June 8, 1978
A. David Chan asked about Carol Hallett and by good fortune I had her photo in the “someday soon” stack. Her biography says she was field office representative for Assemblyman, later Congressman, William M. Ketchum. Speak up if you know for sure, my guess is that she was the first woman elected from the area to state assembly.
She later served in President Reagan’s administration as Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. She also headed the Customs Dept. in the George Herbert Walker Bush administration.
When these pictures were made Proposition 13 had just passed attendees at a fund raising luncheon were in a fine mood. About 1,200 people paid $15 each to eat and hear speeches by Carol Hallett and Ronald Reagan.
Quoting Jeanne Huber’s story:

An Atascadero Republican, Mrs. Hallett is seeking election to a second term in the 16th Assembly District.
Thursday’s event turned out to be as much a celebration of the voters decision to limit property taxes through Proposition 13 as it was a campaign rally for Mrs. Hallett, who is considered a shoo-in for re-election by political observers.
***
Reagan got a standing ovation with his response to a question of whether he planned to run for president in 1980: “I haven’t closed the door yet, so stay loose.”

Photos were by Thom Halls

ShareThis

Ronald Reagan at a fundrasier for assemblywoman Carol Hallett June 9, 1978. She later served in Washington in his administration. Above photo by Thom Halls/The Tribune

His first step onto the national political stage was stumping for Barry Goldwater’s presidential run in 1964. Then two years later Ronald Reagan did what Richard Nixon could not. He unseated Edmund G. “Pat” Brown as governor of California.
It takes a better political carpenter than me to identify what planks are different in the Nixon-Reagan gubernatorial platforms.
Their biggest differences were not their ideology but their charisma.
Nixon always seemed to be working the angles, scrabbling for an advantage. Reagan never appeared he was working that hard.
Quoting Nixonland author Rick Perlstein, concluding a chapter on Ronald Reagan:
“He answered a need: he humiliated the liberals. He would tell young people harassing him with signs reading MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR, that the problem was they looked incapable of doing either. To him a hippie was someone “who dresses like Tarzan, has hair like Jane and smells like Cheetah.”
In the four eventful years since Nixon challenged Brown in 1962, a lot had changed.
President John F. Kennedy had been murdered in 1963; in the aftermath a large number of Democrats won congressional seats. Kennedy’s successor Lyndon Johnson arm-twisted Congress to pass civil rights legislation and anti-poverty programs in the memory of JFK. This, in addition to rioting in Watts and other black communities across the nation, galvanized suburban voters into a powerful backlash.
Brown had been on vacation in Europe when the riots broke out and the state’s response to the crisis was disjointed. The burning city was televised live via helicopter, a first.
If that weren’t enough to scare suburban voters, hippies were hitching rides along freeways, protesting the Vietnam War and generally making fun of values middle class voters held dear.
College professor Dr. Timothy Leary exhorted people to take LSD and “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”
Leary’s followers did not make it to the polls, Reagan’s did.
Almost 80 percent of the state’s registered voters showed up to turn out Brown.
A measure of the Reagan charisma was California’s single biggest tax increase was passed during his term, yet anti-tax conservatives still canonize his political memory.
Pat Brown’s son, Edmund G. Brown Jr. known as Jerry, would follow Reagan after two terms.

ShareThis

Ronald Reagan was running for governor in 1966 against two term incumbent Pat Brown. Here he stops at the San Luis Obispo Airport to shake hands.

Fall of 1966

During this presidential election we’ll open up the political archives of the Vault once a week to look back on the politicians who came through the region in their quest for the White House.

Of all the presidents, without a doubt Ronald Reagan spent the most time on the Central Coast.

As his Hollywood acting career slowed he became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 and later a spokesman for General Electric.

He was elected 33rd governor of California in 1966 and 1970. He lost presidential nomination runs in 1968 and 1976. In 1980 he won against Jimmy Carter to become the 40th president of the United States.

He spent a lot of time campaigning in the area, attending official functions at Cal Poly and living at his ranch in the hills between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez.

Most long-lived politicians have a thick folder in The Tribune library. A few even have two. Reagan has a big folder of clippings plus two more brimming with photographs.

I am sure readers will express varying comments in support and critical of his political career.

Reagan abandoned energy conservation initiatives started under the Carter administration. No president since has pursued them. Look where we are today.
But hey, don’t get me started on Carter.

Reagan also brought a sunny optimism that helped him sell his ideas to voters; another candidate in this year’s election is hoping the same traits apply to him.

Some politicians approach the stage like they are facing rabid bears. In their prime Reagan and later president Bill Clinton were natural crowd pleasers. It is hard to find an awkward, bad photo of either of them.

Since we have so many photos there will be a few Reagan themed posts between now and November.

If you were hoping for a series of Walter Mondale photo essays you’ll have to try a blog in Minnesota.

The photos at the bottom are undated but appear to be from the same era, my guess the venue is a Republican gathering at the Motel Inn. If someone has a better idea of the dates I could track the clippings down on the microfilm.

ShareThis