Ronald Reagan Worried This 1964 Speech Was a Letdown. It Made Him a Political Star
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Ronald Reagan is now considered one of the best public speakers in U.S. political history. Holding an impressive distinction as the “Great Communicator,” he delivered a number of pivotal speeches in office—most notably his 1987 address telling Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall.
Reagan’s comfort behind a microphone became one of the defining aspects of his presidency, which is examined in the new biopic Reagan in theaters Friday. Starring Dennis Quaid in the titular role and Penelope Ann Miller as his wife, Nancy Reagan, the movie spans Reagan’s life from his childhood in Illinois to his ascension to the White House and his eventual diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease.
However, there was a time very few knew of Reagan’s oratory ability or potential within the Republican party. In the early 1960s, he was a political nobody just starting his transition out of Hollywood. That is, until one important address in October 1964 informed Americans of “A Time for Choosing” and changed everything.
Reagan’s movie career had fizzled out by the 1960s
Long before he was U.S president or even governor of California, most Americans knew Reagan from the big screen during his decades-long film career. Starting in 1937, Reagan appeared in more than 50 movies—highlighted by his early performances as George Gipp in the 1940 sports drama Knute Rockne, All American and amputee Drake McHugh in 1942’s Kings Row. Later nominated for the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest movie stars, Reagan was known as an onscreen charmer who had what The Dissolve editor Scott Tobias called “bland, uncomplicated affability.”
But his roles eventually dwindled. Reagan appeared in only two feature-length films from 1957 through 1963, and his last movie, The Killers, became memorable for unfavorable reasons. Reagan played gangster Jack Browning in the 1964 crime drama based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The movie was controversial from the outset; it was originally supposed to air on NBC, but the network felt its subject matter was too violent. Instead, Universal Pictures released the movie theatrically on July 7 of that year.
In one particularly infamous scene, Browning slaps character Sheila Farr, played by Angie Dickinson, hard across the face in a stark contrast from Reagan’s good guy persona. According to Tobias, Reagan reportedly hated his lone villainous role and regretted joining the project.
With his professional life ripe for transition, Reagan had already begun to explore other career opportunities.
He became increasingly involved in politics
According to the Reagan Presidential Library, Reagan had started a side career as a public speaker by this time. He regularly delivered speeches to Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, and many other civic groups.
At the same time, Reagan became much more outspoken politically. A longtime Democrat, he felt the party had become too liberal on economic issues. He campaigned for Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon in 1960 before officially switching parties two years later.
“My views haven’t changed an awful lot since I was a Democrat,” Reagan said in 1966. “I believed then that anything—whether it came from labor, management, or government—that anything imposed unfairly on the individual, the freedom of the individual, was tyranny and should be opposed.”
Seeing an opportunity to help struggling presidential nominee Barry Goldwater who was facing Democratic incumbent Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 election, California Republicans asked Reagan to use his speaking ability to assist Goldwater with a televised speech. He accepted with one stipulation: that he give the address in front of a live audience, as he had grown accustomed to doing.
Reagan worried he “let down” Goldwater with his speech
Reagan spent weeks tweaking and practicing the speech. It was scheduled to air on October 17, 1964, from an NBC studio as part of a pre-taped TV program called Rendezvous with Destiny.
Employing elements of the speech in prior speaking engagements, Reagan was confident listeners would be receptive. However, Goldwater wasn’t as sure and even called Reagan days before the air date. “He sounded uneasy and a little uncomfortable,” Reagan later wrote in his 1990 autobiography An American Life, explaining that Goldwater proposed airing a pre-recorded talk he had with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower instead. “I’d seen the film showing Barry’s meeting with Eisenhower at Gettysburg and didn’t think it was all that impressive.” Despite Goldwater’s hesitance, they stuck with the original plan.
Known as “A Time for Choosing,” Reagan’s speech avoided the most inflammatory rhetoric and policy ideas Goldwater previously touted. The far-right-leaning candidate had advocated for the use of tactical nuclear weapons during the Vietnam War and argued Social Security should become voluntary. Instead, Reagan took a more straightforward tone as he criticized big government and pitched a better future to Republican voters.
“We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny,” Reagan concluded.
According to National Review, the Reagans watched the speech at the home of friends. Despite their positive reaction, Ronald was in no mood for celebrating as he went to bed later that night. “I was hoping I hadn’t let Barry down,” he later wrote in his autobiography.
In reality, the speech launched Reagan’s political career
According to The Washington Post, the speech quickly raised more than $1 million for Goldwater’s campaign, then a “staggering” sum equivalent to more than $10 million today. Unfortunately, it did nothing to help him at the ballot box. Goldwater carried only six states and lost to LBJ in one of the biggest electoral college landslides ever.
Reagan, meanwhile, became an overnight political sensation. Journalist David Broder lauded the address as “the most successful political debut since William Jennings Bryan” and his 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic Convention.
For Republicans—who, according to former journalist and biographer Louis Cannon, had a dismal performance in the election beyond Goldwater’s rout—Reagan’s emergence was a chance for the party to start over. “We are now in 1965, and there aren’t any Republican leaders left in office,” Cannon said during a 2014 panel discussion. “If there had been a lot of Republicans in office still, I don’t know that everybody would have turned to Reagan. But they did.”
Within months of the speech, Reagan performed an exploratory speaking tour throughout California while eyeing a possible gubernatorial campaign. In 1966, he ran and easily defeated Democratic incumbent Pat Brown, whose crude comparison of Reagan to assassin John Wilkes Booth (both actors) during the campaign greatly backfired.
Reagan held the office until January 1975, which put him on a path to the presidency with his 1980 victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter. However, none of that might have happened without the successful appeal of “A Time for Choosing.”
“I didn’t know it then, but that speech was one of the most important milestones of my life,” Reagan later wrote.
See Reagan in Theaters August 30
Dennis Quaid—who has now played a U.S. president three times, including Bill Clinton in the made-for-TV movie The Special Relationship and the fictional Joseph Staton in the 2006 satire American Dreamz—said he was initially hesitant to portray Reagan because the role took him out of his comfort zone.
“I had a tinge of fear grow up my spine,” the 70-year-old actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “Fear is really very valuable. But I didn’t say yes right away because I wanted to make sure I could feel him as a person instead of doing an impersonation. I went to the Reagan ranch and I could feel him up there. It was really quite something.”
See how well Quaid emulates the former president’s oratory skills when Reagan reaches theaters on Friday. The movie also stars Penelope Ann Miller, Nick Searcy, and Jon Voight.
You Might Also Like
