Right Moment

Shedding new light on a campaign that changed the course of history, The Right Moment tells the full story of Ronald Reagan's overwhelming, out-of-nowhere defeat of Pat Brown in the 1966 race for California governor. Told against the background of the great turmoil of the 1960s -- the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the Watts Riots of 1965, and the bitter divisions in the Civil Rights Movement -- it brilliantly highlights the route a neophyte politician took to the White House and identifies many of the forces that led to the demise of liberalism and the rise of the right.Dallek describes how Reagan, dismissed by many as a hopelessly reactionary, emerged as a dynamic, flexible, and attractive alternative to the popular and powerful Democratic incumbent, Pat Brown. Dallek shows that Reagan triumphed through a combination of the liberal failure to see cracks in its coalition, the rise of a small, but highly organized conservative grass-roots movement, and his own extraordinary gifts as a candidate.Dallek, Matthew is the author of 'Right Moment' with ISBN 9780743205467 and ISBN 0743205464.