THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL WORLD LEADERS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

Governorship
of California

Reagan announced his
candidacy for gover-
nor of California in

1966. The incumbent,
      Democrat Edmund
      G. Brown ridiculed
      Reagan’s lack of expe-
      rience, but Reagan
      turned this apparent
      liability into an asset
      by portraying himself
      as an ordinary citizen
      who was fed up with
      a state government
      that had become
      ineffi cient and unac-
      countable and defeated
      Brown. During his two
      terms as governor
      (1966 –74), Reagan
      erased a substantial budget defi cit inherited from the
      Brown administration—through the largest tax increase
      in the history of any state to that time—and instituted
      reforms in the state’s welfare programs.

Election of 1980

Reagan dominated the Republican presidential primary
in 1980. He chose George Bush as his running mate, and
the two men campaigned against Democratic incumbents
Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale on a platform promising

Ronald Reagan as governor of

California, c. 1967–71. Courtesy

Ronald Reagan Library