Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America

by Shirley, Craig

  Once George Bush's nomination was made official, the convention watched a biographical movie about Reagan, produced by Peter Dailey.34 As it ended, the Reagans suddenly materialized on the podium, and the hall went berserk. If the old performer was nervous, he didn't show it. The band struck up Reagan's signature song, “California, Here I Come,” and the faithful roared their approval.

  As the Reagans appeared on the dais, the crowd began a prolonged, frenzied demonstration, with thousands of delegates waving signs and Americans flags, flashing Instamatics, blowing banned air horns, screaming, stomping, and yelling. A giant banner at the back of the hall proclaimed “Reagan Country” and was accompanied by what would become an iconic photo of Reagan, with the signature slightly lopsided smile, wearing a white cowboy hat, and looking every inch the rugged cowboy.

  The California and Texas delegations reprised their back-and-forth chant of Kansas City. The California Reaganites would raise their white cowboy hats and yell, “Viva!” to which the Lone Star Reaganauts would raise their blue cowboy hats and reply, “Olé!” Indeed, it seemed as if the entire arena was filled with cowboy hats, even though some of the city slicker delegates' only brush with a ranch was their salad dressing.

  Pretty soon, the entire arena joined in the fun. Reagan could only watch and laugh, sharing the amusement with thousands of people, many of whom had waited a goodly portion of their life for this scene. Chuckling over the prolonged demonstration, the Gipper quipped, “We're using up prime time!”35

  Nancy Reagan was seated to “Ronnie's” left, looking lovely in a soft peach-colored dress, eyes fixed on her husband with adoration. Next to her was Maureen. The rest of Reagan's family, along with George Bush and his extended family, sat on stage as well.

  When Reagan finally got the raucous delegates to settle down, he joked, “The first thrill tonight was to find myself for the first time in a long time in a movie on prime time!”36 The crowd roared with laughter.

  REAGAN HAD ADDRESSED THE 1964 Republican convention as a private citizen; the 1968 gathering as a governor and erstwhile presidential candidate; the 1972 coronation of Richard Nixon as a governor again; and the 1976 convention as a failed presidential candidate and private citizen once again.

  The term “citizen” had great meaning to the Gipper, a student of the American Revolution and the federalism created by the Founding Fathers. Reagan knew that these men believed the citizen to be of more importance in their American experiment than all the elected officials combined. These men were “Citizen Franklin” and “Citizen Adams” on July 4, 1776, and September 17, 1787. Thus Reagan called his 1976 quest “Citizens for Reagan”; his political committee was “Citizens for the Republic”; and he always referred to himself as a “citizen-politician” because he truly believed in the concept. Now, in Detroit, Reagan opened his speech by appealing to “my fellow citizens.”37

  Reagan looked every inch the leader and prospective president. He wore a dark blue suit, a spread-collar white shirt, a maroon pin-dot tie in his usual Windsor style, and, of course, a folded white handkerchief in the left breast pocket of his suit jacket. In his left lapel was a tiny American flag. His hair wafted a bit, as a small fan blew air at him in the overly hot convention hall.

  Reagan had a fan club started in the 1940s by Mrs. Zelda Multz of Brooklyn. She'd kept the club going for almost forty years. Now the Gipper was poised to swell the ranks of that club. First, though, Reagan, ever mannerly, thanked the host city and the state of Michigan for “the warm hospitality we've enjoyed.” Reagan was growing comfortable with the choice of George Bush and went out of his way to twice refer to Bush. He thanked the delegates “for your wholehearted response to my recommendation in regard to George Bush as the candidate for vice president.”38

  He swung into his speech, beginning, “With a deep awareness of the responsibility conferred by your trust, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.” This set off a new round of celebration by the delegates. Reagan moved ahead and made an appeal not just to Republicans but also to Democrats and independents to join a “community of shared values.”39

  This address, so obviously crucial for Reagan, would not be another variation of “The Speech,” his bread and butter of the past sixteen years. He only sparingly inserted the phrases and sentiments he had used so many times. His rhetoric was soaring, melodic. Even people who worked for Reagan and had heard him speak a hundred times were truly amazed at what a moving, lofty speech this was.

  During the address Reagan invoked the names of three presidents, only two of them with praise: Abraham Lincoln and his personal favorite, Franklin Roosevelt. The third, Jimmy Carter, he eviscerated for his “mediocre leadership.”40 His approach to FDR was unusual, but true to his conservative philosophy and fitting for his Republican audience: he cited Roosevelt in 1932 criticizing the excessive spending by the federal government under Herbert Hoover.

  Though the Republicans could get behind calls to curb the size of government, they didn't know what to make of Reagan's warm words about a politician they had grown up despising, and the applause was light to say the least. It was true that Reagan had no intention of dismantling Roosevelt's New Deal. He had abandoned his opposition to Social Security back in the late 1960s. He also remembered that his out-of-work father had gotten a job in the New Deal, in the depths of the Great Depression, and he saw the New Deal not so much as socialism but as a form of government insurance that would help the free market operate. It was the Great Society that Reagan wanted to dismantle, as he later wrote in his diaries.41

  Reagan moved to the heart of his address and declared, “Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us. We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense, and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity.” He did not hesitate to hold President Carter and the Democratic Congress accountable, saying that they had a “direct political, personal, and moral responsibility” for “this unprecedented calamity which has befallen us.” Reagan continued:

  They say that the United States has had its day in the sun, that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems, that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

  My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view.

  The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backward ourselves. And those who believe we can have no business leading this nation.42

  Reagan was even more pointed in his indictment of President Carter's administration. “Back in 1976,” he reminded his listeners, “Mr. Carter said, ‘Trust me.’ And a lot of people did. And now, many of those people are out of work. Many have seen their savings eaten away by inflation. Many others on fixed incomes, especially the elderly, have watched helplessly as the cruel tax of inflation wasted away their purchasing power. And, today, a great many who trusted Mr. Carter wonder if we can survive the Carter policies of national defense.”43

  As Reagan built his case against Carter, the crowd joined in. Reagan asked, “Can anyone look at the record of this administration and say, ‘Well done’?”44 The partisan audience roared, “NO!”

  “Can anyone compare the state of our economy when the Carter administration took office with where we are today and say, ‘Keep up the good work’?” Reagan issued what only could be called a sarcastic wink to the crowd.45

  They cried out, “NO!” to his refrain.

  “Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, ‘Let's have four more years of this’?”46

  “NO!”

  Reagan drew energy and strength from the delegates, and only minutes into the speech he had found his stride. “I will not accept,” he thundered, “the excuse that the federal government
has grown so big and powerful that it is beyond the control of any president, any administration or Congress. We are going to put an end to the notion that the American taxpayer exists to fund the federal government. The federal government exists to serve the American people. On January 20, we are going to reestablish that truth.”47

  He stated his view of the role of governments and the role of people, doing the Founders proud. “My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs—in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs—in their elected leaders. That kind of relationship, between the people and their elected leaders, is a special kind of compact.”48

  Reagan's speech was infused with words and phrases such as “unify,” “future,” “dedication,” “commitment,” “clarity of vision,” “forward momentum,” and “courage”—all new idioms to a GOP once obsessed about the past and had been forced onto the defensive over Herbert Hoover, isolationism, anticommunism, traditional values, and the corruption of Richard Nixon and his betrayal of conservatism. Reagan also used the phrase “a new beginning,” as well as “new consensus” and “the time is now,” several times.49

  Reagan proposed to take positive action, announcing specific freezes in federal hiring and cuts in federal spending if elected. He also made his case for the Kemp-Roth across-the-board tax cuts:

  Work and family are at the center of our lives, the foundation of our dignity as a free people. When we deprive people of what they have earned, or take away their jobs, we destroy their dignity and undermine their families. We can't support families unless there are jobs; and we can't have jobs unless the people have both money to invest and the faith to invest it.…

  The American people are carrying the heaviest peacetime tax burden in our nation's history—and it will grow even heavier, under present law, next January. We are taxing ourselves into economic exhaustion and stagnation, crushing our ability and incentive to save, invest and produce. This must stop.…

  I've long advocated a 30 percent reduction in income tax rates over a period of three years. This phased tax reduction would begin with a 10 percent “down payment” tax cut in 1981, which the Republicans in Congress and I have already proposed. A phased reduction of tax rates would go a long way toward easing the heavy burden on the American people.50

  Reagan did not stop there, proposing new and additional tax cuts for businesses as a means to jump-start the torpid American economy. Some of his heartiest applause came at his tax-cut proposals.

  The GOP's nominee also made a direct challenge to minorities to join his cause. “We have to move ahead, but we're not going to leave anyone behind.… That may be the Democratic leadership's message to the minorities, but it won't be our message.… It's time to put America back to work, to make our cities and towns resound with the confident voices of men and women of all races, nationalities and faiths bringing home to their families a paycheck they can cash for honest money.”51

  During long applause, the networks' “pool” camera (to save costs, the three networks shared the same camera and broadcast content) cut away to show viewers what the hall looked like and who was there. Frank Sinatra and his wife, Barbara, were in a VIP section. George Bush, wearing the same granny glasses his aides had begged him to get rid of, was wreathed in smiles. So was Barbara Bush and the rest of their family, with the exception of their eldest son, George, who looked bored and not terribly happy. Mostly, though, television viewers saw in Joe Louis Arena people pretty much like themselves.

  Reagan turned to foreign policy, his staple issue for many years, especially his opposition to Soviet Communism. In a clear, forceful tone, Reagan said, “When we move from domestic affairs and cast our eyes abroad, we see an equally sorry chapter in the record of the present administration.” He catalogued Carter's abdication of responsibility: “A Soviet combat brigade trains in Cuba, just 90 miles from our shores. A Soviet army of invasion occupies Afghanistan, further threatening our vital interests in the Middle East. America's defense strength is at its lowest ebb in a generation, while the Soviet Union is vastly outspending us in both strategic and conventional arms. Our European allies, looking nervously at the growing menace from the East, turn to us for leadership and fail to find it.”52

  Reagan then took on the sensitive issue of the American hostages long held in Iran. “And incredibly … more than fifty of our fellow Americans have been held captive for over eight months by a dictatorial foreign power that holds us up to ridicule before the world.”53

  He turned the snarky comments made about his movie career around on Carter, charging the president with living “in the world of make-believe.… But you and I live in a real world, where disasters are overtaking our nation without any real response from Washington. This is make-believe, self-deceit and, above all, transparent hypocrisy. For example, Mr. Carter says he supports the volunteer army, but he lets military pay and benefits slip so low that many of our enlisted personnel are actually eligible for food stamps.” Reagan elaborated on the poor condition and morale of the U.S. military and then swung yet again at Carter. “There may be a sailor at the helm of the ship of state, but the ship has no rudder.”54 The crowd laughed and Reagan smiled.

  The candidate was not finished with Carter, serving up his most powerful bill of particulars against the administration. “Who does not feel a growing sense of unease as our allies … reluctantly conclude that America is unwilling or unable to fulfill its obligations as leader of the free world? Who does not feel rising alarm when the question … is no longer ‘Should we do something?’ but 'do we have the capacity to do anything?' The administration which has brought us to this state is seeking your endorsement for four more years of weakness, indecision, mediocrity, and incompetence. No American should vote until he or she has asked, ‘Is the United States stronger and more respected now than it was three-and-a-half years ago? Is the world today a safer place in which to live?'”55

  The delegates responded in unison, “NO!”

  Waiting for the applause to die down, Reagan spotted a group of supporters from the Young Americans for Freedom in the crowd, furiously waving signs, and the Gipper gave them a warm wink.56 He was the national chairman of their advisory board. These kids adored Reagan, and he always seemed to find time to attend their conferences and answer their requests.

  “It is,” he went on, “the responsibility of the president of the United States, in working for peace, to ensure that the safety of our people cannot successfully be threatened by a hostile foreign power. As president, fulfilling that responsibility will be my number one priority.”57 Nothing less than the outcome of the Cold War was at stake in this election, many believed, and Reagan picked up the mantle of the anti-Communist John F. Kennedy, who said in 1961, “For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”58 In 1980 Reagan said:

  Four times in my lifetime America has gone to war, bleeding the lives of its young men into the sands of island beachheads, the fields of Europe and the jungles and rice paddies of Asia. We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, it is when they are weak that tyrants are tempted.…

  But let our friends and those who may wish us ill take note: the United States has an obligation to its citizens and to the people of the world never to let those who would destroy freedom dictate the future course of life on this planet. I would regard my election as proof that we have renewed our resolve to preserve world peace and freedom. That this nation will once again be strong enough to do that.59

  Nearing the close of his remarks, Reagan became misty, reflective. “This evening marks the last step, save one, of a campaign that has taken Nancy and me from one end of this great nation to the other, over many months and thousands and thousands of miles.” He then gave testament to the person-to-person campaigning on which he thrived. “There ar
e those who question the way we choose a president, who say that our process imposes difficult and exhausting burdens on those who seek the office.” Softly, with his blue eyes flashing, he said, “I have not found it so.”60

  Then Reagan spoke of America and the American people with a poignancy that few politicians could match:

  It is impossible to capture in words the splendor of this vast continent which God has granted as our portion of His creation. There are no words to express the extraordinary strength and character of this breed of people we call Americans.

  Everywhere we've met thousands of Democrats, Independents and Republicans from all economic conditions, walks of life bound together in that community of shared values of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. They are concerned, yes, they're not frightened. They're disturbed, but not dismayed. They are the kind of men and women Tom Paine had in mind when he wrote, during the darkest days of the American Revolution, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

  Nearly 150 years after Tom Paine wrote those words, an American president told the generation of the Great Depression that it had a “rendezvous with destiny.” I believe this generation of Americans today also has a rendezvous with destiny.61