Ronald Reagan Fifty Years Ago: A Time for Choosing, October 27th, 1964
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“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right.
Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right.
There's only an up or down…”
~Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964
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The only speechwriter on the assignment majored in economics and was nicknamed “Dutch.” Citizen
Ronald Reagan took out his yellow legal pad and worked on “The Speech” for many years, on lonely train
rides, in small town hotel rooms, in dingy back halls of ballrooms, never knowing that it would ultimately be
aired on national television to help Senator Barry Goldwater.
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Never realizing that the ideas in his speech enhanced by his powerful delivery would change his life.
Learn more about “The Speech” here:
Watch “The Speech” in its entirety here:
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It didn’t change Barry Goldwater’s life, but it did raise over $8 million dollars in one week for a
campaign that finished in the black after spending most of the time in the red. Citizen Ronald Reagan took to
the podium to deliver a blockbuster message, bolstered with conservative principles and a call to action. “You
and I have a rendezvous with destiny,” he reminded us, “We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope
of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.” “He built it from the bricks of his reading and experience, decorating it with stories clipped out of local
newspapers or popular national magazines such as Reader’s Digest. Most of his speeches were chock full of numbers
for Reagan rarely met a statistic he didn’t like, but they were also sprinkled with anecdotes that relieved the strain of so
much statistical material. The anecdotes were carefully tested; Reagan listened to his audiences and relentless
discarded lines that didn’t draw a laugh.”
~Lou Cannon, Role of a Lifetime
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Fifty years later, we realize what happened on one October evening in 1964 when America fell in love
with Ronald Reagan and christened his life in the political arena.
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Although Goldwater was not elected, the real result was the galvanizing of the conservative movement,
led by a union guy in California who loved chocolate cake and couldn’t wait to get home to his wife at night.
His name was Ronald Reagan and like Churchill, he worked on every word of “The Speech,” - laboriously and
analytically - throughout the late 50’s and into the 60’s, modifying it slightly to express his support on behalf of
Goldwater.
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If modern conservatism’s rise can be marked by one statement, it is then-actor and journalist Ronald
Reagan’s speech urging the election of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater as President.
~Dr. Lee Edwards, The Heritage Foundation
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There are several speeches which reflect the evolution of “A Time for Choosing.” One in particular
delivered at the Waldorf Hotel in May 1959, caught the attention NY Postmaster Robert. K Christenberry who
sent a copy to Vice President Richard Nixon. The Vice President was so impressed with “Business, Ballots, and
Bureaus,” he thanked Reagan for articulating important ideas. On June 27, 1959, the author Reagan responded
to the Vice President, explaining, ““I am convinced there is a groundswell of economic conservatism building
up which could reverse the entire tide of present day ‘statism.’ As a matter of fact, we seem to be in one of those
rare moments when the American people with that wisdom which is the strength of democracy are ready to say
‘enough.’”
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To read “Business, Ballots and Bureaus,” click here:
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By late summer 1964, the Goldwater campaign was floundering, out of money and reeling from the
damage inflicted by LBJ’s “Daisy” commercial inspired by an over-aggressive candidate-Goldwater who said,
“Extremism in the defense of freedom is no vice.” Everything he did seemed to be working against him
including his own slogan, “In Your Heart You Know He’s Right” which had been translated into, “In your guts
you know he’s nuts.”
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Out of money and out of ideas, a fundraising dinner was held at the famous Coconut Grove in the
Ambassador Hotel, with a steep per-plate price of $1,000. At the time, that was big money so Holmes Tuttle, the
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Finance Chair for the Goldwater campaign, knew he had to make it a night to remember. He knew Ronald
Reagan would be the ideal keynote.
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“After he got through, I was besieged – my goodness – by people that said, ‘He spoke of the issues, of the things that
we are concerned about: government involvement, all these social programs, and all this womb to tomb spending and
so forth. We feel our federal government
is taking a position that the Constitution never intended for it to do.’”
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~Holmes Tuttle, Finance Chairman, Goldwater for President Campaign
Immediately, “The Speech” was forwarded to the Goldwater team who loved it, hated it, feared it was
too controversial, and decided to ask Reagan to deliver it on national television. One problem…how to find the
money to buy the time?
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Turns out that Henry Salvatori’s wife, Grace, was particularly diplomatic and quite adept at working the
phones to find financing for everything from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to Barry Goldwater. When called
upon to help in the effort, she dutifully produced and received a thank you from the candidate himself. Her
daughter, Laurie Salvatori, recalls her mother’s delight at receiving a personal phone call from the Senator’s
airplane. That was the good news. The bad news was that he wanted to use the time to speak on his own behalf.
“She knew he wasn’t capable of it,” Laurie Salvatori recalled. “I don’t know how Mother did things. She
was so diplomatic, so careful about everything she said. So she politely told him ‘thank you, but I raised the
money for Ronald Reagan to speak.’”
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The rest is history. Were it not for Grace Salvatori’s courage to stand up for Ronald Reagan, many things
could be different today. Because once Ronald Reagan delivered “The Speech” on NBC, October 27th, 1964,
fifty years ago, everyone paid attention.
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“The one bright spot in a dismal campaign”
~Time Magazine
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“The most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic
convention with his ‘Cross of Gold’ speech.”
~David Broder, Washington Post
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“Goldwater won the election of 1964…it just took 16 years to count the votes.”
~George Will
Within weeks after the election in 1964, the polls reflected how Californians regarded Reagan as a
viable candidate for Governor. His supporters which came to be known as the “Kitchen Cabinet” mobilized and
by January 1965, the wheels were in motion to relocate actor-writer-speaker Ronald Reagan to Sacramento.
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And that’s how “A Time for Choosing” brought the kid who loved macaroni and cheese to the White
House. It’s remarkable what one can do with a yellow legal pad, a long train ride, and a love of America. Just
ask Ronald Reagan.
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