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

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.

Matthew Dallek's account of Reagan's victory in California's gubernatorial race of 1966 is a page turner. People interested in political history will learn much about Reagan's character and about the shortcomings of liberalism in the sixties. Great book.

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.

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.

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.