499 --> 00:34:05,084 Heroes don't do that. 686 00:34:05,126 --> 00:34:08,880 Heroes don't, you know, seek attention. 687 00:34:08,921 --> 00:34:10,673 If you were nakedly ambitious, 688 00:34:10,715 --> 00:34:13,176 you were being something less than heroic. 689 00:34:13,217 --> 00:34:16,220 [Plog] Reagan was thinking of being President 690 00:34:16,262 --> 00:34:17,805 from the time we first met him. 691 00:34:17,847 --> 00:34:19,390 That's all he wanted. 692 00:34:19,432 --> 00:34:22,769 I was with him in his Pacific Palisades home, 693 00:34:22,810 --> 00:34:24,437 and we're going through some issues. 694 00:34:24,479 --> 00:34:26,439 He suddenly put the books down and he said, 695 00:34:26,481 --> 00:34:28,066 "Damn. Wouldn't this be fun 696 00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:30,151 if we were running for the presidency?" 697 00:34:30,193 --> 00:34:32,862 [Alter] In early 1968, 698 00:34:32,904 --> 00:34:35,281 the guy has been governor for a year. 699 00:34:35,323 --> 00:34:39,869 He goes on a nationwide speaking tour to test the waters 700 00:34:39,911 --> 00:34:41,496 for the presidency. 701 00:34:41,537 --> 00:34:43,414 [man] Governor, are you running for President? 702 00:34:43,456 --> 00:34:46,501 I am not a candidate. I'm not running for President. 703 00:34:46,542 --> 00:34:47,710 [man] People think you're a candidate. 704 00:34:47,752 --> 00:34:50,254 Well, um, maybe the people think I'm a candidate 705 00:34:50,296 --> 00:34:51,923 because you fellows won't take my word for it. 706 00:34:51,964 --> 00:34:53,091 [man] Governor... 707 00:34:53,132 --> 00:34:55,968 [crowd chattering] 708 00:34:56,010 --> 00:34:58,513 [elephant blows] 709 00:34:58,554 --> 00:35:00,640 [elephant trumpets] 710 00:35:00,682 --> 00:35:06,854 And in '68, my grandmother was for Reagan. 711 00:35:06,896 --> 00:35:09,691 Reagan was the governor from the largest state 712 00:35:09,732 --> 00:35:11,693 governing as a conservative. 713 00:35:11,734 --> 00:35:14,320 He really put himself forward as somebody that 714 00:35:14,362 --> 00:35:16,114 conservative Republicans said, 715 00:35:16,155 --> 00:35:19,617 "Someday, this is our candidate for President." 716 00:35:21,536 --> 00:35:24,163 [man] This is probably his last chance at the White House 717 00:35:24,205 --> 00:35:28,918 for one reason or another, chiefly age, it's 1968 or never. 718 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,546 [man] The nominee of this convention-- 719 00:35:31,587 --> 00:35:32,964 Richard M. Nixon. 720 00:35:33,005 --> 00:35:37,844 [crowd cheering] 721 00:35:37,885 --> 00:35:39,762 [Spencer] Reagan wasn't ready. 722 00:35:39,804 --> 00:35:43,641 But my governor had stars in his eyes, 723 00:35:43,683 --> 00:35:45,977 and the message was out there. 724 00:35:46,018 --> 00:35:47,478 He wanted the job. 725 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,981 [crowd chattering] 726 00:35:50,022 --> 00:35:53,693 We want Reagan! We want Reagan! 727 00:35:53,735 --> 00:35:55,945 [man] And I can tell we need some more enthusiasm. 728 00:35:55,987 --> 00:35:57,780 Ladies and gentlemen, if you will, 729 00:35:57,822 --> 00:35:59,741 join me in a tremendous round of applause. 730 00:35:59,782 --> 00:36:01,534 [cheers and applause] 731 00:36:01,576 --> 00:36:04,537 It's Ronald Reagan, the fighter 732 00:36:04,579 --> 00:36:07,331 Ronald Reagan, the power 733 00:36:07,373 --> 00:36:10,168 Here he comes, here he comes 734 00:36:10,209 --> 00:36:13,880 '76, this is ours 735 00:36:13,921 --> 00:36:15,339 Oh, baby 736 00:36:15,381 --> 00:36:17,633 [Cannon] Ronald Reagan left the California governorship 737 00:36:17,675 --> 00:36:19,051 early in 1975. 738 00:36:19,093 --> 00:36:20,470 -Hi. -[man] How are you? 739 00:36:20,511 --> 00:36:23,431 By the time he was running for President in 1976, 740 00:36:23,473 --> 00:36:25,224 Mrs. Reagan had acquired an awful lot 741 00:36:25,266 --> 00:36:28,436 of political knowledge about national politics. 742 00:36:28,478 --> 00:36:31,022 upbeat music 743 00:36:31,063 --> 00:36:32,356 [reporter] Obviously, you must think 744 00:36:32,398 --> 00:36:33,816 you're doing some good to be out shaking 745 00:36:33,858 --> 00:36:35,735 all these hands, running around the state. 746 00:36:35,777 --> 00:36:38,488 I'm doing what they asked me to do. 747 00:36:38,529 --> 00:36:41,866 I go out and do questions and answers, 748 00:36:41,908 --> 00:36:43,075 and it's fascinating. It really is, 749 00:36:43,117 --> 00:36:46,996 'cause you find out that no matter where you are, 750 00:36:47,038 --> 00:36:48,915 the same things are on people's minds, 751 00:36:48,956 --> 00:36:53,795 which has been fascinating to me. 752 00:36:53,836 --> 00:36:55,338 She was an actress. 753 00:36:55,379 --> 00:36:58,508 Not a great actress, but an actress, 754 00:36:58,549 --> 00:37:02,053 and she could play parts very well. 755 00:37:02,094 --> 00:37:04,847 [Alter] She created this artifice that in some ways 756 00:37:04,889 --> 00:37:09,936 was almost as powerful as her husband's façade 757 00:37:09,977 --> 00:37:14,315 and hers was of the adoring, demure wife. 758 00:37:14,357 --> 00:37:16,192 But she also knew how to charm people. 759 00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:18,110 [Nancy] It's, uh... [ laughs ] 760 00:37:18,152 --> 00:37:19,153 Have you ever just said, 761 00:37:19,195 --> 00:37:20,446 "No. That's not the way we're gonna do it"? 762 00:37:20,488 --> 00:37:22,031 -No. -[laughs] 763 00:37:22,073 --> 00:37:24,992 Well, I'll tell you, that's-- that's an ideal wife. 764 00:37:25,034 --> 00:37:26,786 [man] Mrs. Reagan... 765 00:37:26,828 --> 00:37:29,622 [Lopez] When Ronald Reagan runs again in '76, 766 00:37:29,664 --> 00:37:33,251 he also learned from his experience in California, 767 00:37:33,292 --> 00:37:36,796 and he runs a very aggressive dog whistle campaign. 768 00:37:36,838 --> 00:37:39,757 Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about issues, 769 00:37:39,799 --> 00:37:41,425 issues which I think are involved 770 00:37:41,467 --> 00:37:44,387 or should be involved in this primary election season. 771 00:37:44,428 --> 00:37:47,390 [Wiley] Reagan's ideology was that 772 00:37:47,431 --> 00:37:49,392 government programs are just wasting 773 00:37:49,433 --> 00:37:50,810 our hard-earned money. 774 00:37:50,852 --> 00:37:54,981 He pulls the story of a woman in Chicago. 775 00:37:55,022 --> 00:37:57,400 [Ronald] She has 50 Social Security numbers 776 00:37:57,441 --> 00:38:00,236 and 50 addresses in Chicago alone. 777 00:38:00,278 --> 00:38:02,196 Her tax-free cash income 778 00:38:02,238 --> 00:38:06,158 has been running a $150,000 a year. 779 00:38:07,076 --> 00:38:10,162 [Wiley] Reagan's welfare queen and her Cadillac 780 00:38:10,204 --> 00:38:14,375 became a poster child for a lie. 781 00:38:14,417 --> 00:38:18,421 The lie is this is what people on welfare are, 782 00:38:18,462 --> 00:38:21,507 that these are people who don't need the program 783 00:38:21,549 --> 00:38:23,759 and that it was people of color 784 00:38:23,801 --> 00:38:26,262 who were getting unfair handouts. 785 00:38:26,304 --> 00:38:29,015 Washington doesn't even know how many people are on welfare, 786 00:38:29,056 --> 00:38:31,767 how many cheaters are getting more than one check. 787 00:38:31,809 --> 00:38:35,938 The surface story is Blacks are lazy. 788 00:38:35,980 --> 00:38:39,400 They're cheaters. They're a drain on society. 789 00:38:39,442 --> 00:38:41,068 And by implication, 790 00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:42,987 a complimentary story about whites-- 791 00:38:43,029 --> 00:38:45,573 hard-working, responsible, innocent, 792 00:38:45,615 --> 00:38:49,201 law-abiding taxpayers who contribute. 793 00:38:49,243 --> 00:38:53,080 Many politicians like Reagan use welfare as a-- 794 00:38:53,122 --> 00:38:54,999 as a term to cover up their racism. 795 00:38:55,041 --> 00:38:56,500 That is they never deal with the fact 796 00:38:56,542 --> 00:39:00,421 that they have three whites on welfare for every one Black. 797 00:39:00,463 --> 00:39:03,925 [Scheer] Reagan was demonizing vulnerable people. 798 00:39:03,966 --> 00:39:05,760 And meanwhile, the people ripping you off 799 00:39:05,801 --> 00:39:08,554 are big corporations getting tax breaks, 800 00:39:08,596 --> 00:39:11,098 and so it's a very convenient narrative. 801 00:39:11,140 --> 00:39:13,184 [reporter] Significant numbers of Democratic 802 00:39:13,225 --> 00:39:15,686 and independent voters like what he's been saying, 803 00:39:15,728 --> 00:39:18,272 that some of his detractors claim that at least 804 00:39:18,314 --> 00:39:21,776 some of what he's been saying is a little short on accuracy. 805 00:39:21,817 --> 00:39:25,571 It costs three $3 in overhead to deliver one $1 806 00:39:25,613 --> 00:39:27,990 to a needy person in this country. 807 00:39:28,032 --> 00:39:29,283 [man] Reagan is wrong. 808 00:39:29,325 --> 00:39:32,745 It doesn't cost $3 to deliver a dollar of welfare, 809 00:39:32,787 --> 00:39:34,538 but 12 cents. 810 00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:37,375 [Wiley] The majority of people who are on welfare are white. 811 00:39:37,416 --> 00:39:41,837 And yet welfare exists in our political consciousness 812 00:39:41,879 --> 00:39:44,590 as only benefitting people of color. 813 00:39:44,632 --> 00:39:47,885 That is how blind we have become 814 00:39:47,927 --> 00:39:51,514 to how manipulated we are by racial politics 815 00:39:51,555 --> 00:39:55,851 that serve to undermine equality. 816 00:39:55,893 --> 00:39:58,813 [man] Ronald Reagan almost has as many delegates 817 00:39:58,854 --> 00:40:00,064 committed to him 818 00:40:00,106 --> 00:40:01,816 as are committed to President Ford. 819 00:40:01,857 --> 00:40:05,027 [woman] Do you think you'll be the Republican nominee in '76? 820 00:40:05,069 --> 00:40:08,155 [Ronald] I don't know. I'm gonna try. 821 00:40:08,197 --> 00:40:12,076 tense music 822 00:40:16,580 --> 00:40:17,873 Good morning from Kansas City, Missouri, 823 00:40:17,915 --> 00:40:23,295 the site of the 31st Republican National Convention. 824 00:40:23,337 --> 00:40:25,548 The choice facing the people in this country 825 00:40:25,589 --> 00:40:28,509 is between that Democratic platform, 826 00:40:28,551 --> 00:40:31,137 which is for more government, more spending, 827 00:40:31,178 --> 00:40:34,015 more deficits as against the platform 828 00:40:34,056 --> 00:40:36,517 that has said, "Let us reverse that 829 00:40:36,559 --> 00:40:37,768 and get back the freedom 830 00:40:37,810 --> 00:40:40,104 and state's rights and local rules." 831 00:40:40,146 --> 00:40:43,024 [Baker] In 1976, Reagan was a force 832 00:40:43,065 --> 00:40:45,192 to be reckoned with. 833 00:40:45,234 --> 00:40:49,739 He almost knocked off an incumbent Jerry Ford 834 00:40:49,780 --> 00:40:51,198 for his party's nomination. 835 00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:54,785 [man] They're not really fighting over the old fissure 836 00:40:54,827 --> 00:40:56,996 of, "Are we going left or are going right?" 837 00:40:57,038 --> 00:41:00,624 This party's made up its mind. It's going right. 838 00:41:00,666 --> 00:41:02,460 It's going right, but how far right? 839 00:41:02,501 --> 00:41:07,131 [man] The nominee of this convention is Gerald R. Ford. 840 00:41:07,173 --> 00:41:09,258 [crowd cheering] 841 00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:13,512 [man] The major Reagan threat to the Ford campaign here 842 00:41:13,554 --> 00:41:16,599 has been decisively defeated. 843 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,226 [man] There had been a request to hear 844 00:41:19,268 --> 00:41:20,561 from Governor Reagan, 845 00:41:20,603 --> 00:41:22,188 invite him to address the convention. 846 00:41:22,229 --> 00:41:25,649 [cheers and applause] 847 00:41:25,691 --> 00:41:28,069 [Norquist] In the speech Reagan gave 848 00:41:28,110 --> 00:41:30,154 supposedly endorsing Ford 849 00:41:30,196 --> 00:41:32,656 was a speech for electing Reagan, 850 00:41:32,698 --> 00:41:35,159 and he made it clear that he had a vision. 851 00:41:35,201 --> 00:41:37,578 We've got to quit talking to each other 852 00:41:37,620 --> 00:41:41,665 and about each other and go out and communicate to the world 853 00:41:41,707 --> 00:41:44,627 that we may be fewer in numbers than we've ever been, 854 00:41:44,668 --> 00:41:48,214 but we carry the message they're waiting for. 855 00:41:48,255 --> 00:41:49,757 [Norquist] Reagan was making the case 856 00:41:49,799 --> 00:41:52,885 for a modern conservative Republican Party 857 00:41:52,927 --> 00:41:58,057 that had a serious vision of where it wanted to go. 858 00:41:58,099 --> 00:42:01,811 What a great general said a few years ago is true. 859 00:42:01,852 --> 00:42:05,523 There is no substitute for victory. 860 00:42:05,564 --> 00:42:07,066 Mr. President. 861 00:42:07,108 --> 00:42:08,818 [crowd cheering] 862 00:42:08,859 --> 00:42:09,944 Thank you. 863 00:42:09,985 --> 00:42:12,571 [Spencer] He made the best speech of his life. 864 00:42:12,613 --> 00:42:15,616 It just showed me how badly he wanted it. 865 00:42:15,658 --> 00:42:18,994 After that, Reagan owned the heart of the party. 866 00:42:19,036 --> 00:42:22,832 [man] This was supposed to have been President Ford's night, 867 00:42:22,873 --> 00:42:24,416 and then as he swept off the stage, 868 00:42:24,458 --> 00:42:26,836 the whole auditorium just rose. 869 00:42:26,877 --> 00:42:28,546 I've never seen anything like that. 870 00:42:28,587 --> 00:42:30,089 [man] Saying in effect, Roger, this is what you-- 871 00:42:30,131 --> 00:42:31,173 That maybe we picked the wrong man. I don't-- 872 00:42:31,215 --> 00:42:33,217 This is what you might have had. 873 00:42:33,259 --> 00:42:34,260 Exactly. 874 00:42:34,301 --> 00:42:35,511 [man] Unless Ronald Reagan 875 00:42:35,553 --> 00:42:38,973 comes to the end of the long trail, 876 00:42:39,014 --> 00:42:41,559 65 is not likely to be a candidate 877 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:43,811 for public office again. 878 00:42:52,069 --> 00:42:54,864 [Ron Jr.] After the '76 campaign, 879 00:42:54,905 --> 00:42:57,366 I noticed my father mellowing a bit. 880 00:42:57,408 --> 00:43:01,704 Part of that was the fact that he had lost... 881 00:43:01,745 --> 00:43:03,080 [horse nickers] 882 00:43:03,122 --> 00:43:04,707 ...but survived. 883 00:43:04,748 --> 00:43:06,417 Okay. All right. Yeah, yeah! 884 00:43:06,458 --> 00:43:08,669 [Rollins] Reagan told me one time, 885 00:43:08,711 --> 00:43:10,254 "I probably wouldn't have run again 886 00:43:10,296 --> 00:43:12,131 if it wasn't for Mrs. Reagan." 887 00:43:12,173 --> 00:43:13,549 She thought that he had to run, 888 00:43:13,591 --> 00:43:16,802 and he was sort of, "Okay, I took my shot at it. 889 00:43:16,844 --> 00:43:19,930 Gonna go to the ranch and live happily ever after." 890 00:43:19,972 --> 00:43:22,558 hopeful music 891 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:24,643 She kept persuading him 892 00:43:24,685 --> 00:43:26,937 that he was the man that could change the country. 893 00:43:26,979 --> 00:43:30,024 [man] Ronald Reagan hasn't been heard from much 894 00:43:30,065 --> 00:43:31,942 since he lost the Republican nomination 895 00:43:31,984 --> 00:43:33,903 to Gerald Ford in Kansas City. 896 00:43:33,944 --> 00:43:36,614 While his fellow Republicans have been trying to figure out 897 00:43:36,655 --> 00:43:38,741 what to do about the party, the governors, 898 00:43:38,782 --> 00:43:40,910 the state chairmen, the national committee, 899 00:43:40,951 --> 00:43:44,622 Reagan has been more or less quietly biding his time. 900 00:43:44,663 --> 00:43:45,873 [Ronald] Well, there's nothing like 901 00:43:45,915 --> 00:43:47,875 being in the saddle all day. 902 00:43:49,501 --> 00:43:52,296 Governor Reagan, would you have beaten Jimmy Carter? 903 00:43:52,338 --> 00:43:54,506 I said during the primaries that I thought I could, 904 00:43:54,548 --> 00:43:56,592 and I still believe that I could have. 905 00:43:56,634 --> 00:43:59,053 [man] Where Ford failed Reagan would have won, how? 906 00:43:59,094 --> 00:44:00,804 How would you have put it together? 907 00:44:00,846 --> 00:44:04,225 Well, I think I would have broken into the solid South, 908 00:44:04,266 --> 00:44:06,894 which went for Carter as an-- as a native son. 909 00:44:06,936 --> 00:44:09,480 But what really made the difference, 910 00:44:09,521 --> 00:44:10,940 if you will agree, is the Black vote. 911 00:44:10,981 --> 00:44:12,066 Yeah. 912 00:44:12,107 --> 00:44:17,154 Apparently Black Americans find almost nothing 913 00:44:17,196 --> 00:44:19,031 in the Republican Party to attract. 914 00:44:19,073 --> 00:44:20,908 You're anti-people. Bob Dole says 915 00:44:20,950 --> 00:44:23,369 you have the image of being anti-people. 916 00:44:23,410 --> 00:44:25,287 Ah, we have the image, 917 00:44:25,329 --> 00:44:28,415 yes, but... and I don't deny that. 918 00:44:28,457 --> 00:44:31,543 We have been the victims of a false image. 919 00:44:31,585 --> 00:44:34,838 The Republican Party has just done the lousiest job 920 00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,675 of merchandising of what it has to offer. 921 00:44:40,386 --> 00:44:43,138 To me, it was realistic that he could have been 922 00:44:43,180 --> 00:44:45,266 a nominee in '76. 923 00:44:45,307 --> 00:44:48,185 Do I think he could beat Jimmy Carter? No. 924 00:44:48,227 --> 00:44:50,980 Reagan's base was the South, 925 00:44:51,021 --> 00:44:54,608 and Jimmy was a hometown Southern boy. 926 00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:59,363 But four years later, when Reagan ran again, 927 00:44:59,405 --> 00:45:02,491 they didn't like their boy. [laughs] 928 00:45:02,533 --> 00:45:05,744 [crowd cheering] 929 00:45:05,786 --> 00:45:08,998 [Alter] Reagan knew he had to win the South in 1980. 930 00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:12,668 To do that, he had to send some messages 931 00:45:12,710 --> 00:45:14,211 that he was on the side 932 00:45:14,253 --> 00:45:16,297 of racist conservative voters there. 933 00:45:16,338 --> 00:45:19,842 He definitely went for 934 00:45:19,883 --> 00:45:22,011 what they called the cracker vote. 935 00:45:22,052 --> 00:45:24,763 [Shearer] Since the end of the '60s, 936 00:45:24,805 --> 00:45:27,975 the Republican Party consciously went after 937 00:45:28,017 --> 00:45:29,810 white voters in the South 938 00:45:29,852 --> 00:45:33,564 by making racial appeals to voters. 939 00:45:33,605 --> 00:45:37,276 [Lopez] This was called the Southern strategy. 940 00:45:37,318 --> 00:45:39,945 And when Ronald Reagan runs for president, 941 00:45:39,987 --> 00:45:42,406 he opts to do the same thing 942 00:45:42,448 --> 00:45:45,743 by going to the deep South and invoke state's rights. 943 00:45:45,784 --> 00:45:48,746 That is a deeply considered strategy. 944 00:45:48,787 --> 00:45:52,791 [Johnson] He is saying I can separate the North and the South 945 00:45:52,833 --> 00:45:58,005 by talking about racial issues that will move white Democrats 946 00:45:58,047 --> 00:45:59,465 to the Republican Party, 947 00:45:59,506 --> 00:46:01,717 I can take the same bigotry, I can dress it up 948 00:46:01,759 --> 00:46:03,052 and I can make it something palatable 949 00:46:03,093 --> 00:46:04,219 to people in the suburbs. 950 00:46:04,261 --> 00:46:10,267 You've seen in his campaign the stirrings of hate 951 00:46:10,309 --> 00:46:13,520 and the rebirth of code words like "state's rights" 952 00:46:13,562 --> 00:46:16,440 in a speech in Mississippi. 953 00:46:16,482 --> 00:46:18,067 [Lopez] When Jimmy Carter challenged 954 00:46:18,108 --> 00:46:20,527 Reagan's use of race in the campaign, 955 00:46:20,569 --> 00:46:23,155 the Reagan campaign responded by saying 956 00:46:23,197 --> 00:46:25,282 Carter was being mean to Reagan 957 00:46:25,324 --> 00:46:28,327 as if he was saying Reagan is prejudiced. 958 00:46:28,369 --> 00:46:34,666 I am deeply, deeply offended by the attempts of Mr. Carter 959 00:46:34,708 --> 00:46:37,336 to paint my husband as a man he is not. 960 00:46:37,378 --> 00:46:39,046 That's a cruel thing to do. 961 00:46:39,088 --> 00:46:40,839 [reporter] The president had some rather unkind words for you 962 00:46:40,881 --> 00:46:43,092 last night, Governor. He said if you win the election, 963 00:46:43,133 --> 00:46:44,968 you'll have a divisive effect on the country, 964 00:46:45,010 --> 00:46:48,389 and he suggested that you would separate North from South, 965 00:46:48,430 --> 00:46:50,891 rural from urban, Jew from Christian, 966 00:46:50,933 --> 00:46:52,393 and Black from white. 967 00:46:52,434 --> 00:46:56,563 Well, I think he's a badly misinformed 968 00:46:56,605 --> 00:46:57,815 and prejudiced man. 969 00:46:57,856 --> 00:46:59,441 [man] Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. 970 00:46:59,483 --> 00:47:04,738 The whole fiction of Reagan was that "I am not marginalizing 971 00:47:04,780 --> 00:47:06,365 or dividing the country. 972 00:47:06,407 --> 00:47:09,326 I am finding a more honest, effective way 973 00:47:09,368 --> 00:47:11,120 of helping people." 974 00:47:11,161 --> 00:47:14,706 He packaged this fiction, 975 00:47:14,748 --> 00:47:17,584 and then the only thing that gets in the way 976 00:47:17,626 --> 00:47:19,628 are these bad actors, 977 00:47:19,670 --> 00:47:22,881 welfare mothers, and people of color 978 00:47:22,923 --> 00:47:25,300 and communists and homosexuals. 979 00:47:25,342 --> 00:47:27,845 And people believed it. 980 00:47:27,886 --> 00:47:30,514 [reporter] The Reagan motorcade left Manhattan 981 00:47:30,556 --> 00:47:33,684 for the South Bronx, a high crime, low hope area. 982 00:47:33,725 --> 00:47:37,187 President Carter visited the same site three years ago. 983 00:47:37,229 --> 00:47:39,440 Reagan came, he said, to remind voters 984 00:47:39,481 --> 00:47:42,985 the administration had broken its promise to rebuild the area. 985 00:47:43,026 --> 00:47:45,362 [woman] Go take him now! You his wife! 986 00:47:45,404 --> 00:47:49,116 Señora, you're his wife! Help us, okay? 987 00:47:49,158 --> 00:47:50,701 Help us! 988 00:47:50,742 --> 00:47:53,370 [crowd shouting indistinctly] 989 00:47:53,412 --> 00:47:56,582 I'd just like to point out one thing. 990 00:47:56,623 --> 00:47:59,334 I didn't come down here to make a promise, 991 00:47:59,376 --> 00:48:02,671 I came down here because somebody else made a promise. 992 00:48:02,713 --> 00:48:05,466 [crowd chanting] 993 00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:10,637 [Shearer] Reagan didn't understand 994 00:48:10,679 --> 00:48:12,723 African American life. 995 00:48:12,764 --> 00:48:15,767 He didn't really know Black people. 996 00:48:15,809 --> 00:48:18,520 And that didn't bother him, 997 00:48:18,562 --> 00:48:23,817 but he knew what he was doing when he campaigned. 998 00:48:23,859 --> 00:48:26,528 Listen, wait a minute. 999 00:48:26,570 --> 00:48:29,531 [woman] Let the man speak! -Cállate la boca! 1000 00:48:29,573 --> 00:48:31,241 Let him speak! 1001 00:48:31,283 --> 00:48:32,659 Right now... 1002 00:48:32,701 --> 00:48:33,785 [indistinct shouting] 1003 00:48:33,827 --> 00:48:39,124 Right now in...right now in Congress, there's some-- 1004 00:48:40,375 --> 00:48:43,295 -I'm trying to tell you! -[woman] But can you? 1005 00:48:43,337 --> 00:48:48,342 I am trying to tell you that I know now 1006 00:48:48,383 --> 00:48:51,762 there is no program or promise that a president can make... 1007 00:48:51,803 --> 00:48:52,804 [man] Thank you. 1008 00:48:52,846 --> 00:48:54,348 ...that the federal government can come in and-- 1009 00:48:54,389 --> 00:48:56,099 -...wave a wand and do this. 1010 00:48:56,141 --> 00:48:58,143 [Scheer] His stock and trade 1011 00:48:58,185 --> 00:49:01,146 was to say, "I really care about you. 1012 00:49:01,188 --> 00:49:04,191 The people who are spending all that government money 1013 00:49:04,233 --> 00:49:06,109 don't really care. 1014 00:49:06,151 --> 00:49:10,155 But he didn't really have a program, 1015 00:49:10,197 --> 00:49:11,740 didn't have an answer. 1016 00:49:11,782 --> 00:49:13,825 When he got before a crowd like that, 1017 00:49:13,867 --> 00:49:15,661 which was almost never happened, 1018 00:49:15,702 --> 00:49:17,788 he was exposed instantly. 1019 00:49:17,829 --> 00:49:20,999 [crowd shouting] 1020 00:49:21,041 --> 00:49:22,918 intriguing music 1021 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:26,171 The question of whether my father 1022 00:49:26,213 --> 00:49:28,173 was, in fact, racist in some way 1023 00:49:28,215 --> 00:49:31,843 is a troubling one for me and, uh, 1024 00:49:31,885 --> 00:49:35,556 and one that I don't really know how to answer. 1025 00:49:35,597 --> 00:49:39,142 I never heard him at home 1026 00:49:39,184 --> 00:49:43,021 in private ever saying racist things. 1027 00:49:43,063 --> 00:49:45,899 He certainly didn't use the "N" word. 1028 00:49:45,941 --> 00:49:48,485 Nobody talked like that in our house. 1029 00:49:48,527 --> 00:49:51,321 I do not think Ronald Reagan thought 1030 00:49:51,363 --> 00:49:52,948 he was a racist. 1031 00:49:52,990 --> 00:49:57,661 When he visited us at Yale, my friend asked Governor Reagan, 1032 00:49:57,703 --> 00:50:00,664 "Are there any other Black people you know 1033 00:50:00,706 --> 00:50:02,833 other than Jackie Robinson?" 1034 00:50:02,874 --> 00:50:04,418 And that's where Governor Reagan said, 1035 00:50:04,459 --> 00:50:08,422 "Sammy Davis Jr. is one of my best friends. 1036 00:50:08,463 --> 00:50:10,882 So that means I'm not a racist." 1037 00:50:10,924 --> 00:50:17,014 [Wiley] Ronald Reagan made explicitly racist statements. 1038 00:50:17,055 --> 00:50:20,601 We know that from tapes that were only recently released. 1039 00:50:20,642 --> 00:50:23,270 [woman] President Richard Nixon recorded himself talking 1040 00:50:23,312 --> 00:50:25,897 to then-California Governor Ronald Reagan 1041 00:50:25,939 --> 00:50:29,735 in October 1971, the day after the United Nations 1042 00:50:29,776 --> 00:50:32,779 voted to recognize The People's Republic of China. 1043 00:50:32,821 --> 00:50:34,656 Reagan had phoned Nixon at the White House 1044 00:50:34,698 --> 00:50:37,659 to vent his frustration at African delegates 1045 00:50:37,701 --> 00:50:39,286 who celebrated the vote. 1046 00:50:53,425 --> 00:50:55,594 [Lopez] That sort of quote is only part 1047 00:50:55,636 --> 00:50:58,555 of the larger indictment against Ronald Reagan. 1048 00:50:58,597 --> 00:51:03,602 He should also be criticized for being a national leader 1049 00:51:03,644 --> 00:51:07,022 who made the decision to strategically promote 1050 00:51:07,064 --> 00:51:10,025 racial conflict and hatred as a strategy 1051 00:51:10,067 --> 00:51:14,071 to rile up voters and to win elections. 1052 00:51:14,112 --> 00:51:15,781 [indistinct chatter] 1053 00:51:15,822 --> 00:51:17,449 [Shearer] Voters got the message 1054 00:51:17,491 --> 00:51:20,202 that this was not gonna be a president 1055 00:51:20,243 --> 00:51:22,996 that enforced civil rights or voting rights. 1056 00:51:23,038 --> 00:51:26,124 And you could feel good about voting for him 1057 00:51:26,166 --> 00:51:28,502 because he'd supported Jackie Robinson 1058 00:51:28,543 --> 00:51:29,920 playing baseball. 1059 00:51:29,961 --> 00:51:35,217 Let us pledge to each other, with this great lady looking on, 1060 00:51:35,258 --> 00:51:39,221 that we can, and so help us, God, 1061 00:51:39,262 --> 00:51:43,058 we will make America great again. 1062 00:51:43,100 --> 00:51:44,559 -[crowd cheering] -Thank you very much. 1063 00:51:44,601 --> 00:51:47,771 [cheering] 1064 00:51:47,813 --> 00:51:50,023 [Lopez] Reagan's reputation as a dog whistler 1065 00:51:50,065 --> 00:51:53,902 has not had a sufficiently negative impact on his legacy. 1066 00:51:53,944 --> 00:51:57,989 Dog whistling is all about plausible deniability 1067 00:51:58,031 --> 00:52:01,076 that allowed Reagan to protect himself 1068 00:52:01,118 --> 00:52:02,828 and that has allowed the Republican Party 1069 00:52:02,869 --> 00:52:04,496 for the last four decades 1070 00:52:04,538 --> 00:52:07,708 to deny that that's who Ronald Reagan was, 1071 00:52:07,749 --> 00:52:09,584 to turn him into a hero, 1072 00:52:09,626 --> 00:52:11,628 to insist that he really did care 1073 00:52:11,670 --> 00:52:15,716 about the average American working family. 1074 00:52:15,757 --> 00:52:17,634 But when people stand back, 1075 00:52:17,676 --> 00:52:22,764 they see that, in fact, Reagan was a divisive figure, 1076 00:52:22,806 --> 00:52:26,101 someone willing to do what he knew was wrong 1077 00:52:26,143 --> 00:52:29,062 to divide Americans as a way to win power. 1078 00:52:29,104 --> 00:52:33,608 [Wiley] Reagan's genius as a politician 1079 00:52:33,650 --> 00:52:38,822 was that he wrapped his racism in a façade of fatherly love. 1080 00:52:38,864 --> 00:52:40,157 [crowd cheering] 1081 00:52:40,198 --> 00:52:42,075 And it was something that Black people in this country 1082 00:52:42,117 --> 00:52:45,787 understood was a façade, 1083 00:52:45,829 --> 00:52:49,458 and we understood it by his words and his deeds. 1084 00:52:49,499 --> 00:52:52,627 [Ronald] For those without job opportunities, 1085 00:52:52,669 --> 00:52:54,337 we'll stimulate new opportunities 1086 00:52:54,379 --> 00:52:57,174 particularly in the inner cities where they live. 1087 00:52:57,215 --> 00:53:00,302 For those who've abandoned hope, 1088 00:53:00,343 --> 00:53:01,678 we'll restore hope, 1089 00:53:01,720 --> 00:53:04,055 and we'll welcome them into a great national crusade 1090 00:53:04,097 --> 00:53:07,476 to make America great again. 1091 00:53:07,517 --> 00:53:12,773 [jet roaring] 1092 00:53:15,525 --> 00:53:19,237 We have here what, I think, reasonably 1093 00:53:19,279 --> 00:53:20,906 could be called a landslide 1094 00:53:20,947 --> 00:53:23,658 or certainly something approaching a landslide. 1095 00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:25,327 Where did it come from? 1096 00:53:25,368 --> 00:53:26,578 Nobody anticipated it. 1097 00:53:26,620 --> 00:53:30,123 No polls predicted it. No one saw it coming. 1098 00:53:30,165 --> 00:53:31,416 How did that happen? 1099 00:53:31,458 --> 00:53:34,461 [man] Ronald Reagan-- look at what he has done. 1100 00:53:34,503 --> 00:53:37,798 These are the states in blue that he has won. 1101 00:53:37,839 --> 00:53:40,091 Well, who leads the social counter revolution 1102 00:53:40,133 --> 00:53:41,510 that Teddy Kennedy-- -[man] Lawyers. 1103 00:53:41,551 --> 00:53:43,220 I think it'll be somebody whose name 1104 00:53:43,261 --> 00:53:44,763 is not a household word tonight. 1105 00:53:44,805 --> 00:53:46,473 [man] Try Senator Biden from Delaware for openers. 1106 00:53:46,515 --> 00:53:48,475 Very impressive young guy, 1107 00:53:48,517 --> 00:53:49,976 in his second term, revisionist Democrat. 1108 00:53:50,018 --> 00:53:53,021 [coughs] Wow, okay. 1109 00:53:53,063 --> 00:53:54,231 [laughter] 1110 00:53:54,272 --> 00:53:56,107 All right. All right.