When a washed-up B-movie actor announced that he would run for governor of California, LIFE magazine sent photographer Bill Ray to cover the story.A gallery of rare and unseen images from Reagan’s first foray into big-time politics
On the Trail
Many snickered when Ronald Reagan, 54 years old at the time, announced in early 1966 that he would seek the governorship of California. Reagan had never been a big star, he had not appeared on the big screen since 1957, and his political experience was very limited — he had served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and on a pair of corporate boards. But after hearing Reagan speak in support of Barry Goldwater, a number of powerful state Republicans felt he was the ideal candidate to put up against the two-term liberal incumbent California governor, Edmund "Pat" Brown.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Cable Car
Ron and Nancy campaign in San Francisco in September 1966.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Applause
In its story about his candidacy, LIFE noted that Reagan "looks 20 years younger than the 54 he is ... His face is tanned, his smile dazzling. Not a hair is out of place ... He looks strong and youthful and vigorous. He has that new, clean, young look in American politics."Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
All Aboard
The candidate flies to a San Jose, Calif., campaign event in late 1966. In the general election, he would defeat Pat Brown by a million votes, winning all but three counties in the state.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Inauguration
The new governor, flanked by Nancy, is sworn into office in January 1967.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
The Reagans at Home
To cover the story of Reagan's candidacy, LIFE sent a team of reporters and photographer Bill Ray into the field. Based in the magazine's Beverly Hills, Calif., bureau, Ray was accustomed to covering movie stars, he says. He had shot the Reagans in November 1965 while Ron was mulling whether or not to run. In this family portrait, made in the Reagans' Pacific Palisades home, Ronald and Nancy are joined by son Ron, age 7, in the living room — which Nancy herself decorated.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Horseman
"Reagan was very easy to work with," Ray says. "He was relaxed to the point of seeming lazy. If I called and asked about doing shots of him and his family at home, it was, 'Sure, when do you want to do it?' He was at his best on a horse. When I first asked him if he would ride for some pictures, he replied, 'Well, Bill, do you want western or English?' I picked English because of the jumps he had set up."Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Family Portrait
This photo, taken during the November 1965 visit with the family in Pacific Palisades, is incomplete: it leaves out Patti, age 12 at the time, who was away at school.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
The Campaign Begins
By all accounts, Reagan was a reluctant candidate. His biography on the website of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library recounts that "Reagan had never given a thought about running for public office. 'I'm an actor, not a politician,' he claimed." But after traveling the state for six months and feeling the pressure of his backers, he agreed (with Nancy's approval) to throw his hat into the ring. Here, the candidate and his wife ride in a parade in early 1966, shortly after the official announcement was made.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
County Fairground, 1966
In the early days of Reagan's candidacy, Ray remembers, he was one of a very small number of press representatives covering the events. "At most, the local paper sent someone," he recalls. "His big kickoff was the Orange County Bar-B-Q, and I drove him down there in my Mustang. On the way down, he hardly spoke but spent most of the time with a deck of 4-by-6 cards with speech reminders or highlights. Along the way, he lost one of his contact lenses in the front seat and was nearly blind. He was on his hands and knees in the parking lot, feeling around on the floor carpet, trying to find it."Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
GOP Women’s Club, San Diego
On the stump in 1966, the candidate relied on a set of talking points he had honed while working as a spokesman for General Electric. The theme of the speech was, in LIFE's summary, "a well-organized attack on the Democratic party, the federal government and infringements on individual liberties. It flails away like a giant harvester at such institutions as the Supreme Court, the graduated income tax and social security."Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
In the Crowd
Photographer Ray says, "Reagan knew how to target his audience, and those are the people who ended up voting for him." Irene Stallings, above at a campaign event in Vallejo, Calif., in early 1966, was a Democrat who became a Reagan fan.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
Dissent
After gaining the Republican Party's nomination, Reagan faced incumbent Pat Brown in the general election.Bill Ray / Time life Pictures / Getty Images
