Draft ALS signed “Ron,” one page, 8.5 x 11, no date. Letter written by Reagan in the bottom blank portion of a letter written to then governor Reagan on June 18, 1968, from his friend Richard Satterfield, who attended a speech given by Reagan. Satterfield writes, in part: “In the section where I was seated, the remarks that were made as I walked through the audience were, ‘What are we doing with Nixon when a guy like this with guts enough to speak his mind and say what all Americans are hoping to hear?’ I know you are not a candidate but in my book you could take Nixon with no problem. This man doesn’t say anything; McCarthy, Humphrey say nothing; you are saying it all.”
In his response at the bottom, Reagan writes, in part: “Your letter brightened the day considerably. It was good of you to write as you did and your recital of the overheard remarks really warmed my heart. Frankly I get a little irritated at the failure of some candidates or office headers to get down to facts instead of dealing in platitudes. I don’t think the old rules apply anymore, the natives are restless & justifiably so.” A secretarial diagonal black line through text, probably indicating that Reagan’s reply was typed and sent, initialed and dated at the top, “7-3-68 LK,” a couple other small notations to top left, and staple hole to top, otherwise fine condition.
In a tumultuous year that saw the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the decision by President Lyndon B. Johnson not to seek re-election, the GOP was poised to take advantage of the situation and quell the restless natives.
California’s governor had been gaining a national following since his 1964 support of Barry Goldwater. Reagan’s rising star, especially among conservatives, threatened Richard Nixon’s dream of winning the White House. By the time he wrote this letter—which slams not only his opponent but Democrats Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrhey—Reagan had become the former vice president’s chief rival in the Republican primary. Although winning only California, Reagan held a slim lead in the nationwide primary popular vote but eventually lost the nomination to Nixon. Some political pundits maintained that had Reagan made a committed run for the nomination, will to ‘speak his mind’ as Satterfield indicated, he could have won the presidency 12 years before his 1980 victory. Great correspondence from Reagan’s political rise to power. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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