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The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics
The Right Moment Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics Author:Matthew Dallek As our nation's eyes have recently been focused on the California recall election of Governor Gray Davis, it is interesting to note that, forty years ago, a similar drama unfolded. In The Right Moment, Matthew Dallek's well-researched and balanced debut, California's 1966 governor's race presents a forum for the rise of one great politician, the... more » demise of another, and the clash of two diametrically opposing worldviews. Ronald Reagan's stunning win over Governor Edmund 'Pat' Brown 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 two years earlier the conservative movement was pronounced dead; in California, 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 a million votes. It marked not only the coming-of-age of the conservative movement but also the first serious blow to modern liberalism. Reagan deftly rode the wave, moving from harsh anticommunism to a more general critique of the breakdown of social order and the failure of the welfare state. Millions of ordinary Californians heeded his call. Drawing on scores of oral history interviews, thousands of archival documents, and personal interviews with participants, Dallek offers a fascinating new portrait of the 1960s that is far more complicated than our collective memory of that decade.« less