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The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics

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Much is made of our current leaders being products of the turbulent 1960s, but author Matthew Dallek reminds us, in this very evenhanded account, that Ronald Reagan's political fortune was due largely to that same turmoil. Dallek makes a good point that the impact of Reagan's 1966 win of the California governorship has been ignored by current journalists and historians. Today, the 60s counterculture is romanticized by the baby-boomer media, like Stonewall Jackson is lionized by the Daughters of the Confederacy. But in the 1960s, civil unrest wasn't too fashionable. People were frightened. Enter Ronald Reagan.

Reagan was considered a lightweight by Democrats and liberal Republicans, and on top of that, he spoke in the same right-wing tone that supposedly cost Barry Goldwater the 1964 Presidential Election. A few conservative businessmen thought differently. They liked the speech Reagan gave in the last days of the Goldwater campaign. They thought that Reagan was the right mix of personality, intelligence and political persuasion, and could pull a big upset in the 1966 election versus the 2-term Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown.

We all know that Reagan pulled that upset, but unlike the other histories, Mr. Dallek shows us how he pulled it off. He also provides a look into the Brown campaign, and the many misfortunes Brown suffered in the two years prior to his defeat. Nothing could go right for the seasoned Brown, while nothing went wrong for the neophyte Reagan. It would seem that destiny produced Ronald Reagan. In this book, you'll see how Reagan and destiny took care of Edmund "Pat" Brown.

Matthew Dallek's The Right Moment was a highly enjoyable, well-written and insightful view of the turmoil in California politics in the mid-60s. Dallek's effort is a great work of historical scholarship, synthesizing different topics like the John Birch movement, the student uprisings at Berkeley, the Watts riots and the internal rifts in the Democratic Party into a coherent and compelling narrative of "what went wrong" with 1960's liberalism. The Right Moment also gives us a taste of what is to come with the rise of Ronald Reagan, and as such, it builds an important bridge between two very different eras, the 1960s and the 1980s. The only thing that can be said against the book is that the cover dramatically oversells the Reagan aspect -- at least two thirds of the book deals with Pat Brown and his struggle with liberalism's internal demons. Nonetheless, it is a joy to read, and even contains gems on Reagan you won't find anywhere else.

This account of Ronald Reagan's first electoral triumph is rather remarkable for its evenhanded approach to Reagan and his opponent in the 1966 California gubernatorial election, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. Reagan is a polarizing figure for most authors --- from the Leftist chorus that maintains the untenable assertion that he was an "amiable dunce" who got lucky, to those who have penned recent volumes that are more like hagiographies than serious pieces of non-fiction. Titles like Dinesh D'Souza's "Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became and Extraordinary Leader" and Peggy Noonan's "When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan" speak for themselves.

Dallek does a superb job of profiling lesser-known political characters like Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and Reagan's "Kitchen Cabinet." His narrative of Watts and Berkeley is succinct and dispassionate, two characteristics that defy the usual cant readers can expect from accounts of the 1960's tumult. The introduction and the epilogue seem hurried; they do not adequately address Reagan's signature impact on the conservative movement or the larger civic debate.

"The Right Moment" stands alongside the works of Lou Cannon in the Reagan literature in terms of its readability, use of primary sources, and latent objectivity.

The Book "The Right Moment" by Matthew Dallek is an important piece of balanced research into the 1966 campaign for Governor of California. The race chronicles one conservative (actor turned politician) verse an old guard liberal who dominated California politics for the last eight years named Pat "The Giant Killer" Brown.

This book makes a few very important cases. One being Reagan benifited from the changing trends in politics nationally as well as in California. There is no doubt there is truth in that but it is also important to note that Reagan did what no other modern conservative had done and that is win big. Dallek understands that it was Reagan's skill plus the right times which brought about a national change. Riots, Vietnam, and the failings of the Great Society turned America into a nation ripe for political change. Reagan was the man who lead the revolution from California and eventually ending with the demise of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Dallek also understands what many authors do not and that is Reagan ran a mainstream conservative campaign from California on into the White House.

It is also important to note that this book chronicles the life, campaigns, and ambition of Pat Brown who was a very able politician who knocked off former Vice President Richard Nixon in 62 who challenged Brown's hold on Sacramento.

Much of the problem with Brown was that he underestimated Reagan (which would not be the last time an incumbent did that) and failed to quell the anarchy in Watts and Berkley.

If you enjoy studying Ca politics, political campaigns, or political history this book is very valuable and brings out a lot of new information on the 66 Governor's race. Another strong quality is the balanced approach "The Right Moment" offers and its obviously well researched. I believe more could have easily been written about the 66 race.

The Right Moment details the governor's race in 1966 with Pat Brown (the incumbent) against a political newcomer, one Ronald Reagan. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for one major fact: It wasn't all about Reagan.

Writing books about Reagan is a cottage industry, and most of them, while not bad, rarely cover new territory. ("God and Reagan" by Paul Kengor being one of the few recent exceptions.) I started this book expecting it to be another cheerleading Reagan-was-great gloss-over.

Thankfully, it's anything but. While it does detail Reagan's ascendancy in the conservative movement (and, not incidentally, his discarding of his liberal past) and his subsequent race for the governorship, it is more about California politics in general and the disintegration of Pat Brown's stewardship.

It has what every election book has: the personality profiles of the political bosses, the attempts of primary challengers to knock out the inevitable winner, the gaffes and "defining" moments that seem ridiculously banal thirty years hence; and the culminating victory.

There are only two disappointments. One is there is very little detailing the mixing of Hollywood and California politics. Many believe that Reagan was the first, and he was the most important. However, George Murphy ("a song-and-dance man") became a hard-right senator before Reagan even "converted" to politics, and he gets scant mention. And Helen Gahagan is ignored as well. This isn't a book about Hollywood and politics, but it was an important enough phenomenon it might have been given a bit more consideration.

The other miss is the "election roundup" common in books of this type; I like them. I would have been interested to know where in California he had pulled his support--both geographically and demographically. There's a little bit at the end but not much.

Thankfully, one thing that is left out is the expected "and this was the start of something big" nonsense. While true, it could degenerate into a love feast with the same platitudes you read in other Reagan books. There is no such section in this book, which increases its quality.

People might dismiss this book as a Reagan book, and in reality it's not. It is an excellent portal into a small fraction of a very influential movement.

Being an account of Reagan's rise the book couldn't ignore the man he confronted to become Governor of California: the liberal Democratic Pat Brown searching a third term.
So here we have a breathtaking book where Dallek guides you chapter after chapter through the parallel paths leading the two politicians to their 1966 clash. The chapters dedicated to Brown are useful and interesting because they not only make you familiar with an outstanding figure like Brown but - telling all of his long and succesful political career - they make you acquainted with all the California matters that in the long run will shape Reagan's politic view and will decice in Reagan's favour the 1966 campaign.
Dallek refers lots of meaningful anecdotes and is able to make you understand the personality of all the characters involved in this story. This is a well written and excitingly told piece of history.

In November 1964, Barry Goldwater's electoral debacle seemed to sound the death knell for American conservatism. However, that same year, the seeds of liberalism's demise were being planted in the nation's (soon to be) most populous state. Author Matthew Dalleck provides a brilliant, even-handed account of the decline of post-War liberalism, symbolized by Ronald Reagan's one-million-vote trouncing of incumbent Edmund "Pat" Brown in the California Governor's race of 1966. Few U.S. politicians better embodied the ideals and aspirations of post-War liberalism than Brown, the liberal icon who had roundly defeated Richard Nixon in 1962 and William Knowland, another conservative of national stature, in 1958. But as the social unrest of the Sixties began to take hold, Brown would come to represent not only the virtues of liberalism, but its failures and shortcomings as well. Mr. Dalleck recounts how Ronald Reagan and a coterie of Calilfornia conservatives exploited liberalism's deficiencies to vanquish Gov. Brown (who would remain forever embittered by the experience), re-energize the conservative movement nationally and begin the process that would culminate with Reagan's two terms as President in the Eighties. Despite its far-reaching magnitude, relatively little has been written about the California Gubernatorial election of 1966, making Dalleck's new book essential reading for all students of modern U.S. history.

In the 20th century two presidencies will be most studied in the future- Franklin D. Roosevelt's and Ronald Reagan's. Mr. Dalleck does a excellent job in understanding Ronald Reagan. Reagan is neither the puppet of his enemies or the master of his fawning admirers. He is as Mr. Dalleck writes an informed citizen moved to action by anti-communist beliefs and experiences in the excesses of big government liberlaism. Mr. Dalleck does a ecxellent job in detailing the context of the times of Reagan and Brown. The background of the election and the issues of concern had as much and probaly were more responsible for Reagan's victory than his likable personality and celebrity status. Mr. Dalleck's portrait of Pat Brown and Sam Yory and the other major players of 1966 election are well done and fair. Mr. Dalleck did a excellent job and I hope he will follow this work will a full length biography of Ronald Reagan.

Not being a fan of the usual election campaign books, I took this up with low expectations. I just wanted to know something about Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor. I also suspected that it would be something of a hatchet job on RR. To my pleasant surprise, Matthew Dallek has produced an engaging--even exciting--narrative that is very well balanced. Though he does tend to laud the "responsible liberalism" of Edmund "Pat" Brown, the Democratic incumbent that Reagan unseated, he also fairly portrays the new conservatism and "Creative Society" philosophy of Ronald Reagan and his supporters. I highly recommend this work as essential for understanding the beginnings of the Reagan Revolution. After this, a good read that bookends the subject is John Ehrman's 'The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan.'

Ronald Reagan's speech in favor of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign was the starting point of his political career. His successful campaign for governor of California, against incumbent Pat Brown, was the start of the conservative movement.
His ability to bring together the Birch society members, the conservative democrats, Republican moderates and other conservatives proved that Reagan was a political genius. Many believed that a B movie actor, former Roosevelt democrat, GE pitchman, and former union member could never be considered a serious political campaigner. How wrong they were !
Matthew Dallek, in this wonderfully written account goes to great length to describe all the events surrounding that first campaign, the race riots (Watts), the student uprising at Berkeley, the divisions within both the democratic and conservative parties, and all the characters who were directly involved in the campaign. He is fair and allows the reader to really understand how the conservative movement in America really started with Reagan's first successful run in California.
He also tells us that Reagan became a true hero and political mentor to many politicians, as is the case of the current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzeneger. Both men had many different political beliefs, but they both had great personal charisma. Their foundations are very similar.
This is a great book with many details. Highly recommended and very enjoyable to read.