for a third term against movie and TV actor Ronald Reagan, California had developed a major fiscal problem. It is unclear whether Brown and his finance director fully understood the dimensions of the budget crisis that was unfolding. Nonetheless, the budget crisis – combined with the Watts Riot and student unrest at the University of California, Berkeley – ended Pat Brown’s political career. What was critical in the 1966 election was that Reagan promised to deal with the state’s fiscal problem (which he did), and take a tough line on student and racial unrest. Today, Jerry Brown’s dad is mainly remembered positively for his infrastructure. But his father’s unpopularity at the time of his 1966 electoral defeat left an impression on young Jerry. Jerry Brown took the lesson to be that fiscal conservatism and opposition to social disruption were the keys to future political advancement in California. The Not‐Pat “The time has come for us to decide whether collectively we can afford everything and anything we think of simply because we think of it. The time has come to run a check to see if all the services government provides were in answer to demands or were just goodies dreamed up for our supposed betterment. The time has come to match outgo to income, instead of always doing it the other way around.” Former Governor Ronald Reagan giving his first inaugural address9 While campaigning in 1966, candidate Reagan may well have believed that he could resolve the budget crisis he would be inheriting by cutting waste and social programs and by making Sacramento more efficient. Within a few months of taking office, however, he found it necessary to put through a major tax increase. To this day, the phrase “Reagan raised taxes” is often recited by liberals in reference to that episode when conservatives resist proposed tax increases. Liberals are saying, in effect, if Reagan did it, why can’t you? Indeed, the 1967 tax hike was not the only time Reagan raised taxes during his two terms as governor. And in real terms, state spending under Reagan rose at about the same pace as under his predecessor, Pat Brown. But the Reagan rhetoric was different from Pat’s. And the emphasis on spending changed. For example, the promise of free tuition in state higher education institutions contained in the Pat Brown‐era Master Plan was a casualty of the Reagan period. Governor Reagan had his eye on the presidency and hoped to be the GOP’s candidate in 1976. Conservatives at the national level were pushing the idea that government could be checked by a constitutional amendment that would limit federal spending by some formula. Reagan put a state version of that idea on the ballot in 1973, hoping its enactment by voters would provide a platform on which to campaign. However, his Proposition 1 entailed a complex formula which looked funny to voters and which Reagan, when pressed by reporters, could not himself explain. After Prop 1’s defeat, the Reagan administration in Sacramento seemed to run out of steam. Reagan ultimately did make it to the presidency but in 1980, not 1976.
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