Inquiry Two

A Time For Choosing; Cultural Context and Impact

            The 1960s are an era most associated with a massive shift in American political ideology that would ultimately lead to the current state of political polarization and defining standard political party views on the major issues. Many political scholars attribute this shift to a speech given during the 1964 presidential election campaign at an event for candidate Barry Goldwater, a Republican Senator from Arizona. However, the speech was not given by the candidate, rather it was given by Ronald Reagan who was a former Hollywood actor and at the time a spokesman for General Electric. It might seem peculiar that an actor and spokesman was called upon for a political rallying cry, but in a thirty-minute speech, televised across the country, Reagan not only set the stage for his own political career, but also began to change the face of the Republican Party and American politics.

            “I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance of peace and prosperity. The line has been used, "We've never had it so good." " (Reagan 1964)

Fifty-three years prior Ronald Reagan was born the son of an excellent, albeit alcoholic salesman and a hardworking, charitable mother. Growing up bouncing from town to town in rural Illinois he showed a keen interest in drama and set to pursue a career in the media. The first of his family to attend college, he worked his way through, graduated and became one of the best-known sports announcers in the Midwest. He often spoke before service members in Iowa and himself became a reserve officer in the U.S. Calvary. From there he spent twenty years making movies, building a favorable reputation in the industry and when this chapter of his life was finally drawing to a close he lined up a job with General Electric. He was given his own television program General Electric Theater and had speaking arrangements with GE employees nationwide. It is right around this time that we see the beginnings of what will ultimately polished into the speech that launched his political career. Early in life Reagan followed his parents footsteps as a Democrat, even in a vastly Republican political climate. He was a known admirer of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the “New Deal for the American People” specifically because even during the height of the depression, it resulted in his father and his brother getting jobs. To quote one of many biographies “Reagan's political and ideological evolution was the product of numerous factors: increased wealth, and the higher taxes that accompanied it; conflicts with leftist union leaders as an official of the Screen Actors Guild, and exposure in his General Electric days to a growing view that the federal government, epitomized by the New Deal, was stifling economic growth and individual freedom.” (Cannon 2015) When everything else is stripped from “The Speech”, this view of a government that is simply too large, with too many restrictions impeding “economic growth” and “individual freedom” is the very essence of A Time For Choosing. To touch on the quote at the beginning of this paragraph, he acknowledges the platform the Democratic Party is pushing as the maintenance of peace and prosperity and then touches on their summary of the American public never having experienced such a level of safety and economic stability on the domestic front. It has also been explained that Reagan began life as a Democrat and only changed his allegiance after fifty years. As can be understood from the quote a few lines above, his change in affiliation came when he understood the notion that American government was in a spending pattern that could not be justified. Seeing that someone as intelligent and politically involved as Reagan could have issues understanding fiscal policy, one can assume, as he himself did, that the American public only saw politics for what was being shown to them. This means that larger issues previously mentioned, like the Vietnam War, the “War on Poverty”, and civil rights were all that voting public were understanding, not the actual political policy that would affect their daily lives once such ‘bigger’ issues were resolved. Reagan resented this approach to the political system and spurred the people on stating: “This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.” Reagan had seemingly identified that American politics were dangerously close to being stuck in a rut and simply being guided to each new decision based upon what was wanted, and needed of them during an election. This is only one of the instances during the speech that he draws this conclusion, the conclusion that without a wake-up call, America is headed for socialism and everything that the founding fathers sought to eliminate when they signed this country into existence.

Now knowing a brief history of not only the person making the speech but his political background and sentiments next must come an analysis of the cultural climate that surrounded this election. With only months having gone by since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and with the Vietnam War still raging, it was clear that a frightened American public would be looking for a strong leader. President Johnson appeared to be stepping up to the plate with the announcement of his “War on Poverty” and other prominent and popular political issues he began to address. Here we see the traditional Democratic party beginning to manifest itself in the Oval Office, and within the speech we see what will become known as the standard Republican resistance to funneling more tax revenue into government programs to assist those less fortunate. “Now—so now we declare "war on poverty," or "You, too, can be a Bobby Baker." Now do they honestly expect us to believe that if we add 1 billion dollars to the 45 billion we're spending, one more program to the 30-odd we have—and remember, this new program doesn't replace any, it just duplicates existing programs—do they believe that poverty is suddenly going to disappear by magic?” Reagan takes a clear jab at the program being introduced by the Johnson Administration and adds some insight that the average American voter might not have access to—the fact that we’re already spending 45 billion dollars; or rather the American public is already helping to fund 45 billion dollars worth of governmental assistance programs. It’s important to note that Reagan doesn’t mention having an issue with some of these programs; he only finds an issue with introducing a new, primarily redundant program that’s asking such a steep sum. This sentiment exemplifies the current views of the standard GOP platform, while the moves on the part of the Johnson administration represent the current actions of the Democratic Party, thusly ushering in the new standard for the traditional bi-partisan running platforms. To support this apparent solidification of standard republican values Reagan addresses the ongoing protesting of the Vietnam War with a provoking query “You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin—just in the face of this enemy?” While public disproval of our involvement in the Vietnam conflict remained steady, the realization that communism was the true threat and that peace did not mean being simply left alone was beginning to take hold.

            Overall, this speech was too little too late for the Goldwater Campaign, even though it raised nearly a million dollars, the race was too near the finish and President Johnson ended up winning by a near landslide. As stated above, this is mainly attributed to the residual shock of the Kennedy assassination, as well as an excellent economic climate, as well as few foreign issues outside of the Vietnam conflict. However, this speech had an intensely profound impact on the approach of future Republican candidates, both in the way their platforms were constructed, as well as the way their platforms were introduced to the American public. In the coming two decades, we see Ronald Reagan breaking into the Californian Political scene in a bid for Governor, and we see evidence of the GOP as a whole taking a much more radical response to Government spending and their ability to control both fiscally and socially. This of course sounds a lot more like the GOP we’re familiar with today, and that’s exactly because it is. The way Reagan handled the claims made by the Johnson Campaign, and they way he presented the platform that Senator Goldwater was running on was a stark departure from the way issues were presented in 1964, yet they are more or less the norm of today. Not too strange to understand why an entire half-century of Republican politics being referred to as “Reagan politics”.

Works Cited

"American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2015. 

This source is a chronological list of major headlines largely focused on the important political and popular culture events taking place throughout America during the year of 1964. However, this source is rather general, so it will serve as a jumping-off point for more specific sources and contextual examples. While not a scholarly paper, the validity of this source is strong, as it was compiled by the Public Broadcasting Service.

Berinsky, Adam J. "Public Opinion During the Vietnam War: A Revised Measure of the Public Will." (n.d.): n. pag. The Society for Political Methodology. Washington University in St. Louis, Apr. 2001. Web. 03 Oct. 2015. 

This source should offer a comprehensive analysis of a sample of public opinion on major issues including the Vietnam War including statistics and polls taken of a group of American Citizens. This should help understand the political feelings and motivations that Mr. Reagan would have been trying to play on to gain support, and will therefore offer context for the politically pointed portions of his speech. The source is a paper prepared by a political science professor for the meeting of a specialized political science organization, so the pedigree of the author cannot be disputed.

Brands, H. W. Reagan: The Life. New York: Doubleday, 2015. Print.

This source is meant to work in conjunction with the other and much shorter piece I've sourced so that we may have a comprehensive look into the development of both his life, and his political aspirations and allegiances. This will offer a great deal of insight into why this piece was written in such a fashion and why he took such stances on the issues at hand. This text is one of the foremost biographies of the former president’s life before, during, and after his time in the oval office.

"Ronald Reagan: Life in Brief." Miller Center. Ed. Lou Cannon. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2015. 

This source will serve as the background on which we will quantify the political motivations that led to the opinions that Mr. Reagan held about certain issues and ultimately led to his overall party affiliation. This source, while not a typical 500 page published paper, is a resource available from a nonpartisan institute seeking to inform the public about American political history. This institute is affiliated with and supported by the University of Virginia, which is clearly credible in the academic world.

"The Great Society, U. Michigan." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.

This is the direct text from a speech delivered by President Johnson to University of Michigan students several months before Mr. Reagan's speech on behalf of the Goldwater presentation. This is a necessary source because it showcases the other side of the campaign trail and adds context to the political skew of the remarks and ideals held by each side of the election. Again, this source is the Public Broadcasting Service, which is widely regarded and proven to publish factual information.

Harrington, Michael The Other America by (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1962), pp. 14–18.

           This is a short passage from a book written about the struggles of those experiencing poverty in the United States during the late 1950s and into the early 1960s. With the stress on social equality during this time period and this election in particular, this was one of the key points made during A Time For Choosing. While this piece doesn’t cite very much statistical evidence, it is an eyewitness account of the misery playing out in front of Harrington that is seemingly invisible to politicians and other, better off members of the socioeconomic community.

Peters, Gerhard, and John T. Woolley. "Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1960." Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1960. The American Presidency Project, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.

This document summarizes the general political platform of the Republican Party for the year 1960. This will help to contextualize the general issues and type of campaign that was run by the GOP in the previous Presidential election. Allows us to see how Mr. Reagan had to present his speech in order to appeal to a wider audience and appear to contemporize the campaign's stance on the issues. This source is a lengthy yet specific report hosted on the University of California-Santa Barbara website, therefore definitely scholarly.

Peters, Gerhard, and John T. Woolley. "Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1964." Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1964. The American Presidency Project, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. This source is the same as the one above, but it pertains to the next election cycle, which is the one where Mr. Reagan is speaking on behalf of the Goldwater Campaign. Annotation is essentially the same otherwise, intent of including this year's platform as well is merely to compare the two and see both how the national GOP platform has changed, but also how different, if at all, Mr. Reagan and Senator Goldwater are from the standard.