Lot 149
Ronald Reagan, Autograph Manuscript in the hand of Ronald Reagan, a draft of speech delivered January 4,1966 during California gubernatorial campaign, n.p., [January 1966], 17 pages on lined folio paper 13" x 8½", some revised segments taped on, with 10 descriptive marginal notes in red pencil possibly by another hand, Fine, ex-Forbes.Estimate $10,000 - 15,000.
THE FORMATIVE MIND OF RONALD REAGAN. AN INCREDIBLE LENGTHY HANDWRITTEN SPEECH QUOTING LINCOLN IN REGARDS TO HIS DISAPPROVAL OF BIG GOVERNMENT AND EXPLAINING HIS SWITCH TO REPUBLICAN: "I WAS A DEM[OCRAT] MOST OF MY LIFE UNTIL I FOUND I COULD NO LONGER FOLLOW THE LEADERSHIP OF THAT PARTY AS IT TURNED FROM THE TRADITIONAL PRECEPTS OF JEFFERSON, JACKSON & CLEVELAND…".
Partial Transcript: "Someone has said - Calif. isn't a place - it's a way of life. Well that's true and it's a good way….'A man may be loyal to his govt. & still be opposed to the peculiar prin[ciples] & practices of the admin. in power.' A Big brother or paternalistic govt. can solve many problems for the people but I don't think we'll like the price it charges - ever increasing power over us and ever decreasing individual fr[ee]d[o]m. A great society must be a free society and to be truly great & really free it must be a creative society calling on the genius and power of it's [sic] people….Certainly we have a rightful claim on Fed. funds it's our money in the first place. Calif, is one of those so-called rich states which not only pays into the kitty everything it takes out but puts in a share for other states. It's time we made a greater protest about the strings attached to our money before we are allowed to use it…The time has come for us to strengthen both representative govt. and self govt. - the two are not the same but they go hand in hand….There must be no lack of equal opportunity….I was a Dem[crat] most of my life until I found I could no longer follow the leadership of that party as it turned from the traditional precepts of Jefferson, Jackson & Cleveland. I believed then & still believe that anything whether it be management, labor or govt. which imposes unfairly on the freedom of the individual is tyranny & must be opposed…Now I have come to a decision that even a short time ago I would have thought impossible to make and yet I make it with no lingering doubts or hesitations. As of now I am a candidate seeking the Rep[ublican] nomination for Gov[ernor]….I have no commitments to anyone but you and to my belief that the safety of our state and our nation shall be entrusted to the care of the people." Reagan's speech is wide-ranging and broad, covering some of the state's most critical issues: large increases in population and the resulting budgetary concerns; loss of manufacturing to other states and Mexico; crime; education; the California water project; a lengthy review of property tax and the unique place of California in America.
Historical Background: Reagan, originally a New Deal Democrat, supported the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, as well of that of Richard Nixon in 1960, and formally switched parties after the election of John F. Kennedy. The former Screen Actors Guild president and staunch anti-Communist would later famously remark that he "didn't leave the Democratic Party; it left [him]." Campaigning hard for Barry Goldwater in 1964, Reagan impressed California Republicans eager to find a challenger to Democratic two-term incumbent Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. His victory in 1966 cemented his status as a rising star within the Republican Party, and set him on course for the presidency fourteen years later.
Realized: $11,500