Reagan's Revolution by Craig Shirley Read Free Book Online Page B

Richard A. Viguerie Co., known as “RAVCO,” and Bruce Eberle and Associates. But other conservative direct mail firms would also spring up shortly.
    Republicans, at the national level, were slow to grasp the exponentially growing power of the conservative movement. For example, in 1977, conservatives mounted an effective, though ultimately losing, effort, to stop Jimmy Carter’s Panama Canal Treaties. Ford was supporting the treaties, and although the conservatives inside the party were routing the liberals, they were not gone. The treaties only passed the Senate by one vote, but became a litmus test for Republicans and conservatives everywhere.
    Reagan had been approached and had agreed to sign direct mail fundraising letters for the Republican National Committee. But when he asked for some of the money to be used to organize a “Panama Canal Truth Squad” to travel the nation to organize grassroots opposition to the treaties, he was rebuffed by the new National Chairman of the RNC, Bill Brock, a former Senator from Tennessee. In one memorable moment, Reagan was speaking to Brock via speakerphone at the offices of Senator Paul Laxalt. Terry Wade, a journalist with the Las Vegas Journal, was seated in the lobby outside of Laxalt’s offices, overhead one side of the conversation, and described Reagan’s mood as “quite heated.” Reagan debated Bill Buckley on PBS, in a most friendly fashion, over the treaties. Reagan’s able second in the debate was Admiral John McCain II (ret.).
    In 1978, three “New Right” Senate candidates won in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Colorado. The candidates—Gordon Humphrey in New Hampshire, Roger Jepsen in Iowa, and Bill Armstrong in Colorado—had been largely shunned by establishment Republicans, and their wins were purely the result of the efforts of the conservative movement. Walter Cronkite reported on CBS that these “kamikaze” candidates, who normally lost, were winning that evening.
    A handful of conservatives also won in the House in the late 1970s. In 1977, conservative Bob Livingston won a House seat in Louisiana that Republicans had not held since Reconstruction, again due to the efforts of the “New Right.” Reagan campaigned extensively for GOP nominees in 1978, but did not endorse primary candidates, save one: George W. Bush’s opponent in the congressional primary for a race in Midland, Texas. Ambassador Bush was decidedly unhappy and called Reagan in California and gave him hell for supporting his son’s opponent.
    In 1979, the conservatives stopped Jimmy Carter’s SALT II treaty dead in its tracks. A movement that five years earlier could do nothing to stop the confirmation of Nelson Rockefeller had blocked a major initative by the Carter Administration from ratification by the Senate. It was a signal moment for conservatives.
    Conservative think tanks began to flex their muscles—from the Heritage Foundation, led by Ed Feulner, to the libertarian Cato Institute and many others, including new state-based policy think tanks. A veritable flood of new ideas and white papers cascaded out of each institution, dealing with economic, social, political, and national defense matters. Elected officials eagerly read these papers. Their authors, in speeches in Washington and around the country, often addressed overflow crowds. Books too, like Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose and George Gilder’s Wealth and Poverty , became important contributions to the shaping of conservative thought.
    The early conservatives relied upon a few publications for information. These included Human Events and National Review . Human Events was founded in 1946, and Tom Winter and Allan Ryskind acquired the publication by the early 1960s. Reagan had been a loyal subscriber since 1961 and would occasionally write notes to Winter and Ryskind or call them. After he became President, Reagan wrote that he was reading Human Events more but enjoying it less. Once, when Reagan called Ryskind at home,