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Governorship of Ronald Reagan
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Governorship of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 33rd governor of California for two terms, the first beginning in 1967 and the second in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term. Robert Finch, Edwin Reinecke and John L. Harmer served as lieutenant governors over the course of his governorship.
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's conservative political views and charisma after his "A Time for Choosing" speech for the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964. David S. Broder called it “the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with the ‘Cross of Gold’ speech." Reagan assembled advisors and financiers, and in late 1965 he announced his campaign for governor in the 1966 election. Incumbent Governor Pat Brown intervened indirectly in the Republican primary to undermine former San Francisco mayor George Christopher, thinking that Reagan, as a politically inexperienced movie actor, would be easier to beat. Christopher lost. Against Brown, Reagan emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California, Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." He was elected to his first term on November 8, 1966, with 58% of the vote, defeating incumbent governor Pat Brown, by 993,739 votes.
Reagan was sworn in on January 2, 1967 at ten minutes past midnight—starting early to prevent Brown from naming judges at the last minute.
Reagan's efficiency as governor depended on his three support groups. His high visibility Hollywood supporters included Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Dinah Shore, George Burns, James Cagney, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, as well as producers Walt Disney and Taft B. Schreiber of MCA. His campaign was managed by the well-known firm of Spencer and Roberts. Funding came from California businessman and financiers including Union Oil chief executive A.C. “Cy” Rubel; auto dealer Holmes Tuttle; Henry Salvatori; Alfred S. Bloomingdale; Leonard Firestone; and Justin Dart. The governor's key staffers included chief of staff Philip Battaglia, Lyn Nofziger, Thomas C. Reed, William P. Clark Jr., Edwin Meese, Michael Deaver, and personal lawyer William French Smith. Nancy Reagan, the foundation of his emotional support, was the most important member of the team.
When his advisers discovered that chief of staff Battaglia was an active homosexual partnering with junior staff, nine went to Reagan as a group and demanded Battaglia be fired. Reagan was relatively at ease with the gay community in Hollywood, but the California electorate was less tolerant. Reagan chose Clark to replace Battaglia, and the story lost momentum.
Reagan campaigned as a tax cutter, promising to squeeze, cut, and trim. Once in office he froze government hiring but increased spending by 9%. He worked with Democrat Jess Unruh, the Assembly Speaker, to secure a series of tax increases that raised rates and balanced the budget, while also cutting property taxes. The sales tax was raised from 3% to 5%. The highest income tax bracket saw a rise from 7% tax to 10%. Taxes on banks, corporate profits, and inheritance were increased slightly. Liquor taxes jumped from $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon; and cigarette taxes from three cents to ten cents per pack. Lou Cannon wrote in 2003: "Reagan's proposal had the distinction of being the largest tax hike ever proposed by any governor in the history of the United States."
By 1968, the number of patients in California mental hospitals declined from about 33,000 to 20,000 in five years, with most of the remaining patients requiring intensive care in contrast to patients who could be treated off-site with tranquilizers. Reagan proposed cutting 3,700 jobs from the Department of Mental Hygiene, the state agency in charge of mental hospitals. Early in 1967, the Legislative Analyst's Office had recommended closing three mental hospitals and eliminating nearly 3,000 jobs due to the decline in patient population at those hospitals. Most of those employees targeted for cuts would be psychiatric technicians and support staff comprising nearly 16 percent of hospital workers. Eventually, the Legislature passed a budget with only 2,600 job cuts from Mental Hygiene, and Reagan signed that budget without further comment.
In 1967, Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a deinstitutionalization bill that ended the practice of sending patients to mental institutions indefinitely or without their consent. Two years into his administration, Reagan advocated a then-record $28 million funding increase for the Department of Mental Hygiene, and subsequent budgets increased funding for community-based mental health care while closing the Modesto State Hospital and some other mental hospitals. There were only around 7,000 mental hospital patients by 1973, midway through Reagan's second term.
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Governorship of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 33rd governor of California for two terms, the first beginning in 1967 and the second in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term. Robert Finch, Edwin Reinecke and John L. Harmer served as lieutenant governors over the course of his governorship.
California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's conservative political views and charisma after his "A Time for Choosing" speech for the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964. David S. Broder called it “the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with the ‘Cross of Gold’ speech." Reagan assembled advisors and financiers, and in late 1965 he announced his campaign for governor in the 1966 election. Incumbent Governor Pat Brown intervened indirectly in the Republican primary to undermine former San Francisco mayor George Christopher, thinking that Reagan, as a politically inexperienced movie actor, would be easier to beat. Christopher lost. Against Brown, Reagan emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California, Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." He was elected to his first term on November 8, 1966, with 58% of the vote, defeating incumbent governor Pat Brown, by 993,739 votes.
Reagan was sworn in on January 2, 1967 at ten minutes past midnight—starting early to prevent Brown from naming judges at the last minute.
Reagan's efficiency as governor depended on his three support groups. His high visibility Hollywood supporters included Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Dinah Shore, George Burns, James Cagney, John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, as well as producers Walt Disney and Taft B. Schreiber of MCA. His campaign was managed by the well-known firm of Spencer and Roberts. Funding came from California businessman and financiers including Union Oil chief executive A.C. “Cy” Rubel; auto dealer Holmes Tuttle; Henry Salvatori; Alfred S. Bloomingdale; Leonard Firestone; and Justin Dart. The governor's key staffers included chief of staff Philip Battaglia, Lyn Nofziger, Thomas C. Reed, William P. Clark Jr., Edwin Meese, Michael Deaver, and personal lawyer William French Smith. Nancy Reagan, the foundation of his emotional support, was the most important member of the team.
When his advisers discovered that chief of staff Battaglia was an active homosexual partnering with junior staff, nine went to Reagan as a group and demanded Battaglia be fired. Reagan was relatively at ease with the gay community in Hollywood, but the California electorate was less tolerant. Reagan chose Clark to replace Battaglia, and the story lost momentum.
Reagan campaigned as a tax cutter, promising to squeeze, cut, and trim. Once in office he froze government hiring but increased spending by 9%. He worked with Democrat Jess Unruh, the Assembly Speaker, to secure a series of tax increases that raised rates and balanced the budget, while also cutting property taxes. The sales tax was raised from 3% to 5%. The highest income tax bracket saw a rise from 7% tax to 10%. Taxes on banks, corporate profits, and inheritance were increased slightly. Liquor taxes jumped from $1.50 to $2.00 per gallon; and cigarette taxes from three cents to ten cents per pack. Lou Cannon wrote in 2003: "Reagan's proposal had the distinction of being the largest tax hike ever proposed by any governor in the history of the United States."
By 1968, the number of patients in California mental hospitals declined from about 33,000 to 20,000 in five years, with most of the remaining patients requiring intensive care in contrast to patients who could be treated off-site with tranquilizers. Reagan proposed cutting 3,700 jobs from the Department of Mental Hygiene, the state agency in charge of mental hospitals. Early in 1967, the Legislative Analyst's Office had recommended closing three mental hospitals and eliminating nearly 3,000 jobs due to the decline in patient population at those hospitals. Most of those employees targeted for cuts would be psychiatric technicians and support staff comprising nearly 16 percent of hospital workers. Eventually, the Legislature passed a budget with only 2,600 job cuts from Mental Hygiene, and Reagan signed that budget without further comment.
In 1967, Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a deinstitutionalization bill that ended the practice of sending patients to mental institutions indefinitely or without their consent. Two years into his administration, Reagan advocated a then-record $28 million funding increase for the Department of Mental Hygiene, and subsequent budgets increased funding for community-based mental health care while closing the Modesto State Hospital and some other mental hospitals. There were only around 7,000 mental hospital patients by 1973, midway through Reagan's second term.
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