The Governor Prevaileth.(Book Review)

Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power, by Lou Cannon (PublicAffairs, 592 pp., $30)

Lou Cannon has become the premier biographer of Ronald Reagan. As a journalist, he covered Reagan's political career from his days in California through his two terms in the White House. Cannon's first book, Ronnie and Jesse: A Political Odyssey, covered the early years of Reagan's governorship, and his dealings with Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh; a sequel, Reagan, dealt primarily with his quest for the presidency; President Reagan recounted the White House years. This new book, Governor Reagan, provides a much more in-depth study of the Sacramento years, as well as a detailed account of Reagan's life before the governorship.

As Cannon recounts, Reagan showed considerable leadership qualities very early in life. He was president of the student body at his high school and president of the student council at Eureka College, from which he graduated with a degree in economics. Reagan also demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit, a willingness to work hard, and a persistence in seeking and achieving his goals, during his years as a radio sports broadcaster and then as a Hollywood actor. After World War II, he became president of his union, the Screen Actors Guild. Elected to six terms by his fellow actors, he led the Guild and other Hollywood unions in combating the Communists who were trying to take over the motion-picture industry. This experience had a profound effect on Reagan and caused him to do a great deal of reading and study about Communist doctrine and practices, which helped him form the concepts and strategies that he would use later when, as president, he had to deal with the Soviet Union.

In 1966, Reagan ran for governor against a popular incumbent who was seeking a third term. He won by almost a million votes, and proceeded to tackle the greatest leadership challenge he had yet encountered. Lou Cannon began his coverage of Reagan during the 1966 campaign, as a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, and then followed the governor during his two terms. Cannon is thus an expert on the California politics of that era, and is able to give a fascinating account of Reagan's eight years in office. He describes how the financial manipulations of his predecessor caused Reagan to have to seek new taxes during his first year as governor, in order to comply with the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget by the end of the fiscal year -- just six months after he was inaugurated. Taking on this unpleasant duty, Reagan also pledged to "cut, squeeze, and trim" big government and to return to the people any tax savings that were achieved by such actions. Over the course of eight years he accomplished refunds of the income tax, and property-tax relief as well.

As Cannon shows in detail, Reagan was frequently underestimated -- first during the 1966 campaign and then by opponents in the state legislature, both houses of which were in the hands of the Democrats. In pursuit of his legislative goals, Reagan adopted a political style that would, Cannon writes, "guide his governorship and foreshadow his presidency on issues ranging from taxes to arms control. It was a style that owed much to his days in the Screen Actors Guild, where he had mastered the art of negotiation." A decade and a half later, Mikhail Gorbachev would see this skill in action.

Perhaps the greatest example of Reagan's talent as a negotiator was the California welfare-reform effort of 1971. The governor was informed that unless the burgeoning costs of social welfare could be curbed, there would have to be another tax increase. He therefore appointed a task force of government and private-sector officials who had one quality in common: None of them had ever been ...