The Reagans (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Part 2 - The Right Turn - full transcript

Hey, hey. Hey. Hey, hey.
Gentlemen?

All right? All right.

Glad to have you in Mississippi.

Governor,
welcome to Mississippi.

Thank you so much
for coming again.

Dramatic music

R, R, R-E-A.

G, G, G-A-N.

R-E-A, G-A-N.

Reagan, Reagan! Go, Reagan!

We vote Reagan! We vote Reagan!



We vote Reagan! We vote Reagan!

This time, it's a real pleasure

to present to you
Ronald Reagan. Governor.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan

wins the Republican nomination
for President,

and he faces an incredibly
important decision...

How will he introduce himself
to the country?

Nancy and I have never
seen anything like this,

because there isn't anything
like this any more than...

He has a letter
from a Southern official

that invites him to come down
to Neshoba County

to the county fair there.

Neshoba County was infamous for
one reason and one reason only.

This is backwoods Mississippi,



silent and suspicious.

It is hostile country
with a hostile attitude

towards civil rights workers.

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman,

and Michael Schwerner
went to Mississippi

to help register Negroes
as voters.

They have been
missing since Sunday.

They've been the focus
of a whole country's concern.

1964, three civil
rights workers were kidnapped,

lynched, their bodies
stuffed in an earthen dam,

and not found for over a month.

16 years later,

there wasn't a voter alive
in Neshoba County

who hadn't been alive

when those three civil rights
workers were killed.

He chose that place to stand up

and look at the white South
and say,

"I'm for states' rights."

This phrase, "states' rights,"

was prevalent across the South.

We are defending the right
of the people of Virginia

and of Alabama to decide some
questions for themselves.

Get back to conservative
government, state rights.

Not just the saying,
"states' rights,"

but the real meaning
of states' rights.

"States' rights"
has always in the South meant

the North can't tell us
what to do about race.

And the federal government
can't tell us

that Black people are equal.

It cannot tell us
to integrate our schools.

It was a flat out signal
to an old South

that thought the Civil War
was not over.

The real purpose
of Reagan's trip is a speech

to the Urban League in New York
tomorrow on Black unemployment.

In Mississippi,
it was difficult to find

a Black face in the crowd.

He is saying to white America,

"You can trust me.

"You can trust me to make sure
that the forces of change

in civil rights and equality
will not affect your life,"

and he received little
or no criticism for that.

It's one of the reasons
Reagan's record on race

has not been
sufficiently examined,

and we're suffering for the
consequences to that today.

Our guest today
on Meet The Press

is screen and television actor,
Ronald Reagan,

who this week announced
he would seek

the Republican nomination
for Governor of California.

We've reached a period

in which
the philosophical differences

between the two parties
are so great

that it's high time that more
people from the rank and file

of the citizenry
involve themselves

so that we can have
government that's of and by

as well as for the people.

Ronald Reagan developed
the political persona

that we know in the 1960s.

It is not always
possible to tell the real

from the unreal,
the actual from the artificial,

truth from fiction.

Just so you all know,
what you have been watching

is a Hollywood movie premiere.

What you are about to see is
a California political campaign.

When he began
his political career,

I remember him saying that,

well, he didn't know
about running

for Governor of California,

but he would go out
and make some speeches.

He would judge the audience
reaction to that.

And if the audience seemed
to want him to run

for Governor of California,

well, then, sure he wouldn't...
He wouldn't let them down.

For a long time,
America sophisticates

couldn't take
Ronald Reagan seriously.

As an actor, he had
seemed corny to them.

And remember,
Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap.

As a politician,
he seemed improbable.

Ronald Reagan
has played many roles.

This year,
he wants to play governor.

You know, I'm running
against an actor.

No shot at Abraham Lincoln,
don't you think?

You know,
the press just love to call him

a fading actor or "B" actor,

and that upset him.

The manner
in which the other team

has been campaigning,
it's time that some people

are reminded
that actors are people.

Decision to run for Governor...

That was a mutual decision
that we both,

um, spent a couple
of very sleepless nights over.

My wife, Nancy.

That meant
a major change in our lives.

It had to be a mutual decision.

When my parents
entered politics,

the whole new cast
of characters arrived.

I was used to,
you know, Jimmy Cagney

coming over around Christmas.

But now there's this
whole political crowd,

new kind of money people.

That was
a new social circle for them.

My mother was much more
socially focused

and acutely focused
than my father was.

She understood the value

of having wealthy,
powerful friends.

And she was much more involved

in cultivating
those friendships.

Thank you all for your work.

Both my husband
and I appreciate it.

Reagan was running for Governor
against Pat Brown...

And he was a liberal
New Deal politician.

Brown created this tremendous
infrastructure in California.

Ordinary folks wondered,
"Why are my taxes going up?"

And there's Ronnie Reagan
ready to take advantage of it.

He's been singing this song
about big government,

and it plays well.

You know, for a number of years,

I have been protesting
the growth of government.

We have increased
our population 18%.

We've increased the number
of recipients of welfare 49%.

At that time, conservatism
was very much on the fringes

of American politics.

Remember,
Ronald Reagan campaigned

for Goldwater in 1964.

Barry Goldwater stood

in the middle of what was
happening in America,

and it was still
screaming segregation forever.

So for Reagan to attach
himself so comfortably

was a sign of where
he wanted to go long term.

Governor Brown also called you
a party crasher this morning.

- I know.
- Said that you're not in

the, uh, progressive
Republican side of your party.

Well...

He's called federal aid
education a tool of tyranny.

He opposed Social Security.

He wanted to make it voluntary.

On the Redwoods,
he feels that we have enough

of the natural resources
of our state.

These are all taken
from speeches that he's made

either recently or during
the past four or five years.

I think his refusal to denounce
the John Birch Society

as almost
every other Republican leader

in the United States has done,

I think all of these things
indicate a philosophy

that would be very dangerous
to the people of our state.

The John Birch Society
was this fringe group

that believed in all sorts
of conspiracy theories,

some of them anti-communist,
some of them are just

absolutely absurd
fluoride in the water

being intentionally put there
to dumb down American voters,

concentration camps in Alaska.

Most of the membership came out
of the Republican Party,

and it was a problem
for Republicans.

For a political operative
like Stu Spencer,

his fear was that Reagan had
gotten ahold of a bad script,

and that bad script
could be supplied

by the John Birch Society,

because some things
are apropos to talk about

and some things not.

They also had
a very strong strain

of anti-Black racism.

There was a concerted
far right effort

to undermine the legitimacy
of the civil rights movement

and the demands for equality

that included even attacking
Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a communist
even though he wasn't.

One of the things that
happened in this country

as a result of winning
passage of civil rights

was literally a fracturing
of what white politics had been.

The arc
of the moral universe is long,

but it bends toward justice.

You have people who left
the Democratic Party

and became Republicans

because of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.

I spent most of my life
as a Democrat,

and I recall very well

when the moment came to change
and to re-register,

when the leadership
of the Democratic party

repudiated
the constitutional concepts

of individual freedom
and local autonomy,

and states' rights,

and the little
intellectual elite

in the nation's capital
can engage in social tinkering,

then I say to you,
you didn't leave your party.

The leadership
of that party left you.

White America watches in horror

as the people
of Watts, California, riot,

crying, "Burn, baby, burn."

It began with
the arrest by white officers

of the California Highway Patrol
of two young Negroes.

There was an argument.
There was a scuffle.

By then, a crowd of several
hundred Negroes had gathered,

and the story
of police brutality

quickly spread
through the community.

Put your hands up.

- Get them up.
- Get your hands up.

The Watts uprising was very much

an expression of pain and anger

at the failure of society
to recognize

what Black people had been
asking for for generations,

which was a fair shot

at being able to support
yourself and your family.

It was also very frightening
for people who were white.

It was the notion that,

"This could spill over
into my community."

And so it's very easy
for Ronald Reagan then

to come in
and manipulate that fear.

California also leads
in some things

that unfortunately give us
no sense of pride.

The only thing that's gone up
more than spending is crime.

Our city streets
are jungle paths after dark.

Reagan used the term
"jungle paths" to talk about

the areas in our cities
populated by African Americans.

This was a way to trigger
racist stereotypes.

He used these terms
that hearkened back to Africa.

The jungle is closing
in on this little patch

that we have been civilizing
for so long a time.

Reagan is in effect saying,

"These are people
who are breaking the law,

and I will protect you
against them."

We need law and order,

and that's exactly
what Reagan campaigned on.

You wanted law and order
in this town. You got it.

When white people
heard "law and order,"

they heard him saying,

"I am going to stop
the hordes of liberals

and Black and brown people from
invading your neighborhood."

They bring violence.
They bring crime.

All of those are
deeply imbedded stereotypes

that get played out
in that tough-on-crime stance.

Patriotic music

In 1966,
it's no longer acceptable

for a political figure to use
explicitly racist terms.

So a new language developed,
and Ronald Reagan was a pioneer.

It was a language
that allowed people

to oppose integration
on a principle

that supposedly
had nothing to do with race.

That's what
dog whistle politics is.

The use of coded language
to trigger

unacceptable social hatreds

while pretending that's not
what you're doing.

Reagan can turn around
and say, "Me?

I didn't say
anything about race.

I just mentioned people
commit crimes,

gangs, inner cities,

a pathological culture,
no respect for work,

jungle paths, nothing about
race there at all."

Do you think the
Fair Housing Act in California

is an ineffective
or a bad method

of assuring open housing?

It runs the risk of by President
giving to government a power

that government should not have,

and this is the infringement
on the right

of the individual
to private possessions

and the control ownership
of those possessions.

When he ran for Governor,
fair housing

anti-discrimination
was a big issue.

Classical cello music

You have to remember in the '50s
you could not sell your house

to a Black person.

This wasn't your private choice.

This was imposed upon you

by the entire
real estate industry.

Under federal housing programs,

banks would not loan
to African Americans

if they tried to live
in white neighborhoods.

This was legalized segregation.

Everybody that lives
here has been hassling me.

Why?

Because you're not safe
walking the streets at night.

You cannot leave the house.

The people were frightened
to death of integration.

They thought,
"This will hurt our schools.

It'll make
our neighborhood unsafe.

Therefore the only thing
I have in value in this world,

my house, will lose its value."
It was the hottest issue.

Will you lose your neighborhood?
That was it.

While campaigning,
Reagan would say,

"I'm against prejudice,

but I also support
property rights."

And one of the inherent rights
of property

is the right to dispose of it
any way a person sees fit,

even if that meant not selling
to African Americans.

That's a classic dog whistle.

I do not believe
that we can without in seriously

endangering our basic freedoms,
that we can violate

this constitutional right
of the individual.

But I myself, I'll tell you now,
do not subscribe to it.

I'm willing to sell my house.
A matter of fact

if there's anyone listening
wants to buy to a farm,

I've got a farm
for sale right now.

In effect,
Reagan's definition of freedom

included the so-called
freedom to discriminate.

He understood that
there were many white voters

in California who,
because of racial integration,

did not want to see
their lives changed.

He's sounding
a message that has appeal...

"I warned people that this
actor's gonna defeat Pat Brown,"

and it turned out to be true.

Place your left hand
upon the Bible

and raise your right hand.

Reagan had demonstrated
that racial resentment

wasn't confined
to the white supremacist South.

Even in California you could
use race as way to win votes.

Dramatic music

My native country, thee

Land of the noble free

Thy name I love

casual xylophone jazz music

Mr. and Mrs. Deacon Anderson.

- Mr. Reagan, Mrs. Kent.
- Hello,

- Hello, Reagan.
- From Carmel.

- Good to see you. Hello.
- Hello there. Oh!

- Oh, my friend.
- A pleasure.

Oh, yes, your friend,
your dearest friend.

How are you?
It's nice that you can be here.

Oh, we're so thrilled
to be here.

- Nice to see you.
- Hello.

When Nancy
became First Lady of California,

first of all,
she was fit to be tied

to have to leave Beverly Hills
and go to Sacramento.

I mean, she loved the fact
that Ronnie was governor

but Sacramento? No, she did not
like that at all.

The original Governor's mansion

was this Victorian wedding cake
of a place,

this four-story thing with
the cupola on top and, you know,

all these stairways
and rooms that were never used,

so you could spend a lot of time
exploring this big house.

It was kind of cool
for a little kid,

but on the other hand,
it was right downtown,

with a motel
and two gas stations

on the other corner.

Nancy shows
some other governors' wives

California's Governor's Mansion.

- Quite a busy street.
- I should say so.

All the freeway traffic
comes here.

- There's no grounds around.
- No.

It's unfortunate.

It's... It's just gotten
surrounded by the city.

Yeah.

It's lovely to look at,

but it really does need
some paint, doesn't it?

Intriguing orchestral music

There the jelly beans.
Ronnie loves jelly beans.

Is this your son's decision?

- Oh, this is my husband.
- Oh, your husband?

When I said Ronnie,
I meant big Ronnie.

When she and I went
out to see the mansion

for the first time,

they had ropes on the second
story over fire escapes.

They had two young kids
at the time,

and she looks at me
and she just,

"I'm not living there."

Don't you find
every governor's wife

and every governor
that I've ever talked to,

they want a home.

They don't want to be there.
All day they're in downtown,

but... - They really do need it.

The job itself,
just you really need someplace

to get away from it all.
- Yes, you do.

She really made
quite a scene about it

and said
she wouldn't live there.

Well, if she wasn't
gonna live in it,

the governor
wasn't gonna live in it.

Something should've been
done a long, long time ago,

and it's awful that the governor
of the largest state

is scrounging around
trying to find a place to live?

Whoever heard
of anything like that?

Uh, really,
isn't it disgraceful?

Uh, I don't know about that.

I can't get you
to commit yourself.

The Kitchen Cabinet
bought a large house

for the Reagans
in a better part of town.

Nancy felt much more
comfortable moving there,

and that's what they did.

Well, I was very happy as a kid

when they moved
to a quieter neighborhood.

Nice house with a pool
and, you know,

big yard and trees to climb
and all the rest of that.

I thought this is...
This is a vast improvement.

In 1969, a group
of Governor Reagan's friends

bought the present mansion.

They charged the governor
$15,000 a year until this year

when the legislature
agreed to pick up the rent.

$15,000 does sound
like a lot of money in rent.

It sure does.
It is a lot of money in rent.

I just was wondering more if

it would've costed you more
to have actually

bought the house
and paid it off at that rate.

I'm not very good at arithmetic.
I don't know,

but I just know we...
We, uh, we couldn't afford

to... to buy a house, no, really,
shouldn't be asked to, actually.

As I say, the state
is supposed to provide

living quarters
for the governor.

Mrs. Reagan thinks

that both the state capital
and the Governor's Mansion

should be points of pride
for California residents.

And what Mrs. Reagan has started
as attempts to beautify

the mansion have perhaps
turned into political issues.

Can I walk in front of you?

My mother... she was
used to Hollywood kind of PR,

where, you know,
for the most part,

everybody's there to kind of
boost you, you know.

Now it seemed like everybody
was there to tear you down.

I don't like
viciousness and, um, uh,

it's wrong, and that's why
politics has the bad name

it has and, uh,
that's why it's very difficult

to get good men
to go into politics.

It's very, very hard,

and the people are the losers.

Nancy Reagan had
had a bit of an introduction

to press coverage
with the Governor's Mansion

that the Joan Didion piece
for The Saturday Evening Post

did it for her.

It was entitled Pretty Nancy.

She talked about Nancy's
frozen smile and the gaze,

"g-a-z-e" gaze,
became her trademark.

Women made fun of it.

She would just be like this
all the time

looking at him,
and I don't think it was put on.

It's a 1950s woman
trying to shore up her man.

Do we want to center these
on the wall

and then...
But then work around it?

Is that... I think
that's the best... Hmm?

And perhaps we have room
for hanging three right here.

Don't you think
it would be better

to put all of those,
uh, maybe down there,

where they'd be the most visible
rather than here?

And having here...
And having there to themselves.

Yeah, right,
and that... and that next.

- Yes, I think so.
- See, I'm sorry, ma'am,

but unauthorized personnel
aren't allowed in here.

Hi, honey.

Hi.

My parents were
somewhat old-fashioned people.

Look at these. Oops!

That was just as well,
given that they were going

into Republican politics.

You know, Nancy,
you'll see Patty later on.

Hello.

They could stand as
this symbol of the old America,

you know,
the America we miss so much.

You could see it
in the TV shows of the '50s...

A lot of conservatives
thought the nuclear family,

the husband as breadwinner,
the little woman

staying home with the apron,
the happy Black servant,

this was kind of
the natural order of things.

Like many a housewife,

Nancy Reagan likes to
shop herself when she can.

Nancy felt her persona

would be non-threatening
to America

and non-threatening
to the Republican Party,

and it worked.
It worked for the Reagans.

They were scared
of The Beatles, for Godsakes.

The Beatles.

The '60s were very difficult
for my father.

He was unable to fathom
this whole new long-haired

rock-and-roll,
pot-smoking reality.

This fellow
that was doing the talking

had a haircut like Tarzan,
he walked like Jane,

and smelled like cheetah.

Rock and roll music

Hey, by the way you be sure
to listen to WYBC's Viewpoint

when Jason Roberts talks
with Governor Ronald Reagan.

- Okay, wait a second.
- Yeah, roll the tape.

Since Sunday,
the California governor

has been guest lecturer
at Yale University.

How do you feel?

Well, uh,
a little nervous at the moment.

It's, uh, but then I was always
nervous about an examination.

I first met Reagan
when he came to Yale University

at the end
of the first year as governor.

I probably knew
more than the average Yalie

about him
because I was from California.

Uh, I actually
I gave the impression a lot.

He was a bit taken aback
by what I what I would call

the critical reception
that he got.

We asked penetrating,
journalist-like questions.

He was not used
to be put on the spot.

Could you tell me in what ways
you've been active

for civil rights in your career?

As a sports announcer
many years ago,

baseball opened its rule book
with a line,

"Baseball is a game
for Caucasian gentlemen."

Baseball is a game
for Caucasian gentlemen.

Only whites were allowed to play
baseball in the big leagues.

I editorialized constantly
against this.

Was editorializing against
the gentlemen's agreement

that kept Blacks
from playing organized baseball.

And one man defied that rule.

And today,
baseball is far better off.

The notion that he was
an aggressive activist

who supported
Jackie Robinson's right

to play baseball
was, again, not true.

It's just an example of him
not really wanting to see

and also not admitting
the depth of the issue

of discrimination
in the country.

Each time you've spoken
about civil rights,

you've talked about
the integration of baseball

about Willie Mays
and Jackie Robinson.

It... it's become repetitious,

and it seems to me
a sad concept of civil rights.

The real problems
are questions of housing,

of crime in the ghetto.

It's always as if it's coming
out of something that's been...

That's memorized,
that if they question you

for more than five minutes,
you break down.

I just... I don't believe
that you really have mastered

the subjects
you're talking about.

Well, let me ask you something.

What is the democratic machine
in Chicago?

Instead of arguing the facts
with us, he was sort of saying,

"You're too young to understand
how the world works."

This is one of the things
that you should learn.

And, Derek, you ought
to learn this most of all

if you're
going to pursue journalism.

Reagan saw himself as a patriot.

Contemplative music

He wasn't self-critical.

He didn't wanna examine America
in any critical way

because he accepted America
as it was.

The notion that if you followed
other music

or another lifestyle,

or if you disagreed
with the war in Vietnam

or if you got too excited
about voting rights

for Black people that you were
actually challenging

his America,
his unexamined America.

College is the world
apart from the world.

But this year
on the beautiful campus

of the University of California
at Berkeley,

college was also this.

This small minority
of beatniks and malcontents

and filthy speech advocates

have interfered
with the primary purpose

of that university,

and they've brought shame
on a great university,

a university of which
you and I have a right

to be very proud

and which, for many years,
we have been very proud.

At three in the morning

on Thursday, the 15th of May,

300 uniformed
fully equipped police

occupied the park,
and a fence was erected.

And unless you leave,

you will be arrested
for trespassing.

That same day,
a rally was held on campus.

Don't let those pigs
beat the shit out of you.

Don't let yourselves
get arrested on felonies.

Go down there and take the park.

Take the park!

People's Park involved students

protecting a piece of land

that the university
wanted to expand on.

We want the park!
We want the park!

The university overreacted.

On the local level,
the police were coming in,

and then Reagan came in
with the authorization

on the state level
of the National Guard.

Suspenseful music

Suddenly, you have troops there
with guns and bayonets.

If you were watching
the TV coverage,

it looked like
that it was a riot.

The optics of it
for Reagan were great.

It played into all the tropes
of the conservative movement

about young people.

Did you personally
agree with it?

Yeah. I'm that generation.

Bomb the bastards.

Dramatic music

Reagan blamed
everything bad that happened

on the students
and the university.

On the campus,
it was you who are adults.

You who are entrusted with those
young people and their guidance,

have a responsibility
to make it plain to them

from the very beginning

that you yourselves
do not tolerate

the kind of conduct

that has led to the burning
of Wheeler Hall.

The overwhelming majority

of the faculty and students
are against violence,

have done more to curb
violence than you

and created an atmosphere...

- Listen.
- No one wants to listen.

- No one...
- You are a liar.

All of it began the first time
some of you who know better,

and are old enough
to know better,

let young people think
that they have the right

to choose the laws
they would obey

as long as they were doing it
in the name of social protest.

Reagan was able to play
on the insecurity

about a world
that was radically changing.

From young people
on college campuses,

from the anti-Vietnam War
demonstrations

as well as
the civil rights movement,

Reagan was linking
all of this demonstration

and protest as a grand threat.

It's time we recognize
that this is nationwide.

This is a plot.

There is
a conspiratorial side to it.

What should have been
seen as positive expressions

of legitimate concern,

Ronald Reagan gets hacked.

He made no bones about it.

Anybody who talks about
these structural problems

of race or peace and class
is the enemy, a traitor.

Suspenseful music

The Governor and The Students,

an unedited,
unrehearsed dialogue

between Governor Ronald Reagan

and California students.

Groovy music

Governor,
I know you kind of decided

whether or not to receive
the Republican

presidential, um, nomination
for President.

But would you like
to be President?

It's a job that... I think
it starts with the people.

But I could never find myself

just saying,
"Oh, I want to be President,

and I'm gonna go out and talk
to people into it."

My father came from a generation
where being nakedly ambitious

was not seen as
a positive characteristic.

Heroes don't do that.

Heroes don't, you know,
seek attention.

If you were nakedly ambitious,

you were being something
less than heroic.

Reagan was thinking
of being President

from the time we first met him.

That's all he wanted.

I was with him
in his Pacific Palisades home,

and we're going
through some issues.

He suddenly put the books down
and he said,

"Damn. Wouldn't this be fun

if we were running
for the presidency?"

In early 1968,

the guy has been governor
for a year.

He goes on a nationwide
speaking tour to test the waters

for the presidency.

Governor,
are you running for President?

I am not a candidate.
I'm not running for President.

People think you're a candidate.

Well, um, maybe the people think
I'm a candidate

because you fellows
won't take my word for it.

Governor...

And in '68,
my grandmother was for Reagan.

Reagan was the governor
from the largest state

governing as a conservative.

He really put himself forward
as somebody that

conservative Republicans said,

"Someday, this is our candidate
for President."

This is probably his
last chance at the White House

for one reason or another,
chiefly age, it's 1968 or never.

The nominee
of this convention...

Richard M. Nixon.

Reagan wasn't ready.

But my governor had stars
in his eyes,

and the message was out there.

He wanted the job.

We want Reagan! We want Reagan!

And I can tell
we need some more enthusiasm.

Ladies and gentlemen,
if you will,

join me in a tremendous
round of applause.

It's Ronald Reagan, the fighter

Ronald Reagan, the power

Here he comes, here he comes

'76, this is ours

Oh, baby

Ronald Reagan
left the California governorship

early in 1975.

- Hi.
- How are you?

By the time he was running
for President in 1976,

Mrs. Reagan had acquired
an awful lot

of political knowledge
about national politics.

Upbeat music

Obviously, you must think

you're doing some good
to be out shaking

all these hands,
running around the state.

I'm doing
what they asked me to do.

I go out and do questions
and answers,

and it's fascinating.
It really is,

'cause you find out that
no matter where you are,

the same things
are on people's minds,

which has been
fascinating to me.

She was an actress.

Not a great actress,
but an actress,

and she could play parts
very well.

She created this
artifice that in some ways

was almost as powerful
as her husband's façade

and hers was of
the adoring, demure wife.

But she also knew
how to charm people.

It's, uh...

Have you ever just said,

"No. That's not the way
we're gonna do it"?

No.

Well, I'll tell you, that's...
That's an ideal wife.

Mrs. Reagan...

When Ronald Reagan
runs again in '76,

he also learned from his
experience in California,

and he runs a very aggressive
dog whistle campaign.

Tonight, I'd like to talk
to you about issues,

issues which I think
are involved

or should be involved
in this primary election season.

Reagan's ideology was that

government programs
are just wasting

our hard-earned money.

He pulls the story
of a woman in Chicago.

She has
50 Social Security numbers

and 50 addresses
in Chicago alone.

Her tax-free cash income

has been running a $150,000
a year.

Reagan's welfare queen
and her Cadillac

became a poster child for a lie.

The lie is this is what
people on welfare are,

that these are people
who don't need the program

and that it was people of color

who were getting
unfair handouts.

Washington doesn't even know
how many people are on welfare,

how many cheaters are getting
more than one check.

The surface story
is Blacks are lazy.

They're cheaters.
They're a drain on society.

And by implication,

a complimentary story
about whites...

Hard-working,
responsible, innocent,

law-abiding taxpayers
who contribute.

Many politicians like Reagan
use welfare as a...

As a term to cover up
their racism.

That is they never deal
with the fact

that they have three whites
on welfare for every one Black.

Reagan was demonizing
vulnerable people.

And meanwhile,
the people ripping you off

are big corporations
getting tax breaks,

and so it's
a very convenient narrative.

Significant numbers
of Democratic

and independent voters
like what he's been saying,

that some of his detractors
claim that at least

some of what he's been saying
is a little short on accuracy.

It costs three $3 in overhead
to deliver one $1

to a needy person
in this country.

Reagan is wrong.

It doesn't cost $3 to deliver
a dollar of welfare,

but 12 cents.

The majority of people
who are on welfare are white.

And yet welfare exists
in our political consciousness

as only benefitting
people of color.

That is how blind we have become

to how manipulated we are
by racial politics

that serve
to undermine equality.

Ronald Reagan
almost has as many delegates

committed to him

as are committed
to President Ford.

Do you think you'll be
the Republican nominee in '76?

I don't know. I'm gonna try.

Tense music

Good morning
from Kansas City, Missouri,

the site of the 31st
Republican National Convention.

The choice facing the people
in this country

is between
that Democratic platform,

which is for more government,
more spending,

more deficits
as against the platform

that has said,
"Let us reverse that

and get back the freedom

and state's rights
and local rules."

In 1976, Reagan was a force

to be reckoned with.

He almost knocked off
an incumbent Jerry Ford

for his party's nomination.

They're not really
fighting over the old fissure

of, "Are we going
left or are going right?"

This party's made up its mind.
It's going right.

It's going right,
but how far right?

The nominee of this
convention is Gerald R. Ford.

The major Reagan threat
to the Ford campaign here

has been decisively defeated.

There had been a request to hear

from Governor Reagan,

invite him to address
the convention.

In the speech Reagan gave

supposedly endorsing Ford

was a speech
for electing Reagan,

and he made it clear
that he had a vision.

We've got to quit
talking to each other

and about each other and go out
and communicate to the world

that we may be fewer in numbers
than we've ever been,

but we carry the message
they're waiting for.

Reagan was making the case

for a modern conservative
Republican Party

that had a serious vision
of where it wanted to go.

What a great general said
a few years ago is true.

There is no substitute
for victory.

Mr. President.

Thank you.

He made
the best speech of his life.

It just showed me how
badly he wanted it.

After that, Reagan owned
the heart of the party.

This was supposed to have
been President Ford's night,

and then as he swept
off the stage,

the whole auditorium just rose.

I've never seen anything
like that.

Saying in effect, Roger,
this is what you...

That maybe we picked
the wrong man. I don't...

This is what you might have had.

Exactly.

Unless Ronald Reagan

comes to the end
of the long trail,

65 is not likely
to be a candidate

for public office again.

After the '76 campaign,

I noticed my father
mellowing a bit.

Part of that was the fact
that he had lost...

...but survived.

Okay. All right. Yeah, yeah!

Reagan told me one time,

"I probably wouldn't
have run again

if it wasn't for Mrs. Reagan."

She thought that he had to run,

and he was sort of,
"Okay, I took my shot at it.

Gonna go to the ranch
and live happily ever after."

hopeful music

She kept persuading him

that he was the man
that could change the country.

Ronald Reagan
hasn't been heard from much

since he lost
the Republican nomination

to Gerald Ford in Kansas City.

While his fellow Republicans
have been trying to figure out

what to do about the party,
the governors,

the state chairmen,
the national committee,

Reagan has been more or less
quietly biding his time.

Well, there's nothing like

being in the saddle all day.

Governor Reagan, would you
have beaten Jimmy Carter?

I said during the primaries
that I thought I could,

and I still believe
that I could have.

Where Ford failed Reagan
would have won, how?

How would you have
put it together?

Well, I think I would have
broken into the solid South,

which went for Carter as an...
As a native son.

But what really
made the difference,

if you will agree,
is the Black vote.

Yeah.

Apparently Black Americans
find almost nothing

in the Republican Party
to attract.

You're anti-people.
Bob Dole says

you have the image
of being anti-people.

Ah, we have the image,

yes, but...
and I don't deny that.

We have been the victims
of a false image.

The Republican Party
has just done the lousiest job

of merchandising
of what it has to offer.

To me, it was realistic
that he could have been

a nominee in '76.

Do I think he could
beat Jimmy Carter? No.

Reagan's base was the South,

and Jimmy was
a hometown Southern boy.

But four years later,
when Reagan ran again,

they didn't like their boy.

Reagan knew he had
to win the South in 1980.

To do that, he had to send
some messages

that he was on the side

of racist
conservative voters there.

He definitely went for

what they called
the cracker vote.

Since the end of the '60s,

the Republican Party
consciously went after

white voters in the South

by making racial appeals
to voters.

This was called
the Southern strategy.

And when Ronald Reagan
runs for president,

he opts to do the same thing

by going to the deep South
and invoke state's rights.

That is a deeply
considered strategy.

He is saying I can
separate the North and the South

by talking about racial issues
that will move white Democrats

to the Republican Party,

I can take the same bigotry,
I can dress it up

and I can make it
something palatable

to people in the suburbs.

You've seen in his campaign
the stirrings of hate

and the rebirth of code words
like "state's rights"

in a speech in Mississippi.

When Jimmy Carter challenged

Reagan's use of race
in the campaign,

the Reagan campaign responded
by saying

Carter was being mean to Reagan

as if he was saying
Reagan is prejudiced.

I am deeply, deeply offended
by the attempts of Mr. Carter

to paint my husband
as a man he is not.

That's a cruel thing to do.

The president had
some rather unkind words for you

last night, Governor.
He said if you win the election,

you'll have a divisive effect
on the country,

and he suggested that you would
separate North from South,

rural from urban,
Jew from Christian,

and Black from white.

Well,
I think he's a badly misinformed

and prejudiced man.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

The whole fiction of Reagan was
that "I am not marginalizing

or dividing the country.

I am finding a more honest,
effective way

of helping people."

He packaged this fiction,

and then the only thing
that gets in the way

are these bad actors,

welfare mothers,
and people of color

and communists and homosexuals.

And people believed it.

The Reagan motorcade
left Manhattan

for the South Bronx,
a high crime, low hope area.

President Carter visited
the same site three years ago.

Reagan came, he said,
to remind voters

the administration had broken
its promise to rebuild the area.

Go take him now! You his wife!

Señora, you're his wife!
Help us, okay?

Help us!

I'd just like
to point out one thing.

I didn't come down here
to make a promise,

I came down here because
somebody else made a promise.

Reagan didn't understand

African American life.

He didn't really know
Black people.

And that didn't bother him,

but he knew what he was doing
when he campaigned.

Listen, wait a minute.

Let the man speak!
- Cállate la boca!

Let him speak!

Right now...

Right now in... right now
in Congress, there's some...

- I'm trying to tell you!
- But can you?

I am trying to tell you
that I know now

there is no program or promise
that a president can make...

Thank you.

...that the federal government
can come in and...

-...wave a wand and do this.

His stock and trade

was to say,
"I really care about you.

The people who are spending
all that government money

don't really care.

But he didn't really have
a program,

didn't have an answer.

When he got before
a crowd like that,

which was almost never happened,

he was exposed instantly.

Intriguing music

The question
of whether my father

was, in fact, racist in some way

is a troubling one for me
and, uh,

and one that I don't really know
how to answer.

I never heard him at home

in private ever saying
racist things.

He certainly didn't use
the "N" word.

Nobody talked like that
in our house.

I do not think
Ronald Reagan thought

he was a racist.

When he visited us at Yale,
my friend asked Governor Reagan,

"Are there any other
Black people you know

other than Jackie Robinson?"

And that's where
Governor Reagan said,

"Sammy Davis Jr.
Is one of my best friends.

So that means I'm not a racist."

Ronald Reagan made
explicitly racist statements.

We know that from tapes that
were only recently released.

President Richard Nixon
recorded himself talking

to then-California Governor
Ronald Reagan

in October 1971,
the day after the United Nations

voted to recognize
The People's Republic of China.

Reagan had phoned Nixon
at the White House

to vent his frustration
at African delegates

who celebrated the vote.

That sort of quote is only part

of the larger indictment
against Ronald Reagan.

He should also be criticized
for being a national leader

who made the decision
to strategically promote

racial conflict and hatred
as a strategy

to rile up voters
and to win elections.

Voters got the message

that this was not gonna be
a president

that enforced civil rights
or voting rights.

And you could feel good
about voting for him

because he'd supported
Jackie Robinson

playing baseball.

Let us pledge to each other,
with this great lady looking on,

that we can,
and so help us, God,

we will make America
great again.

Thank you very much.

Reagan's reputation
as a dog whistler

has not had a sufficiently
negative impact on his legacy.

Dog whistling is all about
plausible deniability

that allowed Reagan
to protect himself

and that has allowed
the Republican Party

for the last four decades

to deny that that's
who Ronald Reagan was,

to turn him into a hero,

to insist
that he really did care

about the average
American working family.

But when people stand back,

they see that, in fact,
Reagan was a divisive figure,

someone willing to do
what he knew was wrong

to divide Americans
as a way to win power.

Reagan's genius as a politician

was that he wrapped his racism
in a façade of fatherly love.

And it was something that
Black people in this country

understood was a façade,

and we understood it
by his words and his deeds.

For those without
job opportunities,

we'll stimulate
new opportunities

particularly in the inner cities
where they live.

For those who've abandoned hope,

we'll restore hope,

and we'll welcome them
into a great national crusade

to make America great again.

We have here what,
I think, reasonably

could be called a landslide

or certainly something
approaching a landslide.

Where did it come from?

Nobody anticipated it.

No polls predicted it.
No one saw it coming.

How did that happen?

Ronald Reagan...
Look at what he has done.

These are the states in blue
that he has won.

Well, who leads
the social counter revolution

that Teddy Kennedy... - Lawyers.

I think it'll be somebody
whose name

is not a household word tonight.

Try Senator Biden
from Delaware for openers.

Very impressive young guy,

in his second term,
revisionist Democrat.

Wow, okay.

All right. All right.