Ronald Reagan's hand-annotated typed draft of a speech delivered at a "Republican Dinner" in San Diego on July 23, 1971, eleven pages plus cover sheet, 8.5 x 11, with Reagan's handwritten amendments to five pages—sometimes a mere strike-through or single word, other times complete sentences or paragraph-length revisions. Reagan opens with some jokes about the election season ("Anyone visiting New Hampshire these days has to carry a program to keep all the Democratic presidential candidates straight. I'm probably the only office holder from outside New Hampshire whose been there and who isn't a candidate for anything—I just went there looking for the Mayor of Los Angeles") and pokes fun at the Democrats ("We already have a Muskie doll—you wind it up and Teddy Kennedy starts running. Then there is the Humphrey doll—you wind it and you never have to wind it again. We already have a Teddy Kennedy watch—it doesn't have the regular numbers on it—just 72 or 76; 80 or maybe 1984"). He goes on to discuss the necessity of increased aerospace appropriations, which had been recently shot down in Congress ("If they had had to vote on that first flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers would never have gotten out of the bicycle business"). Reagan's lengthiest handwritten revisions come toward the end of the speech, commenting on California's state budget: "We asked our state employees to forego a cost of living pay raise this year. This gave us no joy because Calif. is blessed with the finest type of employees to be found in govt. anywhere. This was a 1st for us after 4 straight years of salary raises totaling 21.4% but it wasn't exactly unprecedented. The previous admin. twice during times of excessive unemp. skipped pay increases." The final page, discussing funding reforms for various welfare programs, has also been copiously annotated by Reagan. In fine condition.
