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Ronald Reagan was the 33rd
governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the ...
for two terms, the first beginning in 1967 and the second in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term. Robert Finch, Edwin Reinecke and John L. Harmer served as lieutenant governors over the course of his governorship.


1966 nomination and election

California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's conservative political views and charisma after his "
A Time for Choosing "A Time for Choosing", also known as "The Speech", was a speech presented during the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign by future president Ronald Reagan on behalf of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. 'A Time For Choosing' launched Re ...
" speech for the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964. David S. Broder called it “the most successful national political debut since
William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...
electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with the ‘Cross of Gold’ speech." Reagan assembled advisors and financiers, and in late 1965 he announced his campaign for governor in the 1966 election. Incumbent Governor
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...
intervened indirectly in the Republican primary to undermine former San Francisco mayor George Christopher, thinking that Reagan, as a politically inexperienced movie actor, would be easier to beat. Christopher lost. Against Brown, Reagan emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California, Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." He was elected to his first term on November 8, 1966, with more than 57% of the vote, defeating the two-term incumbent governor by nearly a million votes. Reagan was sworn in on January 2, 1967 at ten minutes past midnight—starting early to prevent Brown from naming judges at the last minute.


First term (1967–1971)


Staffing

Reagan's efficiency as governor depended on his three support groups. His high visibility Hollywood supporters included
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
,
Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
,
Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...
,
George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
,
James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...
,
John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
and
Jimmy Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
, as well as producers
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film pr ...
and Taft B. Schreiber of MCA. His campaign was managed by the well-known firm of Spencer and Roberts. Funding came from California businessman and financiers including Union Oil chief executive A.C. “Cy” Rubel; auto dealer Holmes Tuttle; Henry Salvatori; Alfred S. Bloomingdale;
Leonard Firestone Leonard Kimball Firestone (June 10, 1907 – December 24, 1996) was an American businessman, diplomat, and philanthropist. Early life and education He was born on June 10, 1907 in Akron, Ohio, to Harvey S. Firestone and Idabelle Smith Firesto ...
; and Justin Dart. The governor's key staffers included chief of staff Philip Battaglia,
Lyn Nofziger Franklyn Curran "Lyn" Nofziger (June 8, 1924 – March 27, 2006) was an American journalist, conservative Republican political consultant and author. He served as press secretary in Ronald Reagan's administration as Governor of California, ...
, Thomas C. Reed, William P. Clark Jr.,
Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pres ...
,
Michael Deaver Michael Keith Deaver (April 11, 1938 – August 18, 2007) was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 until May 1985. Early ...
, and personal lawyer
William French Smith William French Smith II (August 26, 1917 – October 29, 1990) was an American lawyer and the 74th United States Attorney General. After attaining his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1942, Smith went on to join the law firm of Gibson, D ...
.
Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in Ne ...
, the foundation of his emotional support, was the most important member of the team. When his advisers discovered that chief of staff Battaglia was an active homosexual partnering with junior staff, nine went to Reagan as a group and demanded Battaglia be fired. Reagan was relatively at ease with the gay community in Hollywood, but the California electorate was less tolerant. Reagan chose Clark to replace Battaglia, and the story lost momentum.


Tax Cuts

Reagan campaigned as a tax cutter, promising to squeeze, cut, and trim. Once in office he froze government hiring but increased spending by 9%. He worked with Democrat Jess Unruh, the Assembly Speaker, to secure a series of tax increases that raised rates and balanced the budget, while also cutting property taxes. The sales tax was raised from 3% to 5%. The highest income tax bracket saw a rise from 7% tax to 10%. Taxes on banks, corporate profits, and inheritance were increased slightly. Liquor taxes jumped from $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon; and cigarette taxes from three cents to ten cents per pack.


Abortion issue

Early in 1967, the national debate on abortion was beginning and attention was being focused on California. The American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the California Medical Association, the California Bar Association, and numerous other groups announced support behind new laws that would protect doctors from criminal prosecution if they performed abortions under rigid hospital controls. A bipartisan majority in the California legislature supported a new law introduced by Democratic state senator Anthony Beilenson, the "Therapeutic Abortion Act". Catholic clergy were strongly opposed but Catholic lay people were divided and non-Catholics strongly supported the proposal. Reagan consulted with his father-in-law, a prominent surgeon who supported the law. He also consulted with James Cardinal McIntyre, the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles. The archbishop strongly opposed any legalization of abortion and he convinced Reagan to announce he would veto the proposed law since the draft allowed abortions in the case of birth defects. The legislature dropped that provision and Reagan signed the law, which decriminalized abortions when done to protect the health of the mother. The expectation was that abortions would not become more numerous but would become much safer under hospital conditions. In 1968, which was the first full year under the new law, there were 5,018 abortions in California. The numbers grew exponentially and stabilized at about 100,000 annually by the 1970s. Elective abortions were legal, as 99.2% of women who requested an abortion received treatment. One out of every three pregnancies was ended by illegal abortion. The key factor was the sudden emergence of a woman's movement that introduced a very new idea—women had a basic right to control their bodies and could choose to have an abortion or not. Reagan by 1980 found his support among anti-abortion religious groups and said he was too new as governor to make a wise decision.


Berkeley protests

Reagan was involved in high-profile conflicts with the protest movements of the era. During his campaign, he repeatedly promised to "clean up the mess at Berkeley" in response to the Free Speech Movement of 1964. He followed through on that promise by appointing several new regents to the UC Board of Regents who, together with himself (in his capacity as an ''ex officio'' regent) aligned with existing board members to form a majority (14 to 8) to vote for UC President
Clark Kerr Clark Kerr (May 17, 1911 – December 1, 2003) was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and twelfth president of the University of California. Bi ...
's dismissal on January 20, 1967. In a February 3, 1967 letter to Kerr, Regent Thomas M. Storke criticized the "brutal, cruel, and asinine" manner in which Reagan had carried out Kerr's dismissal and also noted that " Ananias is a symbol of Truth compared to Ronnie." On May 15, 1969, during the People's Park protests at UC Berkeley, Reagan sent the
California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...
and other officers to quell the protests, in an incident that became known as "Bloody Thursday." The student newspaper headlines blared: :POLICE SEIZE PARK; SHOOT AT LEAST 35;
March Triggers Ave. Gassing; Bystanders, Students Wounded; Emergency, Curfew Enforced. Reagan then called out 2,200 state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for two weeks in order to crack down on the protesters. W.J. Rorabaugh argues that Reagan was unable to break the power of liberal faculty and administrators, or of radical students. However those groups were astonished by Reagan's popularity, and drastically underestimated the force of conservative reaction against higher education.


China issue

Reagan, as governor and later as president, had been a supporter of
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a Country, country in East Asia, at the junction of the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the n ...
. Following a 1971 vote in the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
in which several delegates voted against the US and decided to recognize the
People’s Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, Reagan, in a call to President Nixon, vented his anger at the
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands an ...
n delegation: "To see those... monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they're still uncomfortable wearing shoes." Nixon told his deputy national security adviser
Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; December 2, 1924February 20, 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these c ...
to cancel any future meetings with any African leader who had not voted with the United States on Taiwan.


Presidential campaign

Shortly after the beginning of his term, Reagan tested the presidential waters in 1968 as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement, hoping to cut into Nixon's Southern support and be a compromise candidate if neither Nixon nor second-place
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of ...
received enough delegates to win on the first ballot at the Republican convention. However, by the time of the convention Nixon had 692 delegate votes, 25 more than he needed to secure the nomination, followed by Rockefeller with Reagan in third place.


Second term (1971–1975)

An unsuccessful attempt to recall Reagan in 1968 was supported by senior citizens, educators, and organized labor. Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy"
Jesse M. Unruh Jesse Marvin Unruh (, ; September 30, 1922 – August 4, 1987), also known as Big Daddy Unruh, was an American politician who served as speaker of the California State Assembly and as the California State Treasurer. Early life and education Born ...
on November 3 with 52.85% of the vote. He chose not to seek a third term in the following election cycle.


Capital punishment

One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
, which he strongly supported. His efforts to enforce the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
issued its '' People v. Anderson'' decision, which invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972, though the decision was later overturned by a constitutional amendment. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell's sentence was carried out by the state in
San Quentin San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
's gas chamber. The execution of convicted murderer Robert Lee Massie was nearly carried out during Reagan's governorship but was stayed in 1967 by Reagan himself because he wanted Massie to attend the trial of his alleged accomplice. Massie would be executed over three decades later for a separate murder in 2001.


School finance reform

The 1971 state supreme court decision in '' Serrano v. Priest'' required the state to equalize spending on schools between rich and poor districts. Facing a strong Democratic opposition in the legislature, Reagan negotiated compromises with Speaker Bob Moretti that would be attractive to key elements of the Republican base. He cut deals with Moretti, who wanted to satisfy his Democratic base and also build a leadership image as he planned to run for governor himself in 1974. Reagan's strategy was to keep costs down, cut property taxes for homeowners, limit school spending, and provide higher spending for poorer school districts. For support, he looked to Republicans, business groups, the school lobby, and some Assembly Democrats. The final legislation as signed by the governor included the main provision of a new annual grant of $454 million to local school districts, of which $229 million was to reduce school tax rates and $220 million was to supplement existing school aid for poor districts. Special assistance of $83 million was allocated to inner-city schools, a Democratic constituency. In addition, there were side payments to keep other elements happy. The property tax exemption for homeowners was raised from $750 to $1750; this was a Republican constituency. Renters—a major Democratic constituency—received an income tax credit of $25 to $45. Businesses—a Republican constituency—received a cut in the property tax on their inventories. Local governments were paid an extra $7 million a year to set aside open space. This appealed to local officials of both parties and to the new environmentalist movement which at the time was bipartisan. Educators were pleased with $40 million for early childhood education. To pay for all of this, the state sales tax was raised from 5.0% to 6.0%. Corporate income tax went up from 7.6% to 9.0% for corporations and from 11.6% to 13.0% for banks. In addition to new taxes some federal money was used, as well as increased revenue from older taxes. Reagan insisted on adding a major restriction: local governments and school districts could not raise taxes without voter approval. Liberals were upset but agreed to the restriction. As it happened, property values went up steadily and the same rates produced more dollars every year. The result was a victory for both Reagan and Moretti. It gave the governor a reputation for successful deal-making that pleased multiple constituencies. At the same time, Reagan's public rhetoric appealed to hard-line conservatives nationally, his actions in Sacramento appealed to moderates.


California Proposition 1

After a string of successes climaxed by a reelection landslide, Reagan in 1973 set his eye on national issues in the 1976 presidential election. He decided his signature issue would be to show America he was a hard-liner on cutting taxes and spending by locking that proposition into the California state constitution through Proposition 1--an initiative that would be on the November 1973 ballot. It cut the state tax and made it more difficult to increase rates. He overreached.
Michael Deaver Michael Keith Deaver (April 11, 1938 – August 18, 2007) was a member of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff serving as White House Deputy Chief of Staff under James Baker III and Donald Regan from January 1981 until May 1985. Early ...
ran the campaign, but since the ballot initiative specified all the details, there was no room to negotiate nor compromise with the opposition. The opposition was led by Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti who forged a coalition of Democratic activists, labor unions, the League of Women Voters, and other organizations. The need to cut state taxes was never clearly presented. Proposition 1 went down to defeat with 54% opposing the measure.


Governorship legacy


Education

According to Curtis Marez, Reagan became governor partly by vilifying the University of California system, especially Berkeley, as: :sites of radical anticapitalist, antiwar, and anti-heteronormative politics....he raised fees at state colleges and universities, repeatedly slashed construction budgets for state campuses, and engineered the firing of University of California...president
Clark Kerr Clark Kerr (May 17, 1911 – December 1, 2003) was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and twelfth president of the University of California. Bi ...
and the firing of
Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
from UCLA. Education spending increased significantly under the Reagan administration contrary to promises to slash education spending despite demanding annually demanding 20 percent across-the-board cuts in higher education funding. State spending on K-12 schools rose 105% to $2.371 billion from 1966-1967 to 1974-1975. Within California's higher education system from 1966-1967 to 1974-1975, the budget of the University of California system rose 105% to $493 million, the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system's budget rose 164% to $480 million, and
community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
spending rose 323% to $315 million. Student scholarships and loans rose 915% to $43 million. Enrollments also rose, increasing by 5% in K-12, by 44% in the University of California system, by 78% in the
California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
system, and by 84% in the community college system. Shirley Boes Neill concludes the Reagan Administration had many faces: : It used what some considered inflammatory rhetoric and seemed rigid, but in actual dealings, it impressed many observers as flexible and willing to compromise. n anonymous Democratsaid, "The Reagan Administration vented a lot of right-wing rhetoric to please its supporters and took the conservative position on certain enduring controversies...but in day-to-day dealings with the legislature, the Reagan staff was generally reasonable, always accessible, and they made and kept bargains." Perhaps
Wilson Riles Wilson Camanza Riles (June 27, 1917 – April 1, 1999) was an American educator and politician from California. He was the first African American to be elected to statewide office in California. Career Riles graduated from Northern Arizona Univ ...
uperintendent of Educationsummed up Reagan best with this analysis: "When you got down to working with him, he was far more reasonable than you would expect from the rhetoric.''


Welfare

Reagan's terms as governor helped to shape the policies he would pursue in his later political career as president. By campaigning on a platform of sending "the welfare bums back to work", he spoke out against the idea of the welfare state. He also strongly advocated for less government regulation of the economy and against what he believed to be undue federal taxation. With his eye on national politics, Governor Reagan opposed the negative income tax policy recommended by Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter and developed by Milton Friedman. He offered as an alternative the California Welfare Reform Act (CWRA). Reagan's rhetoric about "welfare queens" suggested fraud was a major concern. He believed that increased welfare led to more illegitimate babies. However, his fears were not supported by the findings of scholarly analysis of the fertility of women receiving
Aid to Families with Dependent Children Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was a federal assistance program in the United States in effect from 1935 to 1997, created by the Social Security Act (SSA) and administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Serv ...
funds. Women did not bear more children when aid was increased, or less when it was decreased. Instead availability of legal abortions—which Reagan supported as governor—seems to be a factor in decreased births to welfare recipients, and the factors of low education, recent migration to the state, and a welfare childhood experience were more closely related to pregnancies. Reagan's welfare reform, according to historian Garin Burbank, was a modest success: : a policy that increased grants to the clearly eligible (Reagan's "truly needy"), reduced fraud, pursued absconding fathers of illegitimate children, and praised the example of steady, reliable work habits could be considered a modest success, if not exactly the social miracle that soon appeared in some of Reagan's campaign speeches. Reagan's success lay somewhere between the symbolic and the substantial, in the domain of politics, the one shining dominion that he surely wished to master. Historian
Kevin Starr Kevin Owen Starr (September 3, 1940 – January 14, 2017) was an American historian and California's state librarian, best known for his multi-volume series on the history of California, collectively called "Americans and the California Dream." ...
ranks Reagan alongside
Hiram Johnson Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century. He was elected in 191 ...
,
Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...
, and
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...
as "great governors" of California. Starr ranks Reagan so high because of his sustained "good-humored relations with key Democrats .. . ," and because, after listening to the latter, he "gave Californians the biggest tax hike in their history--and got away with it."Quoted in Jackson Putnam, "Governor Reagan: A Reappraisal," p 26.


See also

* Electoral history of Ronald Reagan * Ronald Reagan *
Presidency of Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...


Notes


Further reading

* Alvarado, Alice L. "Ronald Reagan, Jesse Unruh and the California Gubernatorial Race, 1970," ''Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History'' (2018) 2#2: 1-2
online
* Anderson, Totton J.; Lee, Eugene C. (1967), "The 1966 Election in California", ''Western Political Quarterly'', 20#2 pp. 535–55
in JSTOR
* Anderson, Totton J., and Charles G. Bell. "The 1970 Election in California." ''Western Political Quarterly'' 24.2 (1971): 252-273. * Becker, Jules, and Douglas A. Fuchs. "How two major California dailies covered Reagan vs. Brown." ''Journalism Quarterly'' 44.4 (1967): 645-653. * Biggart, Nicole Woolsey. "Management style as strategic interaction: The case of Governor Ronald Reagan." ''Journal of Applied Behavioral Science'' 17.3 (1981): 291-308. * Biggart, Nicole Woolsey, and Gary G. Hamilton. "The Power of Obedience" ''Administrative Science Quarterly'' 29#4 (1984), pp. 540–54
online
* Boyarsky, Bill. ''Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the art of power politics'' (U of California Press, 2007
online
* Brands, H.R. ''Reagan'' (2015) pp 148–91. * Burbank, Garin. "Governor Reagan and California Welfare Reform: The Grand Compromise of 1971." ''California History'' 70.3 (1991): 278-289
online free
* Burbank, Garin. "Governor Reagan and Academic Freedom at Berkeley, 1966-1970." ''Canadian Review of American Studies'' 20.1 (1989): 17-30. * Burbank, Garin. "Speaker Moretti, Governor Reagan, and the Search for Tax Reform in California, 1970-1972." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 61.2 (1992): 193-214
online free
* Burbank, Garin. "Governor Reagan's Only Defeat: The Proposition 1 Campaign in 1973." ''California History'' 72.4 (1993): 360-373
online
* Cannon, Lou. ''Governor Reagan: His rise to power'' (PublicAffairs, 2005). * Cannon, Lou (2001), ''Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio'' (
PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is an imprint of Perseus Books, an American book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos ...
, 2001) * Cannon, Lou. "Preparing for the Presidency: The Political Education of Ronald Reagan" in ''A Legacy of Leadership: Governors and American History'' ed. by Clayton McClure Brooks (2008) pp 137–155
online
* Clabaugh, Gary K. "The educational legacy of Ronald Reagan." ''Educational Horizons'' 82.4 (2004): 256-259
online
* Crafton, William. "The incremental revolution: Ronald Reagan and welfare reform in the 1970s." ''Journal of Policy History'' 26.1 (2014): 27-47. * Dallek, Matthew. ''The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics'' (2000), 1966 election; * De Groot, Gerard J. "‘A Goddamned Electable Person’: The 1966 California Gubernatorial Campaign of Ronald Reagan." ''History'' 82#267 (1997) pp: 429-44
online
* De Groot, Gerard J. "Ronald Reagan and Student Unrest in California, 1966-1970." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 65.1 (1996): 107-129
online free
* Edwards, Anne. '' Early Reagan: The Rise to Power'' (New York, 1987), includes 1966 election * Hamilton, Gary G., and Nicole Woolsey Biggart. ''Governor Reagan, Governor Brown: A sociology of executive power'' (Columbia University Press, 1984) * Holden, Kenneth. ''Making of the Great Communicator: Ronald Reagan's Transformation From Actor To Governor'' (2013) * Keefe, David E. "Governor Reagan, welfare reform, and AFDC fertility." ''Social Service Review'' 57.2 (1983): 234-253
online
* Kengor, Paul, and Patricia Clark Doerner. ''The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand'' (Ignatius Press, 2007). * Kirst, Michael W. “Coalition Building For School Finance Reform: The Case of California.” ''Journal of Education Finance'' 4#1 (1978), pp. 29–4
online
* McKenna, Kevin. "The 'Total Campaign': How Ronald Reagan Overwhelmingly Won the California Gubernatorial Election of 1966." (Thesis, Columbia University, 2010
online
* Marez, Curtis. "Ronald Reagan, the College Movie: Political Demonology, Academic Freedom, and the University of California" ''Critical Ethnic Studies'' 2#1 (2016), pp. 148–180
online
* Mitchell, Daniel JB. "Governor Reagan's ballot box budgeting: One that got away." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 89.2 (2007): 195-227
online
* Neill, Shirley Boes. "The Reagan Education Record in California" ''The Phi Delta Kappan'' 62#2 (Oct 1980), pp. 136–13
online
* Pawel, Miriam. ''The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation'' (2018) * Putnam, Jackson K. "Governor Reagan: A Reappraisal." ''California History'' (2006): 24-45
online free
* Putnam, Jackson K. ''Jess: The Political Career of Jesse Marvin Unruh'' (UP of America, 2005). * Reeves, Michelle. "Obey the Rules or Get Out": Ronald Reagan's 1966 Gubernatorial Campaign and the 'Trouble in Berkeley'." ''Southern California Quarterly'' (2010): 275-305
in JSTOR
* Rorabaugh, W. J. ''Berkeley at War: The 1960s'' (1990). * Schuparra, Kurt. ''Triumph of the Right: The Rise of the California Conservative Movement, 1945-1966'' (ME Sharpe, 1998) * Schuparra, Kurt. "Reagan's Gubernatorial Years: From Conservative Spokesperson to National Politician" in Andrew L. Johns. ed., ''A Companion to Ronald Reagan'' (2015) pp 40–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118607770.ch3 * Spitz, Bob. ''Reagan: An American Journey'' (2018) 880pp; detailed biography.


Primary sources

* Brown, Edmund G. ''Reagan and Reality: The Two Californias''. (1970) * Deaver, Michael K. ''A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan'' (2001
excerpt
* Kerr, Clark et al. "Reagan and the Regents" in ''The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949–1967'' (2003) 2:283–30
online
* Knott, Stephen, and Jeffrey Chidester, eds. ''At Reagan's Side: Insiders' Recollections from Sacramento to the White House'' (2009) * Meese III, Edwin. ''With Reagan: The Inside Story'' (1992
excerpt
* Reagan, Nancy. ''My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan'' (1989)
excerpt
H.W. Brands (2015) p. 743 says "she wrote one of the most candid and at times self-critical memoirs in recent American political history." * Reed, Thomas C. ''The Reagan Enigma: 1964-1980'' (Figueroa Press, 2014). {{DEFAULTSORT:Governorship Of Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Reagan, Ronald, Governorship of Reagan, Ronald 1960s in California 1970s in California
Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
Early lives of the presidents of the United States