The Working Class Republican

by Henry Olsen

  If Karlyn has been my muse, then my girlfriend, Audrey Mullen, has been my goddess. Her presence lightens my heart, her conversation challenges my mind, and her support fuels my life. The partner of any writer knows how burdensome sharing your life with a loved one’s book can be. Audrey managed that challenge with aplomb, keeping me focused and afloat while keeping our relationship steady and deep. I couldn’t have written any book without her, but I especially could not have written this book without her: her lifetime of work in the conservative movement helped her help me write a better book than I would otherwise have. Honey, this book’s for you.

  Notes

  Chapter 1: Reagan Enters, Stage Left

  1. Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random House, 1999), 123, 128, 205; Anne Edwards, Early Reagan: The Rise to Power (New York: William Morrow, 1987), 133, 149, 173, 177, 231.

  2. Morris, Dutch, 128. Reagan’s first wife, Jane Wyman, cited the same habit as a reason for their 1948 divorce (Edwards, Early Reagan, 355).

  3. Edwards, Early Reagan, 172.

  4. Lou Cannon, Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power (New York: Public Affairs, 2003), 93; Edwards, Early Reagan, 300; Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, eds., Ronald Reagan: A Life in Letters (New York: Free Press, 2003), 96.

  5. Edwards, Early Reagan, 294.

  6. Cannon, Governor Reagan, 119.

  7. Ibid., 101. Anne Edwards states that Reagan secretly switched to backing Nixon by the end of the race (Early Reagan, 417–18). But this is contradicted by Reagan himself, who says he did not develop affection for Nixon until before the 1960 presidential campaign, and by a private letter Reagan sent in December 1952 in which he called Nixon “less than honest” and “an ambitious opportunist” undeserving of the vice presidency. See Ronald Reagan, An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 133; Morris, Dutch, 292–93.

  8. Edwards, Early Reagan, 457.

  9. Skinner, Anderson, and Anderson, Ronald Reagan: A Life in Letters, 813.

  10. Reagan, An American Life, 119, 135.

  11. Reagan’s final autobiography titled An American Life, was published in 1990. His first autobiography, titled Where’s The Rest of Me?, after a famous line he uttered in the movie King’s Row, was published in 1965 on the eve of his first campaign for governor. The quotations concerning Reagan’s father are taken from An American Life, 66.

  12. See http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/accueil.htm. Indeed, Lee County remains so Republican that it voted for Barry Goldwater while he lost Illinois to Lyndon Baines Johnson by 19 percent. It also opposed favorite son Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

  13. Anne Edwards says Reagan’s mother, Nelle, was so committed to the Democratic Party that he held off on formally leaving the Democratic Party in part to avoid upsetting her (Early Reagan, 246). Reagan in fact did not formally reregister as a Republican until the last year of his mother’s life, 1962.

  14. Illinois, like every state in 1932, did not allow men or women to vote until they turned twenty-one years old.

  15. Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco, Saint Louis, and Baltimore were won by the Republican presidential nominee in at least six races from 1896 to 1932. Even Democratic bastions like New York and Boston voted Republican in some elections.

  16. Franklin Roosevelt, acceptance speech at the 1932 Democratic Convention, 2 July 1932, accessed at https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-research/new-deal/roosevelt-speeches/fr070232.htm.

  17. Franklin Roosevelt, “The Forgotten Man,” 7 April 1932, accessed at https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-research/new-deal/roosevelt-speeches/fr040732.htm; see also Roosevelt’s acceptance speech at the 1932 Democratic Convention.

  18. Franklin Roosevelt, Address on Long-Range Planning, 31 October 1932, accessed at https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-research/new-deal/roosevelt-speeches/fr103132.htm.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Franklin Roosevelt, Oglethorpe University address, 22 May 1932, accessed at https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-research/new-deal/roosevelt-speeches/fr052232.htm.

  21. Ibid.

  22. Roosevelt, acceptance speech at the 1932 Democratic Convention.

  23. Herbert Hoover, acceptance speech to the Republican Convention, 11 August 1932, accessed at http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/speeches/speech-accepting-the-republican-nomination3.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Herbert Hoover, campaign speech at Madison Square Garden, 21 October 1932, accessed at http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/speeches/campaign-speech-in-madison-square-garden.

  26. Ibid.

  27. Roosevelt, Address on Long-Range Planning.

  28. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Commonwealth Club Address,” 23 September 1932, found on Americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrcommonwealth.htm. All subsequent quotes or discussion concerning this speech are from the same source.

  29. Roosevelt spoke directly to the people over the radio (television not being then invented) in what were called “fireside chats.” Reagan listened to these religiously and praised FDR’s warm, comforting presence even in his later years (Reagan, An American Life, 66). He regularly gave coworkers his impressions of FDR’s chats (Edwards, Early Reagan, 149). For the text of Roosevelt’s fifth chat, see Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fireside chat 5, “On Addressing the Critics,” available at http://millercenter.org/president/speeches#fdroosevelt. All subsequent quotations or discussions of Roosevelt’s speeches, unless denoted otherwise, are from this source.

  30. “Thomas Jefferson Memorial Construction,” US National Park Service, www.nps.gov/thje/learn/historyculture/MemorialConstruction.htm.

  31. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1944 State of the Union address, delivered by radio as fireside chat 28.

  32. See Christopher J. Tassava, “The American Economy During World War II,” EH.net, 10 February 2008, https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-american-economy-during-world-war-ii.

  33. Reagan, An American Life, 105.

  34. Ibid., 90.

  35. Lee Edwards, Reagan: A Political Biography (San Diego, CA: Viewpoint Books, 1967), 15.

  36. Reagan, An American Life, 89.

  37. Edwards, Early Reagan, 246.

  38. Morris, Dutch, 158.

  39. Edwards, Early Reagan, 324.

  40. Reagan’s father, Jack, was laid off from his job on Christmas 1931. He was unemployed for six months before he found public-sector employment by running government-financed relief operations in Lee County. His older brother had also been laid off his job as a manual laborer before he enrolled at Eurkea College.

  41. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941 State of the Union address, a.k.a. “The Four Freedoms Speech.”

  42. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, speech accepting the 1944 Democratic presidential nomination.

  43. Cannon, Governor Reagan, 31.

  44. Morris, Dutch, 209.

  45. Ibid., 228.

  46. Reagan always exempted people who, “through no fault of their own,” could not fairly be expected to provide for themselves from this expectation, Reagan, An American Life, 185.

  47. Ibid., 22, 28.

  48. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fireside chat 28, a.k.a. “The Economic Bill of Rights” speech.

  49. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fireside chat 7, “On the Works Relief Program and the Social Security Act.”

  50. Roosevelt, fireside chat 5.

  51. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Madison Square Garden Speech, October 1936.

  52. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fireside chat 6, “On Government and Capitalism.”

  53. Roosevelt, Commonwealth Club Address.

  54. See Franklin Delano Roosevelt, fireside chat 11.

  55. Edwards, Early Reagan, 324, quoting “Mr. Reagan Airs His Views,” Chicago Tribune, 18 May 1947.

  56. Reagan, An American Life, 28.

  57. Edwards, Early Reagan, 200.

  58. Ibid., 248.


  59. Reagan, An American Life, 67.

  60. Ibid.

  61. Ibid.

  62. Ibid., 119.

  63. Ibid.

  64. Progressive Party 1948 platform, available at www.davidpietrusza.com/1948-progressive-party-platform.html. All subsequent quotes and discussions of this platform come from this source.

  65. 1948 Democratic Party platform, available at www.presidency.ucsb.edu. All subsequent quotes and discussion of this platform come from this source.

  66. Cannon, Governor Reagan, 123.

  67. Ibid.

  68. Ibid.

  69. Bill Boyarsky, The Rise of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random House, 1968), 75–76.

  70. Reagan, An American Life, 132.

  71. Ibid., 133. Truman died in December 1972.

  72. See http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1948wall.htm; Kevin P. Phillips, The Emerging Republican Majority, (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1969), 65–66.

  Chapter 2: Ronald Reagan, All-American

  1. Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, eds., Reagan in His Own Hand (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), xiii.

  2. Cannon, Governor Reagan, 115.

  3. Boyarsky, Rise of Ronald Reagan, 28.

  4. Steven Hayward, The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964–1980 (New York: Crown Forum, 2001), 450.

  5. Edward M. Yager, Ronald Reagan’s Journey: Democrat to Republican (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), 42.

  6. Ibid., 30–31, 78–80.

  7. Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Public Affairs, 1991), 435.

  8. Reagan, An American Life, 133.

  9. Morris, Dutch, 292.

  10. Ibid., 292–93.

  11. Dwight Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, 1953–56 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963), 51, 441.

  12. Phillips, Emerging Republican Majority, 69–70.

  13. Ibid., 69.

  14. William F. Buckley, Jr., “Our Mission Statement,” National Review, 19 November 1955, www.nationalreview.com/article/223549/our-mission-statement-william-f-buckley-jr.

  15. George Orwell, 1984 (New York: Signet Classics, 1961), 267.

  16. Buckley, “Our Mission Statement.”

  17. Ibid.

  18. E. J. Dionne, How the Right Went Wrong (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016), 50, citing William F. Buckley, Up from Liberalism (New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1959), 114.

  19. Barry Goldwater, The Conscience of a Conservative (Shepardsville, KY: Victor Publishing Co, 1960), 3.

  20. Ibid., 76.

  21. Edwards, Early Reagan, 444.

  22. Reagan, An American Life, 104–24.

  23. Skinner, Anderson, and Anderson, Reagan in His Own Hand, 237.

  24. Reagan, An American Life, 69.

  25. Morris, Dutch, 230.

  26. Edwards, Early Reagan, 363–70.

  27. Ibid., 367.

  28. Reagan, An American Life, 119.

  29. Edwards, Early Reagan, 300.

  30. Morris, Dutch, 229.

  31. Ibid.

  32. Ibid.

  33. Ibid., 233.

  34. Ibid., 234.

  35. Ibid., 232–33.

  36. Ibid., 237.

  37. Edwards, Early Reagan, 324.

  38. Ibid., 324.

  39. 1948 radio broadcast sponsored by ILGWU for Truman-Barkley, listened to at the Reagan Presidential Library (henceforth, RPL), July 2016.

  40. United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 (1948).

  41. Edwards, Early Reagan, 166.

  42. Ibid., 166.

  43. Morris, Dutch, 209.

  44. Edwards, Early Reagan, 254–55.

  45. Ibid., 454.

  46. Reagan, An American Life, 128.

  47. Ibid., 129.

  48. Yager, Ronald Reagan’s Journey, 45.

  49. Ronald Reagan, speech to Los Angeles County Young Republicans, November 1964, listened to at RPL, July 2016.

  50. Yager, Ronald Reagan’s Journey, 78.

  51. Ronald Reagan, speech to California Fertilizer Association, 10 November 1958, listened to at RPL, July 2016.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Ibid.

  54. Ibid.

  55. Ibid.

  56. Herbert Hoover, The Consequences of the Proposed New Deal, 21 October 1932, accessed from the Miller Center, http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/speeches/campaign-speech-in-madison-square-garden.

  57. Reagan, speech to California Fertilizer Association.

  58. Ronald Reagan, commencement address at Eureka College, 7 June 1957, accessed from PBS.org, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/reagan-eureka. All further quotations in this and the following two paragraphs are taken from this source.

  59. Reagan, speech to California Fertilizer Association.

  60. Ronald Reagan, first gubernatorial inauguration address, 5 January 1967, http://governors.library.ca.gov/addresses/33-Reagan01.html.

  61. John B. Judis, William F. Buckley, Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 128.

  62. Ronald Reagan, “Beyond the Lens,” radio interview with Arnold Michaelis, 27 November 1958, listened to at RPL, July 2016.

  63. “California 1958 Ballot Propositions,” Ballotpedia, accessed at https://ballotpedia.org/California_1958_ballot_propositions.

  64. Reagan, “Beyond the Lens.”

  65. Ben Moreel, “Address Delivered to the Pensacola, Florida, Chapter of ACA, Sept. 27, 1966,” accessed from Stanford University, Hoover Library, https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3230389. For a description of the ACA, see http://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/collections/press_releases/650526conc2p1.pdf.

  66. Ronald Reagan, “Losing Freedom by Installments,” speech to the Conservative League of Minneapolis, 29 January 1962, accessed from RPL, July 2016.

  67. Roosevelt, fireside chat 6.

  68. Skinner, Anderson, and Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, 702.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Ibid., 703–4.

  71. Ibid., 704–5.

  72. Reagan, An American Life, 133.

  73. Theodore H. White, The Making of the President, 1960 (New York: Harper Perennial Classics, 2009), 198–202.

  74. Ibid., 199.

  75. Ibid., 204.

  76. Nicole Hemmer, “Richard Nixon’s Model Campaign,” New York Times, 10 May 2012, http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/richard-nixons-model-campaign/.

  77. Craig Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 7.

  78. Skinner, Anderson, and Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, 753.

  79. John Gizzi, “Gizzi on Politics: RIP, Joe Shell,” Human Events, 21 April 2008, http://humanevents.com/2008/04/21/gizzi-on-politics-april-2125/.

  80. Edwards, Early Reagan, 480.

  81. Morris, Dutch, 326–27.

  82. Ronald Reagan, speech to the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, 30 March 1961, accessed from RPL, July 2016.

  83. Ibid.

  84. Reagan, speech to Conservative League of Minneapolis.

  85. Ibid.

  86. Reagan, speech to Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

  87. Ibid.

  88. Ibid.

  89. Ibid.

  90. Ibid.

  91. Ronald Reagan, speech to California Realtor’s Convention, 26 September 1963, accessed from RPL, July 2016.

  92. Ibid.

  93. See also the Kennedy adviser John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1958).

  94. Ibid.

  95. Arthur Schlesinger, “The Perspective Now,” Partisan Review 14, no. 3 (1947), available at www.bu.edu/partisanreview/books/PR1947V14N3/HTML/files/assets/basic-html/page5.html.

  96. White, Making of the President, 1960, 220.