Reagan's Revolution Read Online Free PDF

the slow process of redefining the Republican Party—and hence the Democratic Party as well. Goldwater eschewed the traditional “ticket balancing” act embraced by Nixon and Eisenhower and picked a little known but equally conservative Congressman and Chairman of the Republican National Committee from Upstate New York, Bill Miller. In choosing Miller, Goldwater gave moderates and liberals little reason to stay in the party and a mass exodus occurred. Goldwater lost in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson. But he also began to attract conservative Democrats to the GOP, thus upsetting its equilibrium between conservatives and liberals.
    Liberals like New York Mayor John Lindsay would eventually become Democrats, while Democrats, like South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond and former Texas Governor John Connally, would become Republicans. Thereafter, Democrats would only nominate tickets that were either left of center or slightly left of center while Republicans would only nominate tickets that were either right of center or slightly right of center. It is instructive to remember that Ronald Reagan, perhaps seeing the handwriting on the wall, switched parties before Goldwater was nominated.
    When asked later why he chose Miller, Goldwater said, “because he bugs Johnson.” But someone who bugged conservatives more than Lyndon Johnson was Rockefeller. For years conservatives in the party had gagged on nominees like Wendell Wilkie, Tom Dewey, and, to a lesser extent, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Now, when conservatives actually won the Presidential nomination for one of their own, they had expected the moderates to “suck it up” and support their side as they had supported the other side. But they had no such luck in 1964. Rockefeller, New York Senator Jacob Javits, Pennsylvania Governor Bill Scranton, and other moderate-to-liberal Republicans took a walk on Goldwater. Conservatives would never forget nor forgive the traitorous Rockefeller. Bill Schulz, a founding member of the Young Americans for Freedom said, “Conservatives had always been good sports, rallying behind Eisenhower. Here was a situation where major figures of the party were not supporting the nominee.” 14
    One major Republican figure did emerge unscathed from the 1964 Goldwater debacle: Reagan. He had given a nationally televised speech on behalf of the Republican nominee, and this introduced him to the American people as a conservative spokesman. Goldwater had initially opposed Reagan’s giving the half-hour appeal. The Goldwater campaign wanted to bring in an outsider to make pitches for their candidate in California. But Holmes Tuttle—a California auto dealer, Goldwater supporter, and later a member of the now famous “Reagan Kitchen Cabinet”—resisted, telling the campaign he “had someone in California who could make those speeches.” Tuttle’s support for Reagan meant the campaign required him to provide the money for the speech.
    The address Reagan delivered was billed as “A Time for Choosing,” and a later record album of the address was called “Rendezvous with Destiny.” As far as history is concerned, it is now simply known as “The Speech.” Reagan’s address raised millions for the Goldwater campaign and was described by many political scribes as the one bright spot in an otherwise bleak campaign.
    In his own peculiar show of gratitude, Goldwater returned the favor years later when he endorsed Gerald Ford over Reagan in the 1976 GOP Presidential primaries. In fact, some years after Reagan left the Presidency and Goldwater had retired from the Senate, a documentary producer went to Arizona to interview Goldwater about Reagan’s legacy. Goldwater answered just about every question by starting out, “Well you know he was just an actor . . .” 15
    Although Nixon tried to pull strings behind the scenes at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco to wrest the Presidential nomination away from Goldwater, the