All language subtitles for S01E01 - Part 1 - The Hollywood Myth Machine

[film crew chatting
over one another]

dramatic music

[ indistinct speaking]

Economic future, priority B.

[man] Get the last line in,

be that much more convincing.

dramatic music

This is roll one, sound two.

[Director] Stand by and action.

In 1980, we said we would
reduce inflation and we have.

We said we would create
new jobs, lower taxes,

and rebuild our
defenses and we have.

But in the next four
years, we must do more.

We must help those who haven't
fully shared in the recovery.

We must build a lasting
peace for our young,

security for our aging,

and create millions of new jobs.

We pledged cities of promise,
a countryside of abundance.

I don't think America ever
stops wanting to be better

because Americans are only
satisfied with doing our best.

[man] 20 seconds.

[man] How much?

[indistinct]

- [man] 57, perfect.
- [woman] That was good.

- [man] Perfect.
- [woman] That was good.

- [man] Okay.
- [woman] Okay.

tense music

Ronald Reagan said himself,
if you are not a good actor,

you cannot be a good president.

And it came to pass,

it absolutely came to pass.

[crowd cheering]

If someone's running
for president,

and they are not willing
to do what an actor does,

look good, read your lines well,

you cannot lead.

There were some strange
aspects to my father,

particularly by
Washington standards.

He was just a very
different kind of person.

He was intelligent,

but at the same
time, it's like, huh.

You know, knowing
him as well as I do,

this is kind of a strange fellow

to be president of
the United States.

You couldn't change
Ronald Reagan.

We just made sure that
he never got off script.

It was our job to protect
him, protect him from himself.

[crowd] We want
Reagan, we want Reagan.

[crowd cheering]

He was a caricature out
of American culture.

Here's the story as I see it.

A caricature reinforced
by our belief

that what happens
in the mass media,

particularly in the movies,

is more real than real life.

And that was the appeal of
an actor turned president.

I hope you're a good driver,

you know what
you're doing I hope.

Yes, I've been driving
this for quite a while.

You probably got
used to one new.

I don't want to
hurt your feelings,

but this is the
scroungiest jeep.

Ronald Reagan was an
incredible myth maker.

He reinforced a myth of
America that served many,

but actually hurt
many, many people.

dramatic music

[Reporter] Mr. President,

the Soviets say that your
position has made it impossible

to meet in Vienna in September.

Well, we would come to
realize that Nancy Reagan

was the most powerful
person behind the president.

She was like the studio head.

She was like the consigliere,

because people around
her were afraid of her.

And she was kind of the
presence over everything.

It was 9% or 8% in the 1970s.

By 1979, it brought
it down to 5%...

[crowd laughing]

...and we are holding it to 7%.

[laughing]

Blow the candle out.

[woman] Make a wish.

Make a wish.

[crowd clapping]

And you have to take
the first piece.

[Sam] Did you bake it yourself?

As a matter of fact, Sam,

since she cut that
one smaller here,

here, take mine, and I'll trade.

No, no, no, no, that's bad luck.

[all laughing]

I have learned not to argue
with her superstitions.

So much about the
Reagan presidency,

so much about the
man was mysterious.

People studied Reagan,

biographers, historians,

and nobody ever really
figured him out.

There was this 10%
under the surface

that really very few
people had access to.

In many respects

Ronald Reagan lived
in a world he created.

It's the triumph
of the human mind.

It's the triumph of
the human imagination.

His imagination
was gigantic, okay?

And that was true
throughout his whole life.

The way he portrayed
his own childhood.

The way he had the
marriage with Nancy

was kind of imagination,

what the ideal couple
would look like.

It was imagination,
rather than reality.

He saw himself as a hero,

and he was playing
an American hero.

It was a role first
in the movies,

and then as a politician.

Reagan was more than an expert
on this American mythology.

That was based on an America
that really didn't exist.

[Interviewer] Do you
actually think of yourself

as a politician?

What?

[Interviewer] Do you think
of yourself as a politician?

No, ex-actor.

big band upbeat music

How do you do, everybody?

I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is Ronald Reagan.

A few months ago I
was a sports announcer

on a radio station
in Des Moines, Iowa.

One day I ran into one of
these movie talent scouts,

I think I caught him off guard

because the next thing I knew

I was taking a screen test
for Warner Bros. in Hollywood.

First picture,

well what do you
think it was about?

A radio station.

In these United States,

a man is always innocent until
he is legally proven guilty.

[Interviewer] What
was it, Mr. Warner,

that caught your eye

when you looked at that
first test of Reagan?

Well, he had his personality
projected in what,

as I term it, off the
screen into the audience,

it comes through.

He had a good smile,
happy delivery,

rather a little
good sense of humor.

upbeat music

In those days your Hollywood
life was a confection.

It was something that
gossip columnists created.

That was an era when
there were basically

two reigning queens
of the gossip columns.

Hedda Hopper and
Louella Parsons.

And they really wrote
the story of Hollywood

for the American heartland.

Reagan was often referred
to as a lucky man.

Louella Parsons was
from his small town.

So for Reagan to be
mentioned favorably

or to be written up in a
nationally syndicated column,

it made all the
difference in the world.

Suddenly, this hugely
powerful gossip columnist

latches on to this
good-looking, young guy,

essentially becomes his sponsor.

But it starts, as to my mean,

if you took people
and built them,

exploited them,
and developed them,

as I did with Greta
Garbo, Joan Crawford,

Norma Shearer, and all
of those young women.

[Interviewer] You mean
by signing them up,

putting them under contract

and publicizing them?

Well, I think people
shop for stars.

Well, here's to you, Louella.

And to you.

Now I see a great many more
celebrities coming down here.

I'm gonna try and get some
of them up to the microphone

to say hello to you.

I'm sure that you're
going to wanna meet...

[Jonathan] In many ways
he was playing himself

in almost all of his movies.

He was always the
dependable one,

often the best friend

and just had this winning way.

Louella Parsons not only
becomes the stage mother

of Ronald Reagan's career,

but she also becomes
the godmother

of his first marriage
to actress Jane Wyman.

She wanted to bring
Ronnie up to Jane's level

'cause he wasn't as big a star.

So when they're seen out
together, gives him publicity,

which is good for his career.

He was willing to be influenced

and do whatever
she told him to do.

Pretty soon you believe
the Hollywood myth.

He was very assiduous about
editing and shaping his story

until the story
became the reality.

upbeat music

In the '20s, early '30s,

he really wanted to
be a football player

because that's how you
became a national hero

if you were a young man.

Problem was he was
blind as a bat,

he was not terribly fast

and was not really
all that large.

So my father never became a
real hero on the grid iron,

but he did get to be a
football leaguer eventually in

"Knute Rockne All American"
where he plays George Gipp,

uh, the famous Notre Dame star.

bright music

[crowd cheering]

upbeat music

So when Reagan in that
film could connect himself

to being the hero, George Gipp,

it helped put him in
the American grain.

And he became Ronald
Reagan, All-American.

We're all the heroes
of our own stories.

He was just a little better at
it than most people, I think.

He has appropriated other
American folk tales,

making it difficult at
times to distinguish

between the teller and the tale,

between this one American
and America itself.

That explains Reagan's intimacy
with the American psyche.

He comes at it from within.

[birds singing]

It was always interesting to me

in talking with Ronald Reagan

how he sort of referred
and reflected his roots.

Ronald Reagan was
born in this house

on February 6th, 1911.

In his book,
" Where's the Rest of Me? "

he says, "That's where
the whole story began.

My face was blue from screaming.

My bottom was red from whacking.

And my father claimed afterwards

that he was white and shaken.

Ever since my birth,

I have been particularly
fond of the colors

that were exhibited,
red, white, and blue."

thoughtful music

Both of his parents
were Roosevelt Democrats

in a fairly Republican
area of Illinois.

The WPA was a big lifeline
for them, actually,

during The Depression.

I think my father's
early liberalism

probably sprang from that.

FDR had put his father
and his brother to work

when they were out of
work in The New Deal,

you were grateful for that.

We were poor.

We had problems when my brother
and I were boys growing up

that seemed insurmountable
to young boys at the time.

[Walters] You mean your father?

Yes.

A lot has been made
of Jack's drinking

and that he was an alcoholic.

My father kind of pushed
that story a bit himself.

Jack's drinking didn't
sit well with Nelly.

She would give him
hell about this.

I've heard him talk about

Christmases where the
little money that they had

would go to alcohol.

He tells some very
poignant stories about

going out to find his
father in the snow

in the early morning

and pulling him back into
the house unconscious.

- [wind whooshing]
- soft music

In my father's
version of the story,

he, as an 11-year-old
boy, grabs his father,

pulls him into the house

and somehow gets
him onto his feet

and half carries him up this
narrow winding staircase.

I went to see the house,

and I thought about
my 11-year-old father

and his 180-pound dad.

And I thought, he didn't
drag him into the house,

and he sure as hell didn't
get them onto his feet

and, you know, hoist
him up these stairs.

This is a story,

a story in which
Jack barely appears.

Jack is not a subject, he
is an object in the story.

This is a story about my father

and what he would like you to
think is his coming of age.

For Reagan, who
held himself tight,

that is did not disclose

a lot about what
was going on inside,

you'll find this among people
who don't want to open up

or make themselves too
vulnerable to other people,

they use storytelling
to deflect interest

or inquiry into his
personality and psyche.

[Ron] He trained himself
to ignore the negative

and accentuate the positive.

soft music

[Ron] As the years went by,

Nelly became more
and more religious.

And my father became
part of her church,

the Disciples of Christ.

She was a preacher and healer

and she invested so
much of her own life

and belief systems into her son.

That instilled a belief

in what you could
call magical thinking,

that if you will
it, it will happen.

That you can write
your own story.

And that's what Reagan did.

His whole life created
his own reality.

Johnny, what happened to you?

Nothing, I just changed clothes.

You've enlisted.

You knew it was gonna
happen sooner or later.

You look wonderful
in that uniform.

Not any better than
the rest of the fellas,

we all have the same tailor.

upbeat music

Reagan had joined the
Army Reserve in '37.

Then when war came, he
failed his eye test.

[Optician] Tell me when
you see just one, one now.

[Lou] He always was
terribly near sighted.

No, still two.

And he spent the
war in Culver City

making training films, never
left the United States.

He worked under
Pearl Jack Warner

making propaganda films,

Charlie, I'm coming home.

[Jonathan] Using his fame to
sell war bonds with his wife.

[Director] And action.

[coins rattling]

Ronald Reagan, aren't
you ashamed of yourself,

robbing from your
own daughter's bank?

What's the big idea, you bandit?

Now, don't fly off
the handle, Jenny,

I'm gonna invest it for her.

United States defense bonds.

And the freedom of this country

is the best thing we can
buy for our children today.

The propaganda films
were important,

but it wasn't fighting.

intense music

During World War II,

Jimmy Stewart was a
legitimate war hero.

He left Hollywood,
he went overseas.

He flew a bunch of
combat missions,

was almost killed.

And if you're Ronald Reagan
and you never leave home,

this is hard to take.

To compensate he starts
to merge his own life

with his cinematic life.

You know, I've often wondered

if it's the same
with other people

as it is with me, that the war,

the four years that I
was gone during the war,

seems to have done something
in my own sense of time.

It's as if those four
years were taken out

and then spliced together.

I came back from the service

after the four years
in World War II

and discovered that something
was going on in Hollywood.

[crowd jeering]

Some of the people from
our own FBI made contact

because of what they
saw I was doing,

and I'd become President
of the Screen Actors Guild.

And they came wanting
some findings from me

on people that I had
dealt with and so forth.

And it did give me
a real understanding

of the communist menace.

upbeat music

In the early stages
of the Cold War

the FBI set out under Hoover

to enroll as many
actors as it could

who cooperated with them
during the Red Scare.

And Reagan did
cooperate with the FBI.

He didn't have what I would call

a coherent political philosophy
during any of that time.

He wanted to come out on top

and he would make concessions
so he could come out on top.

[Jonathan] He had been
adopted by J. Edgar Hoover

and he became a private
informant for the FBI

at the expense of
his colleagues.

Hollywood was a scary
place to be in those times,

because if you were somebody
who was actually a communist

or who was associated
with a communist,

you couldn't work in Hollywood.

The Screen Actors Guild
became part of the instrument

that enforced the blacklist

and routed the
communist faction.

[Reporter] George
Murphy, Ronald Reagan

and Robert Montgomery

are among the top flight
movie actors testifying before

the House Un-American Activities
Committee in Washington.

[gavel banging]

[Chair] You have no
knowledge yourself

as to whether or not any of them

are members of the
Communist Party?

Would you refer to them
as a disrupting influence

within the Guild?

I happen to be very proud of
the industry in which I work.

I have to be very
proud of the way

in which we've
conducted the fight.

I do not believe that the
communist has ever at any time

been able to use the
motion picture screen

as a sounding board for
his philosophy or ideology.

That was politically
skillful on Reagan's part

because he gets his
anti-communism credentials,

stay on J. Edgar
Hoover's right side,

and also not get tagged

with ruining the careers
of his colleagues.

He was willing to do whatever
it took to get ahead.

This was Reagan
at his most slick.

[Narrator] His embroilment
in political affairs

by then were so strong

that his wife Jane Wyman, the
actress, sued for divorce.

His concentration on politics

made home life
impossible, she said.

She was tired of his politics.

She found it an embarrassment.

It alienated her from
the people she liked.

[Ron] And when her career
started to take off...

[Presenter] And the winner,
Jane Wyman in "Johnny Belinda."

[audience cheering and clapping]

And his was on the down slope.

I think she saw it as
a drag on her career.

That was the first
time I believe

that he'd been really rejected
conclusively by somebody.

And it must've stung terribly.

That made him very wary

about opening his
heart to other people.

This was a low point,

probably the lowest point
in Ronald Reagan's life.

Religiously,
socially, personally,

he really felt a failure.

enchanting music

[Nancy] Hello, so nice
of you guys to be here.

Where should we go?

Right over there.

Now I just wanna
make a voice check.

[clears voice] Let's see.

Did you ever think that you'd
be so much in the public eye

when you were younger?

No, never. [laughs]

[Interviewer] What did
you want to be or do?

I just wanted to be married.

[Interviewer] How did
you meet your husband?

We met through Mervyn LeRoy.

She was working on
a picture with him,

he was directing.

I was getting mail addressed
to another Nancy Davis,

was obviously not
intended for me,

and it began to be bothersome.

So I mentioned it to Mervyn,

and he said, "Well,
I know Ronald Reagan

and he's president of
the Screen Actors Guild

and I'm sure that he might
be able to help you."

I don't know whether
she told you this,

but there are four,

we found out there
were four Nancy Davises

connected with this business.

And one of them must have some
rather exotic political ideas

because she began getting

notices and invitations
to meetings.

And " The Daily Worker "
began arriving at her door.

The story involves this
Nancy Davis and the Red Scare

and all of that kind of stuff.

I think she just wanted
to meet Ronald Reagan.

She knew he was single

and thought he was a
pretty handsome guy,

and maybe they could,
you know, hit it off.

Well, Ronnie didn't know me,

but I knew him
from the pictures.

And I thought that
was just a dandy idea.

[laughing]

So Mervyn had him call me,

and we went out to dinner.

We went to see Sophie Tucker,

and after the
first show he said,

"Well, being as you've never
seen Sophie Tucker before,

how would you like to stay
and see the second show?"

[laughter] And I said, "Fine."

And at 3:00 we
were still watching

Sophie Tucker at Ciro's.

And then we had dinner
the next night. [laughter]

[Interviewer] So it was
love at first sight?

Yes.

I don't think that my mother
was all that interested

in being a professional actress.

She would've taken it,
it would've been fine.

I think she was actually
a pretty good actress.

Jan, I thought you'd
never get here.

Where's Graham?

He's meeting me here.

Looks like a wonderful party.

It would be even better
if it had a host.

[Ron] It didn't take too long

after she arrived in Hollywood

to find divorced
actor Ronald Reagan.

[Reporter] Just in case
you men haven't noticed

the sports shirt
Reagan is wearing,

take a good look at it.

It's a one-piece affair

called the Ronald
Reagan sports shirt.

[Ron] He was knocking around

in need of a woman to take
care of him. [laughing]

[Reporter] I can't
help but wonder

what you young ladies
are thinking about.

I have a hunch that you're
saying, "Lucky colt."

He was now a divorcee.

He was caddying around,
the studio didn't like it.

He finds Nancy, and she's
gonna keep him out of trouble.

And the studio applauds
it, this is the one, right?

And so it's a
business relationship.

upbeat music

When Nancy Davis got
Ronald Reagan to marry her,

and he was really reluctant,

but because they were
pregnant it had to be.

Patti was born seven months
after they got married.

She came out a healthy baby
at seven and a half pounds.

And so it was very,
very hard to pretend,

although Nancy did
try and pretend

that it wasn't a
shotgun marriage.

Part of Nancy's
restructuring of reality

is to say that her daughter
Patti was premature.

She was going to control
as much as she could

of who she was and how she
was presented to the world.

[Interviewer] Aside
from your husband,

who is the man that
you admire most?

[Nancy] My father.

[Interviewer] Do any
women come to mind?

My mother. [laughs]

I'm a family type girl. [laughs]

For the first eight
years of Nancy's life

her mother really
wasn't around that much,

but that didn't fit into
Nancy's fantasy of family.

tense music

Edith Luckett was an actress.

She married an automobile
salesman, had Nancy,

but when Nancy was two
years old, they separated.

Edith went back on stage and
left Nancy with her sister.

Underneath all of that

is the idea that I'm
somebody who can be left.

You know, my own mother
can just leave me.

And that's, you know,

I mean, that's a
deep-seated sort of thing.

[Kitty] There was a social
insecurity about Nancy Reagan

and she herself said
she always felt like

a little girl on the
outside looking in.

[Nancy] Oh, well I didn't
mean to neglect you.

No, I didn't mean
to neglect you.

Eventually, Edith wanted
to find herself a husband

and on a cruise over to Europe,

she ran into Loyal Davis.

She was actually about eight
years older than he was,

but, you know, she wasn't
gonna tell him that. [laughs]

So they became the same age.

Loyal Davis was a
prominent neurosurgeon,

and that gave her a sort of
entrée into a social class

that had been elusive for her.

Women's ambitions in that era

would play out in their
husband's success.

It was really Edith
who made a point of

getting to know
the right people,

setting the path for this
social trajectory in Chicago.

Loyal Davis was a doctor.

Do you know how many
social steps that is

up from the used
car automobile guy?

She was able to
give Nancy a life

that Nancy wouldn't
have had otherwise.

Nancy absolutely loved her
stepfather, Loyal Davis.

They were close, and he
was nut, a right wing nut.

Loyal Davis was
famously conservative,

famously racist and antisemitic,

but also very charming,
smart, and convincing.

The more liberal Reagan is
brought into this social milieu

where they were imbibing Loyal
Davis' conservative views.

He was able to convince
his son-in-law that

Truman's healthcare plan
was socialized medicine.

And that was only one of
many incremental conversions

from left to right
in Reagan's life.

pulsing music

Our story tonight

asks rather a
disturbing question.

How much do you and I
really know about ourselves?

Are we honest, for instance?

It's only because
circumstances have conspired

to keep us honest.

And if circumstances
were to change,

would we also change?

His film career
started to take a dive.

Now a guy with
responsibilities, a divorce,

two kids from that
marriage, soon another,

and then another kid
in his second marriage.

Yet the tax man was still
coming and collecting his due.

[crowd laughing]

And he just began to
feel beleaguered by that.

And I think in a stressful
time in my father's life,

I don't mean to insult him,

but he relied a little
more on low effort thinking

and became a little
more conservative,

much more conservative in fact.

As Ronald Reagan's movie
career is going down the tubes

and he's becoming more and more
involved in union activities

as the President of the
Screen Actors Guild,

he does one gigantic favor
for his agent Lew Wasserman.

He cuts a deal where his agency

could also produce
television programs.

And it's a blatant
conflict of interest.

No agent could wear the two hats

of employee, as an agent,

and employer as a
production company.

And the Screen Actors
Guild did grant a waiver

to this regulation to MCA.

And of course, that was
a quite unprincipled,

wrong thing to do.

[Narrator] It may
have been wrong,

but as Reagan saw it,

what was good for business
was good for everybody.

At least it was good for Reagan.

dramatic music

When in 1954, MCA
launched the flagship

of its television
production empire,

Reagan was named host

and given a contract worth
over $125,000 a year.

I'm Ronald Reagan speaking
for General Electric.

Lew Wasserman was the key there.

He engineered that
generous contract

and there were a lot of people
who were unhappy with it.

The General Electric contract

was financially a very,
very big deal for them.

Also, not to put too
fine a point on it,

GE gave them a GE house.

[Reporter] Well, the
Reagans have started

to build their new home,

and their home's going
to have full house power,

so they can live
better electrically.

A very cool mid-century
modern house with, of course,

every electrical gadget
you could possibly

cram into this place.

Behind this picture,

inside here is a projection
machine for home movies.

If we want entertainment...

All we do is flick a switch.

[Ron] There were
lights everywhere.

By turning the knobs
of this dimmer,

we can change the
colors, mix them,

and get different effects.

Eye-catching, isn't it?

Curtains were on this
electrical thing, until it broke

and we just went back
to the usual way.

This is a portable
television set.

Most of the time it's out here
on the patio or by the pool.

With a steady heat,
and the exact timing

of my new automatic skillet,

even a soufflé is
easy and safe to make.

My electric servants
do everything.

That's why every
housewife wants them,

the latest models with
the newest improvements.

Because she knows that
you really begin to live

when you live better...

Electrically.

He was no longer a
grade B movie star.

He became a kind of
living advertisement

for corporate America.

melancholy music

[Ronald] A part of my job now

is, twice a year, going
around the country

to the plant cities, uh,
meeting the employees,

participating in whatever
community functions

are going on in that community

that General Electric
wants to be a part of,

and tries to be a part of.

[Lou] He went to 39 states,
speaking at 138 plants.

He talked to maybe
200,000 people.

He embraces a notion
of the free market

and it's now working,

and we don't want a government
getting in the way of it.

We don't need
government regulation

and there's Ronnie Reagan
ready to take advantage of it.

What he developed was a pro
corporate view of America.

This was really the political
re-education of Reagan.

You have to remember Reagan was

the liberal head
of a labor union.

And a few years later,

he is arguing on GE's behalf

that they don't
need labor unions,

because of course GE didn't
want to be unionized.

He's working for
this big corporation

and of course, now
he's gonna benefit

if he's in an
anti-labor position.

So it was very
convenient for him

to take these positions.

And he was able to
convince himself of that.

thoughtful music

[Narrator] In 1962, after
eight years as GE spokesman

Reagan was fired.

The reasons are unclear,

but at the time,
his producer, MCA,

was facing possible indictment

by the Kennedy
Justice Department

for monopolistic practices.

There was this allegation

that his lucrative job
with GE was a kickback

because of the waiver
that he had granted MCA.

I think he really resented

that he was essentially a target

of the Kennedy
Justice Department.

And that was the last
straw that convinced him

to change his
party registration.

Mrs. Reagan, your husband
used to be a Democrat.

As a matter of fact, I
hear that he once wanted

General Eisenhower to run
on the Democratic ticket.

Yes.

[Interviewer] What,
in your opinion,

made him switch from being a
Democrat to being a Republican?

Well, he says that he
didn't leave his party,

his party left him,

that the Democratic
Party of today

is not the Democratic Party
that he joined as a young man.

dramatic music

[crowds jeering]

[gun banging]

There was all of this
demonstration and protest

in the '60s from the
anti-Vietnam War demonstrations,

as well as the civil
rights movement.

There were many different groups
coming forward and saying,

"We want
transformational change."

By saying, "The
Democratic Party left me,"

what Reagan's really saying was,

"You're supposed to be the party

of the hard-working
white people,

and if you are elevating
the rights of others,

you're working
against my interests".

And this was something
that presidential candidate

Barry Goldwater also
believed at that time.

And it was part of the
rising tide of conservatism.

And the Republican Party went
more and more to the right.

Reagan really understood
the big picture.

He knew middle America,

and the principles and
values that he embraced

were conservative
Republican principles.

The Goldwater boom

for the presidential
nomination is well underway.

It's been a long time
since the Republicans

have picked an avowed and
militant conservative,

but then it's been a long time

since they've had anyone
who seems to have made

conservatism as
politically attractive

as Senator Goldwater has.

In 1964 Barry Goldwater's
running for president

as this reactionary.

And one of his surrogates at
the time is Ronald Reagan.

[indistinct conversations]

It's very important
to understand

just how outside of the
mainstream their ideas were.

They really were tilting
against the notion

of the government should
work for regular people.

They were promoting government
should work for big money.

That's a really extreme idea.

So the question is how
you sell an extreme idea

to the American public.

Late in the campaign, and
we're talking October 1964,

Barry Goldwater knew he
was heading for defeat,

but he wanted to
go down fighting.

And they had to
raise some money,

so they had a
national broadcast.

And Goldwater says,
"Get Ronnie to do it."

So Ronald Reagan, whose
star had never shone

all that brightly as an actor,

suddenly was a rookie star
on the political scene.

A sponsor has been identified,

but unlike most
television programs,

the performer hasn't been
provided with a script.

As a matter of fact,

I have been permitted
to choose my own words

and discuss my own ideas
regarding the choice

that we face in
the next few weeks.

Ronald Reagan stepped in

with the "Time for
Choosing" speech,

which explained what
the conservative vision

for the Republican Party was.

The full power of
centralized government,

this was the very thing

the founding fathers
sought to minimize.

They knew that governments
don't control things.

A government can't
control the economy

without controlling people.

And they know when a
government sets out to do that,

it must use force and coercion
to achieve its purpose.

They also knew, those
founding fathers,

that outside of its
legitimate functions,

government does nothing
as well or as economically

as the private sector
of the economy.

To give a speech in 1964 about
the threat of government,

the threat of welfare,

that's the sort of rhetoric
that aims to scare people.

It became a theme
for Ronald Reagan,

and this became the way in which

the Republican
Party recast itself.

You and I have a
rendezvous with destiny.

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.

We will keep them in mind

and remember that Barry
Goldwater has faith in us.

He has faith that you
and I have the ability

and the dignity, and the right
to make our own decisions

and determine our own destiny.

Thank you very much.

[crowd clapping]

He gives this speech
and the phones light up

and the money pours in.

And some people noticed.

[Reporter] Henry Salvatori,
President of a group called

the Anti-Communist
Voters League,

a millionaire from
the oil industry

and a prominent
backer of Goldwater,

told Bill Styles
what happened next.

He made his talk on national TV,

which just was received
throughout the nation

with tremendous enthusiasm

and resulted in
millions of dollars

coming into the campaign.

So we knew that
he had a terrific

capacity to move people.

And shortly after
the Goldwater defeat,

three or four of
us got together,

and we decided that we
had to look for someone

who had the qualifications

that would make him an
electable candidate.

And Ronnie Reagan was
the man we all agreed

would be that particular fella.

This group of
California millionaires,

Justin Dart, Holmes Tuttle,
Alfred Bloomingdale,

what they call the
Kitchen Cabinet,

they needed somebody
who could sell

their free market
ideology, sell their idea

of getting the government
out of their lives,

whether that was lower
taxes or less regulation.

They also had a
common cause with

anti-communism,
anti-civil rights.

And they found in this actor
the perfect front man for them.

[Reporter] Have you
seen my old friend,

Henry Salvatori lately?

I talked to him, uh, Thursday.

tense music

They sat down in '65
with Stu Spencer.

And they said to Stu,

"How much would it cost to
run a gubernatorial campaign?"

And Stu says, "I don't
know, I've never won one".

He said, "$2.5, $3
million, I don't know,

say $2.5 million".

And Holmes said,
"Well, gentlemen,

there's 10 of you here.

it's gonna be the most
expensive lunch you ever had.

Pull out the checkbooks,

and write out checks
for $2.5 million".

[Reporter] The election campaign

was run by a political
consulting firm

known as Spencer Roberts.

We were not ideologues.

Our criterion was good
human being, smart,

not too many
scandals, that was it.

And our next meeting
was with Reagan.

People don't understand
what a big gamble it was,

but the guy had
something that we liked,

freshness, articulation,
a belief system.

We said, "You know,
this is, maybe the guy."

As of now, I am a candidate

seeking the Republican
nomination for governor.

[Narrator] To coach Reagan,
Spencer hired a team

of behavioral scientists.

Through his actoral training,

he was used to working
off of cue cards.

So what we did was take
five-by-eight cards,

organize them into a
total of 13 black books

on 17 issues of California.

And it was amazing how he
would take all of them,

not miss anything that we said

and click the things off
[fingers clicking]

like that, one, two, three.

Now, would there be anyone here

who would want to
make a bet that

somebody isn't cooking
up two budgets,

depending on who's going
to wind up governor?

The interesting part
of those meetings,

we were in the living room of
their home in the Palisades

and over there is sitting
Nancy Reagan with the big eyes.

She was very alert
and she was absorbing.

It was politics 101 for her.

She had no idea what her
husband was getting into.

She didn't care about politics.

She didn't have a
political ideology.

She just wanted to help him.

Whatever was good for him,

that's what she was
gonna be promoting.

[Reporter] How do you feel
about that, Mrs. Reagan?

I agree with everything he
says, I always do. [laughs]

There is absolutely no
question that Nancy Reagan

worked socially to help
her husband politically.

She had seen her mother do it.

She knew how effective it was.

They had such a partnership

that he couldn't have been
who he was without her.

The Kitchen Cabinet wives
ran their social lives.

And Nancy connected
with these women,

in some cases became very
close friends with them.

bright music

[Narrator] With her
friend Betsy Bloomingdale,

Nancy Reagan took a
drive out to Lake Malibu

and the Reagan ranch.

Right here.

All my fences need painting.

I really did paint all these,

and Ronnie really
did build them all.

My parents were never
very wealthy, really.

You know, they had this house
because GE built it for them.

[Nancy] You know what I need?

I need some kibble for the dog.

[Shop Worker] A 25-pound bag?

[Ron] But a lot of these
other people like Justin Dart

and, you know, and the
Bloomingdales and all,

these were people who
had a lot of money.

[Nancy] You know what, Al?

Name it.

I haven't got any
money. [Laughs]

[Shop Worker] Sign that.

Appearances are important.

They were paramount
to the Reagans,

and they lived a moneyed life.

But she really got concerned
and she called Holmes Tuttle,

and she cried several
times and said,

"Ronnie and I can't
afford to do this."

And Holmes Tuttle
reassured her and said,

"Don't worry, there's
private money."

And you know, he was right.

They didn't have to worry
from that point forward.

[Reporter] Here she is
in the Galanos showroom,

picking out some clothes.

The only thing she loves
better than picking them out

is wearing them.

That's pretty,

I'd like that in another color.

Don't need a gray dress, but
I'd like it in another color.

[Male] So, you're
gonna have to tell me

what you're gonna
need for the fall.

And then we can work a plan,
it's a little difficult

right at this moment, until
I know exactly what you want.

[Nancy] Oh, look,
red. [laughing]

tense rapid music

Any campaign, you're
looking for some thematic.

We were sitting around one
day, two or three top people.

And one of them was a
preacher who came from Texas.

This guy knew people, and his
business is screwing people.

He had a lot of money
in the name of the Lord.

That guy says, sitting
next to me, he says,

"How about citizen politician?"

And I looked at him,
I said, "You got it."

That's where it came from.

[Reporter] Reagan's campaign
as a citizen politician

with common sense
answers to problems

has enormous appeal
in California.

The people have a
definite feeling

that maybe they'd like a change

from the professional
politician.

By that time he's been
on camera for 29 years.

He fuses these two worlds,
image-making and politics.

[Reporter] At age
61, Governor Brown

is trying for an almost
unprecedented third term.

That is his biggest liability.

Brown has a good
record as Governor,

but after eight years in office

he has become a focal
point for discontent.

Sacramento was seen as
being a corrupt place.

So I think that the movie
that Reagan has in his mind

is "Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington".

It's about an outsider

who represents
a breath of fresh air.

I don't think I'm gonna
be much help to you

down there in
Washington, Senator.

[audience laughing]

I'll do my best
with all my might.

Reagan absorbed himself
into that role completely.

And he believes in
the myths that are

at the root of these characters.

I'm a citizen, I'm
not an office holder,

or a party official.

And I have gone wherever
I've been asked to.

I'll make a speech at a bus stop

if enough people are waiting.

Reagan played the voiceover

for the myth of Good Guy
America, and it worked.

[Reporter] Can Governor
Brown stop Ronald Reagan?

Will California turn to a
Republican governor this year,

or will it continue
with Democrat Pat Brown?

It looks now, at
this early day, like

Mr. Reagan has
won this campaign.

[crowds cheering]

bright music

His story was one of
a hero in his mind.

Playing a politician, though,

he got to be that hero.

He could do that by having
wealthy, powerful friends,

but he had always depended
on my mother to be his rock.

She knew he was an
actor at his core,

so she would give
him encouragement.

She was a strong woman.

Presented herself
as the little lady,

but she became a very
much more powerful force

behind the scenes.

He lived in a world,

he didn't need you or me.

He needed Nancy.

He would not have got elected
governor without Nancy,

or president without Nancy.

And I don't find anybody
as close as those two were.

That's the sort of thing
you don't mess with.

[Pilot] 727 transit flight to
Sacramento, our state capital.

enchanting music

[airplane engines roaring]

[Reporter] This charming woman

flying over the land she loves,

no longer gets mail meant for
three other Nancy Davises.

She long ago left the
world of the Nancy Davises.

She's now the one and
only Nancy Reagan,

First Lady of California.

[Nancy] California,
what a wonderful state.

I think if I had to choose the
one thing that I love best,

it would be the place in a
state where there's water.

The lakes are lovely of course,

but there's nothing in the
world like the beaches.

[waves crashing]

Call me sentimental
if you want to,

but the song says it all

and I still get a lump in
my throat when I hear it,

"America the beautiful,
from sea to shining sea."

sentimental music

tense rapid music