The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics

by Matthew Dallek

Ronald Reagan's first great victory in the 1966 California governor's race is one of the pivotal stories of American political history, a victory that seemed to come from nowhere and has long since confounded his critics. Just four years earlier Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown was celebrated as the "Giant Killer" for his 1962 victory over Richard Nixon, and his liberal agenda reigned supreme. Yet in 1966 political neophyte Reagan trounced Brown by almost one million votes, marking not only the coming-of-age of Reagan's new conservatism but also the first serious blow to modern liberalism. Drawing on scores of oral histories, thousands of archival documents, and personal interviews with participants, Dallek offers a gripping new portrait of the 1960s that is far more complicated than our collective memory of that decade.

Genres: History, Politics, American History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[F]air housing was a turning point that liberals failed to notice. They still thought that their only opponents were the anticommunist crackpots. They still believed that the future was theirs for the taking, even if the populace was trailing behind the march of progress just a bit." (61)

"The Democratic infighting of the sixties is often described as a split between liberals and leftists; but the divisions were both more complex and more damaging than that. Brown endured an equally potent, and in many ways more popular assault, from the Right. Men like Yorty and Parker -- even Unrah -- challenged Brown on the issue of law and order that would also be instrumental in Reagan's rise." (157)

"Historians have only a poor understanding of why Pat Brown wanted to face Reagan in November. It was not primarily because Reagan was an actor, though that was a factor, nor because he was inexperienced and of modest intelligence, nor because he was a novice; it was because he was conservative." (209)

"Creative Society" (Reagan campaign slogan, 227)

[Todd Kruse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Governor Pat Brown dominated this book not Reagan. I was struck by the author’s comment that Reagan had “modest intelligence “.

[Milo Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horribly boring but necessary nonfiction read. Discusses just how Ronald Reagan was able to turn the tides of the democrat/republican balance before he ever ran for president, shoving out Governor Brown who had such a firm ideological hold on California. This book speaks to the degree in which charisma, rhetoric, and just the right arguments can make for a political celebrity- and the fervor that goes along with it. A good reminder in this day and age, where political candidates (namely presidential and congressional) are overly glorified and face less criticism from their own parties as time goes on.
Unfortunately, it would be a fun story of political enthusiasm and revolution if not for the horrible policies that the Reagan administration inflicted upon the country- slashing social spending, consequences of which we see today. This book provides an objective narrative on the nuance and reasoning behind Reagans fast rise to governmental stardom.

[Riley Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focuses too much on Pat Brown’s errors and fails to recognize Reagan’s success in building a movement and avoiding radicals simultaneously.