Against all enemies, foreign or domestic . President reagan i do. That you will bear full faith and allegiance to the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of california, that you take this obligation freely. Narrator this was the night Ronald Reagan became governor of california, january 2, 1967. Governor reagan was born and raised in illinois. President reagan i do. Governor reagan, i declare you to be duly installed as governor of the state of california. Narrator as another republican said, government should be of the people, by the people, for the people. [applause] that kind of government, of the people, by the people, for the people, arrived that night in california. [applause] governor reagan i am here with those i love the most in all the world and friends who come to share this moment, and im fully cognizant of the importance of this and what it means to so many people. Someone back in our history, i was not too good a student but i think it was benjamin franklin, said if ever someone could bring to Public Office the precepts of the prince of peace, he would revolutionize the world and men would remember him for 1000 years. I dont think anyone could take office and be so presumptuous to think he could do that or follow those precepts completely. I can tell you this, i will try very hard. I think it is needed in todays world. Narrator how did governor reagan get to be governor . How did he do it . The hard way. By beating the unbeatable pat brown. Pat brown, like lyndon johnson, was an organizer of power, a willing tool of those who believed in tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect. And electing was something pat brown was an expert in. In 1958, pat brown ran for governor against the most powerful republican in california, the minority leader of the u. S. Senate, william milland. Brown won by one million votes. I sent my congratulations to attorney general edmund brown. He has been given the opportunity to be chief executive of the state of california for the next four years. Narrator in 1962, brown ran against another republican of ational stature, former Vice President richard nixon, and brown defeated him by almost 250,000 votes. I congratulate governor rown, as herb client has already indicated, for his victory. The Republican Party new leadership in california needs a new birth of spirit, a new birth of unity. Narrator bill milland, dick nixon, what republican was left . The more they thought about it, the more republicans remembered Ronald Reagan, and they remembered that speech he gave during the 1964 president ial election. Governor reagan our national, and inalienable rights are now considered a dispensation of government and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment. Winston churchill said the destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move, we learn we are spirits not animals. He said there is something going on in time and space and beyond time and space, which whether we like it or not spells duty. You and i have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into 1000 years of darkness. Narrator but was there more to Ronald Reagan than one Campaign Speech . Yes. A lot more. 1964 wasnt the start of Ronald Reagans interest in Public Affairs and public issues. Public affairs are something Ronald Reagan has been active n for over 20 years. In 1945, Ronald Reagan shed his Army Officers uniform and returned to hollywood. He became extremely active in labor union affairs. Ronald reagan was elected six times to be president of the screen actors guild, the aflcio union of 15,000 actors and actresses who work in motion pictures. He led his union in contract negotiations, in strikes against hollywood studios. Ronald reagan is the only Labor Union President ever to be elected governor of any state n the country. In 1947, Ronald Reagan traveled to washington to testify at House Unamerican Activities Committee hearings. Governor reagan i will be frank with you that as a citizen, i would hesitate, or i would not like to see any party outlawed on the basis of political ideology. We have spent 170 years in this country that democracy is Strong Enough to stand on itself. Narrator in 1954, Ronald Reagan became host of the General Electric theater and his crosscountry speaking engagements with the people of america began. We were aware that ron reagan was a strong union man, and a strong democrat. We never noticed, though, that he was speaking from a political or labor partisan viewpoint. I recall one time he said he thought the Democratic Party he had been associated with had left him. And i think in the early 1960s, he registered as a republican. Narrator for over 20 years, he had been speaking out on public issues, but never as a political candidate. Perhaps his time had come. For several years and through the 1964 election, the Republican Party in california was badly divided. What the party desperately needed was a man who could unite the party behind him. Someone who could end party feuds and heal party wounds, someone who could carry the Republican Party to victory at the polls. That someone turned out to be Ronald Reagan. Narrator but Ronald Reagan was not an easy man to convince. In 1948, the democrats asked him to run for congress. He refused. In 1962, republicans approached him about running for senate or state house. He refused. But this time, too many californians wanted him. He couldnt refuse. Governor reagan i have come to a decision that a short time ago i would have thought impossible for me to make, and yet i make it with no lingering doubt or hesitation. As of now, i am a candidate seeking the republican nomination for governor. Narrator did the people respond . They loved it. [applause] the next governor of the state of california, ronnie reagan. He gave the voters the facts. [applause] the administration of californias welfare is in such a snarl of red tape that it is becoming difficult for this program to fulfill its purpose. Each new applicant for welfare must be greeted by the filling out of 15 separate forms. This is followed by a constant reevaluation and the submission of these reports, to where counties have protested to sacramento, from each county office of welfare, 180 reports a month. Other forms must be filled out every time a recipient has a special needs and this can range from a doctors bill to a bus ride. And county welfare officials have charged that for special claims totaling as little as one dollar to the welfare recipients, paperwork to process that claim comes to 10 and the administrative budget. He might try to explain why in this last five years, and 18 increase in our population has been met with a 49 increase in the number of people on welfare, and a 100 increase in the cost of welfare. Perhaps the time has come for institutions of Higher Learning to assert themselves as positive forces in the battle for mens minds, and this could mean they might insist upon mature, responsible conduct and respect from the individuals of their faculty members, and might call on them to be proponents of ethical and moral standards demanded by the great majority in our society. Narrator he gave the voters the facts. The voters gave him their votes. In california, where democrats outnumber republicans 32, Ronald Reagan won by one million votes. [crowd chanting we want reagan] governor reagan we didnt achieve any narrow, partisan victory this time, we have many friends from the other party and independence. Narrator almost immediately, the governor met his first crisis, education. Governor reagan made a reasonable statement about tuition. Governor reagan in Higher Education we have been and are providing a premium service, and education equal to the best and prorating a University Budget we spend nearly 3000 a year to educate each student at the University Level and half that much at the State College system. So far, those receiving this education have not been required to share in the cost, which makes us unique among states. We suggested that if these economies threatened either quality or numbers, we might assess a reasonable tuition, 10 of the cost. At the same time, students for whom this would be a hardship would have access to scholarships and loans payable after graduation. When i say we suggested tuition i mean just that. The governor cannot impose tuition. Only the regents can make this decision for the university, and the legislature for the colleges, but i say to you, if colleges and universities can cut their budgets and maintain quality without tuition, it certainly will meet with my approval. I have no intention of asking californians narrator some took the reasonable statement as a eclaration of war. [crowd chanting] ladies and gentlemen, the governor has come to see us. We owe him a courtesy. I urge you to treat this man courteously and show respect for the office. Governor reagan i do not believe it constitutes political interference for the people of this state to submit to the university or the academic community, telling the people of the state how much money they must put up for the support of that school and the people submissively giving in without having any voice with regard to the amount. [crowd noise] narrator but californias governor had more important work. He had inherited a state with too much debt, too much crime, too big a bureaucracy. As the governor had said, what s needed is not more government, but better government. His first move . Replace political hacks, turn Government Back to the people, get talented young citizens to work for the people. Governor reagan i inherited a government that was spending more than 1 million a day over and above state revenues. The governor had been spending like he was practicing to be president. [laughter] we put a freeze on the ordering of new cars. The anguished screams would have curdled your blood. And yet, funnily enough, we were told that for the first time, in the history of mans memory, there was a surplus of automobiles available in the state motor pools. Our state employees were all over the place, so we put a freeze on outofstate travel. We didnt tell them they couldnt go, we just said they had to tell us where they were going and why. And that reduced the budget for outofstate travel 78 . [applause] for eight years, the number of state employees had been increasing at a rate of 4 to 5. 5 each year. We didnt think it was necessary, but we had to prove it so we put a freeze on hiring replacements for those who quit or retired. And now, a year later, i can tell you that we did bring that annual increase to a halt and we now have 2. 5 fewer mployees in the state of california than one year ago. Not all our savings were in the area of millions of dollars. In my office, i discovered a stack of stationery with another fellows name on it. I got some with my name on it for formal correspondence. Now the girls just x out that other name and type mine in. And you know, i get a certain amount of pleasure out of that. [applause] ut we turn to the most inspiring thing. Returned to the people as we said we would. We turned to a blueribbon citizens committee, not to screen applicants for jobs, but to recruit employees, to go to Major Business concerns and twist the arms of employers for bright Young Executives to take appointed positions in government. We gathered in one room several hundred of the leading people in our state, the most successful Business People and we told this group we wanted their blood, we wanted them to give up their businesses and occupations from four months to six months on a voluntary basis. There were chosen on the basis of their expertise and skills and knowledge. They raised the money to hire a Business Management firm. And 274 of our most successful citizens had just completed six months fulltime, going into every agency and department of our State Government and trimming back with 1800 specific recommendations as to how modern Business Practices can be put to work to make government more economical and more efficient. I believe that all over this great nation there are citizens who believe government is their business, and they are waiting to be asked. They will serve if someone will give them a chance, if someone n government for a change will have faith in the peoples ability to run their own affairs. [applause] narrator governor reagans accomplishments in california were the kinds of things people all over the country asked him to talk about. And then, the inevitable happened. Wherever he went, all over the country, people asked where he stood on national issues. This is where he stands. Governor reagan not too many days ago, our country was on fire because an assassins bullet took one mans life. Whatever you may think of Martin Luther king, whether you approved or disapproved, i think something of america was killed also. And i think the murder of that man and the death of america began with the first acceptance of compromise with the law, tolerance of those who would apply the law unequally because of race or religion and acceptance of those who advocate breaking those laws with which they are in disagreement, and it includes those in government. Unless and until they have the courage to say that the law will be enforced equally to all and at all times with no exceptions. I have learned how our economy has not extended its bounty to all of our citizens. I have listened to their hopes and their hopelessness and i have heard their plea. Curiously enough, it is not for more welfare, it is for jobs, and it is for good schooling and discipline in the school their children attend, not busing across town to some other school. And i have to ask myself why, why, in all these recent years have we as republicans left this whole humanitarian field to be preempted by the opposition, when their record in the entire field of welfare, in their entire field of human relations, is one of colossal and almost complete failure . [applause] their whole, Big Government approach has institutionalized poverty, perpetuating its degradation until welfare becomes a way of life under the second and Third Generation recipient families. They have tried this raising of people by mass movements, but our philosophy is based on a belief in the individual. In his freedom and in his rights, and in this area of human relations, we are dealing with individuals, each one of these people unique, each one crying out in his soul for his rightful heritage of dignity and the right to shape his own destiny. But we have a chance to prove as republicans that we are more than just negative critics. We have a chance to prove that ours, ours is the wave of the future. Lets tell them that we will employ whatever measures are necessary to start saving human beings, but we are going to stop destroying them. [applause] the president s commission has accused our people of a sickness. Well, many of us are sick, but not with the hatred and bigotry that they talk about. I think we are sick. We are sick of a socalled leadership at home that has left the ship of state without rudder or compass, one who abandoned leadership, and those of his party who would replace him say they would not have waited this long to give the enemy across the table a victory he couldnt win on the field of battle. And what of the young men, bleeding their lives in the rice patties and jungle trails of that faraway land . If their sacrifice in vain, if it was not in our National Interest to have them there in the first place, who put them there and why . And if it is in our National Interest for them to be there, why is it suddenly no longer so . And why, why have they been denied the victory they are so capable of winning . You and i owe those young men a question. We should keep asking the question. Ask if the enemy truly desires peace. Then let him prove it by agreeing to a mutual ceasefire, so that when the talking starts, the dying stops. [applause] robert mcnamara, secretary of defense, has ended his wobegon demonstration of military ineptitude. Others are falling away as the palace guard struggles for power. His play had a seven year run beginning with the bay of pigs and closing with the humiliating theft of one of our ships and the kidnapping of 83 young americans. In the last as in the first, there was a foundering of purpose and loss of nerve it has become fashionable of late, clever men who preside over our military force and strategy congratulate themselves on sidestepping another decision and avoiding action. The official explanation given for the inability for our air forces in the far east to move out in support of the pueblo is that all the fighters on alert in korea are equipped only for nuclear retaliation. But hasnt that been the most persistent claim of this administration . Hasnt their claim been that we have moved at a cost of 500 billion over these last few years, from a nuclear footing to one that would avoid the threat of the bomb and give us a flexible response . And now, when the response is needed, we have no response at all. Our ship has been stolen, our young men kidnapped and our government assures us it is upset. Strong letter follows. A governments only excuse