Education and Respect

After the recent uprisings at many of America’s collegiate institutions, we thought we’d look back on how Governor Reagan handled the situation, 50 years ago in the late 60’s and early 70’s. In his 1966 campaign for California governor, Republican Ronald Reagan promised to "clean up the mess at Berkeley." At the time, he was referring to the unrest prevalent not just at the University of California, Berkeley, but on college campuses throughout the state. Students and faculty alike were engaged in protests, demonstrations, and strikes related to issues such as the draft, civil rights, discrimination, and women’s liberation. In one 1966 campaign speech, Reagan declared that many leftist campus movements had transcended legitimate protest, with the actions of "beatniks, radicals and filthy speech advocates" having become more to do "with rioting, with anarchy" than "academic freedom." His core message was, "Anarchy in the name of academic freedom on the campus or on our streets, will not be tolerated...."