Republicans: Stage to Sacramento?

Near the end of the 1964 presidential campaign, veteran Actor Ronald Reagan, co-chairman of the Goldwater forces in California, appeared over national television and delivered a 30-minute speech. In it, Reagan served up some uncompromising conservative logic, plus a devastating denunciation of the welfare state, G.O.P. me-tooism, and Communist appeasement. At the same time, he provided just about the only dramatic moments in the whole, dreary Goldwater campaign.

“For almost two centuries we have proved man’s capacity for self-government,” Reagan said, “but today we are told we must choose between a left and right or, as others suggest, a third alternative, a kind of safe middle ground. I suggest to you there is no left or right, only an up or down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.

“Already the hour is late. Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people’s right to know. Government tends to grow. Government programs take on weight and momentum.”

Reagan suggested that “either we accept the responsibility for our own destiny or we abandon the American Revolution.” As for Communism abroad, he argued: “The specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face is that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and appeasement does not give you a choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender.” He concluded with a ringing call to responsibility. “Should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the Pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns ….?”

Off & Running. The speech brought an estimated $750,000 in campaign contributions, was rebroadcast by state G.O.P. leaders, and, for Reagan, resulted in a flood of speaking invitations that still average around 100 a week and come from all parts of the U.S.

As of last week, Ronald Reagan, 54, was off and running for Governor of California. The boyishly handsome good guy in some twoscore movies (King’s Row, Accidents Will Happen), and more lately the host and sometimes hero of TV’s Death Valley Days, Reagan, away from the floodlights, has long been politically concerned. As president of the Screen Actors Guild in the late ’40s, he helped block a Communist attempt to take over Hollywood’s trade unions. In 1959, when 20th Century-Fox laid on a feast for the visiting Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Reagan refused to attend.

Yet Reagan had never run for political office. This year, perhaps inspired by Actor George Murphy’s successful 1964 G.O.P. campaign for U.S. Senator, Reagan set his sights on California’s Republican gubernatorial primary next June. He has not yet officially declared, says that he is merely testing sentiment. To that end, he barnstormed through northern California last week by auto (he never flies). He has already hired the Los Angeles political management firm of Spencer-Roberts & Associates, which has handled some of the state’s top Republican candidates, is busy building a statewide organization. One thousand persons have contributed to a “Friends of Ronald Reagan” committee.

Near Panic. Reagan’s race has touched off near panic among supporters of the state’s moderate Republican leader, Senator Thomas Kuchel. One of Kuchel’s followers, Los Angeles Congressman Alphonzo Bell, is telephoning businessmen, urging them to abandon Reagan on grounds that his nomination would drive moderate Republicans into helping re-elect Democratic Governor Edmund G. Brown. The G.O.P. moderates are also attempting to persuade Kuchel, 54, to oppose the actor. However, Kuchel is reluctant to leave the Senate for a try at the Sacramento statehouse, has not made up his mind. “I’m in a quandary,” Kuchel confesses. “I wake up in the middle of the night wondering about this.”

Last week Kuchel got some ingenuous advice from none other than Democrat Pat Brown. During a Washington visit, the Governor mourned that it would be “a real tragedy” for California to lose Kuchel from the Senate “and have a freshman Senator [Murphy] representing California in Washington.” Brown pointed to Kuchel’s twelve years of seniority and expertise “in water problems and other fields.” Said Brown: “I have tremendous respect for Senator Kuchel. We’ve worked closely as a team. But if he becomes my opponent, my respect for him will diminish.” The Governor conceded that he had not bothered to discuss his suggestions with Kuchel, explaining, “I hoped he would read it in the newspapers.”