Fifty years ago on Monday, the handsome, All-American actor Ronald Wilson Reagan jump-started his political career when his pre-recorded â??A Time for Choosingâ? speech in support of 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater aired on television.
While never a star on the level of Clark Gable or Humphrey Bogart, Reaganâ??s acting career, his experience as a sports announcer, and a good sense of humor made him a likeable as well as a commanding public speaker. A prolific actor before, during, and after World War II, Reagan appeared in films ranging from dramas, including Kings Row, to military training films to comedies such as Bedtime for Bonzo. He became General Electricâ??s spokesman and the host of General Electric Theater, GEâ??s popular weekly radio and TV program from the 1950s to the early 1960s.
Originally a New Deal Democrat, Reagan campaigned for several Democratic candidates, including President Harry S. Truman. He served on the board of a union, the Screen Actors Guild, and then later became its president. However, as the 1950s progressed, his views became increasingly conservative. His second wife, Nancy Davis Reagan, had grown up in a conservative household, and GEâ??s executives, especially Lemuel Boulware, supported conservative principles of limited government, free markets, and anti-communism. By 1962, Reagan had changed from a Cold War liberal to a Republican when he famously remarked, â??I didnâ??t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.â?
Read Full Article »