In September 1787, the United States Constitution was drafted by a majority of the members of the Constitutional Convention, which met in Philadelphia, and was to enter into force after ratification by nine states. During the first half of the following year, supporters of the adoption of the constitution - federalists - took active steps to promote and explain the main provisions of the code of laws adopted by the convention. Among the provisions that, according to the drafters, needed clarification, were articles concerning the head of the executive branch - the President of the United States. What qualities should the future supreme administrator of the country have? By virtue of what services to society will such a high honor be given to a particular political figure? How to protect the highest state post from encroachments of unworthy applicants? Similar questions have occupied the minds of political figures known in the United States as the founding fathers of the state.

One of them, A. Hamilton, wrote in The Federalist on March 14, 1788: "The electoral process allows us to state with confidence that the post of president will never go to a person who does not possess the necessary qualities. The ability for dirty intrigue and mastery of the art of gaining cheap popularity may be enough only for a person to rise to the highest position in a particular state. But it will take a very different kind of talent and merit to win the respect and confidence of the entire union of states, or a large part of it, that will enable him to expect success as a candidate for the high office of President of the United States. It is no exaggeration to say that there will always be a chance of seeing capable and decent people in this post. " 1 Hamilton was not alone in such hopes. And today, in the White House's official presidential refectory, just below the mantelpiece, the words of the second President of the United States, J. R. R. Tolkien, glow faintly in gold. Adams: "Let only honest and wise men rule forever under these arches." The sayings of Hamilton, Adams, and their contemporaries can only evoke a condescending and sarcastic smile from those who are well acquainted with American history, especially with the political history of the United States of this century.

Today, some American historians and political scientists still recall the time when the young American nation gave the world, in a historically short time, J. R. R. Tolkien. Washington, T. Jefferson, B. Franklin, A. Hamilton, and a good dozen other respectable people. As for the present day, only F. D. Roosevelt is unanimously considered to be a great American. The statement of this fact is accompanied by a question: how is it that the American nation of more than 230 million people is forced to make do with a limited selection of a small number of presidential contenders, including those whom Karl Marx once called "unknown mediocrity" 2 and who have neither impressive merits nor public services?

Such questions are asked especially often in the last 10 years, during which the United States has changed four presidents. On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan became president. What are the circumstances of the appearance of a former Hollywood film actor in the American political arena? By virtue of what merits and before

1 The Federalist, N LXVIII (from The New York Packet, Friday, 14.III.1788).

2 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 15, p. 390.

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who was he at the very top of the American political hierarchy? To answer these questions, we need to go back to the early post-war years, when Reagan, who voiced educational films during World War II and occasionally appeared in feature films, returned to Hollywood and found, in his words, that American moviegoers "did not expect me to return with bated breath for three and a half years... they have new heroes. " 3
Since the pre-war era, Reagan has been known in Hollywood's artistic circles as a liberal, a supporter of Roosevelt's reforms and the Democratic party's policy, although this opinion about him was formed more on the basis of his own statements about himself than as a result of any specific actions. In the autobiography " Where is the Other Part of Me?" Reagan writes that in the 1930s and 1940s, he consistently supported Democratic candidates, although with more reservations over the years, and after the war "blindly" joined all organizations "that guaranteed the salvation of the world." This gave reason, he argued, to consider it "as red as Moscow." Indeed, for a short time he was a member of two progressive social organizations (accused of "pro-communist sympathies" during the years of the McCarthyist reaction), but left them as soon as the first signs of anti-communist hysteria appeared. Reagan was so successful in disguising himself as a liberal in those years that when he showed up at one of the anti-communist gatherings in Hollywood, held at the apartment of the film actress O. de Havilland, the hostess was extremely surprised: "And I thought you were a communist!" (Reagan, for his part, also considered her a Communist.)

For those who knew Reagan's political sympathies firsthand, it seemed natural that he, a liberal and Democrat, should represent and defend the interests of his colleagues in their union - the Screen Actors Guild, which has long been headed by actors financially interested in working with movie studio owners. With no strong personal or financial ties to the film industry at the time, Reagan seemed the right man to be president of the Guild. The fact that his candidacy was quite acceptable to the owners of film studios, ordinary members of the trade union were not aware at that time.

In 1946, Reagan, a member of the Guild's board, was faced with the problem of choosing between two unions competing for the right to represent the interests of decorators. Reagan's political nose told him to take the side of the International Theater Workers ' Union, supported by the combined capital of the film industry magnates. But to admit his sympathies was to betray himself. An argument was needed to explain the" sole reasonableness " of such a choice. The argument was thrown to Reagan by the decision of the owners of leading Hollywood film studios to discredit the Conference of Film Unions, accusing its management of "pro-communist sympathies "and presenting" evidence " of infiltration of the governing bodies of this organization by members of the Communist Party of the United States. The establishment of "Communist economic control" over the Hollywood film industry, Reagan seriously asserts, "had the ultimate goal of obtaining funds to finance their activities and turn the movie screen into a channel for their propaganda." 4 Based on what Reagan writes about himself and what others write about him, we can conclude that it was during those years that his political views took the form of rabid anti-communism.

He has repeatedly claimed that he sacrificed his artistic career as president of the Screen Actors Guild. However, we think he was clearly lying: he was literally intoxicated by the role of a powerful union boss and the fame associated with his new social position, which he could not achieve in the artistic world. Reagan often made political statements and speeches; he was invited to dinner parties and receptions, during which he readily expressed himself on political issues, taking advantage of the opportunity to-

3 Reagan R., Hubler R. C. Where's the Rest of Me? N. Y. 1981, p. 212.

4 Ibid., p. 182.

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We would like to once again condemn "immoral communism". The more deeply he entered the world of professional politicians, the more conservative and rigid his position became. He was increasingly seen in the company of the "powerful", the powerful masters of the Hollywood film industry, with whom he was already almost on equal terms discussing measures to curb the overly active, according to the owners of film studios, the activities of individual trade unions and deciding the fate of those of his fellow actors who "did not understand the importance of fighting the dominance of communists in Hollywood." Some of his colleagues believed, not without reason, that during these years Reagan was trying to save his rapidly fading artistic career at the expense of other actors.

With undisguised enthusiasm, he took part in the campaign announced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to eradicate the "reds" from Hollywood, supporting the idea of creating "black lists" with the names of "communists and sympathizers" from among the leading figures of American cinema. In 1947, hearings began in the House Committee of Representatives of the US Congress to investigate "anti-American activities" in the so-called case of "spreading communist influence in the US film industry." The committee's chairman, Congressman P. Thomas (who was later convicted of financial fraud by a U.S. court several years later), accused the Roosevelt administration of forcing the production of such "pro-communist propaganda" films as "Song of Russia" and "Mission to Moscow"on the Hollywood film industry by hand-twisting. Member of the Committee J. Rankin stated: "A large number of films produced by Hollywood follow a communist line." Rankin, along with other members of the committee, repeatedly threatened to produce documentary evidence to support their accusations, but this was never done. Another member of the committee is Richard M. Nixon formulated his accusation somewhat differently: Hollywood does not produce enough anti-communist films, and the reason for this is the obstacles and obstruction caused by the communists who are entrenched there .5
The prosecution's witnesses were the heads of leading Hollywood film studios, as well as some film actors. "The motives for which they performed were different," wrote R. Sklar. "Some of them wanted to avenge old grievances, justify decisions made in the past, deal with old enemies, promote their own advancement or implement some business that was beneficial to them. As a rule, their testimony was vile, malicious, cowardly, and even stupid. " 6 Speaking before the committee, far from politics, but determined not to risk his brilliant film career, G. Cooper said with a disarming smile:: "I do not know what communism is based on... From what I've heard, I don't like him because he has unworthy goals." Reagan was much more emphatic in his condemnation of Communists: "I am disgusted by their philosophy, but I am even more disgusted by their tactics, which are fifth column tactics and dishonest... The Screen Actors Guild has a small group of people who constantly oppose the policies of its board. This small clique of individuals has always been suspected of following the tactical line that we associate with the Communist Party line. " 7 Despite his hypocritical attempts to disown McCarthyite practices of violating civil liberties, Reagan's statement to the committee investigating "un-American activities" put him among the most outspoken and outspoken anti-communists.

The Committee was never able to prove the fact of "communist propaganda activities in Hollywood," but the main goal of the congressional hearings was achieved: the foundation of the infamous "witch hunt" that had been going on for many years was laid. Neither Reagan nor his associates who testified before the committee had, of course, any evidence of" communist dominance " in Hollywood, and they were summoned to Washington rather for the purpose of giving a resurgence to the situation in the United States.-

5 Congressional Record. 80th Congress, Ist Session, vol. 93, p. 2900.

6 Sсlar R. Movie-made America; How the Movies Changed American Life. N. Y., 1975, p. 262.

7 New Republic, 1.XI.1980, p. 21.

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pectability: to the hearings and (which was important from the point of view of the political interests of Senator J. R. R. Tolkien) McCarthy and his followers) to attract the attention of the media, photo and film reporters. It was then that Hollywood became aware of Reagan's actions, trying to persuade actors to link the names of some of their colleagues with "pro-communist activities." "There is nothing easier," Reagan urged, in particular, the actress A. Revery. - The only thing that is expected of you is just a couple of surnames that were previously called " 8 . The actress refused to do what she considered meanness towards her colleagues, and as a result, in 1951, she herself was on the "black list", which closed her way to Hollywood film studios forever.

Film actress K. Morley said that her appeal to the Screen Actors Guild with a request to prevent the inclusion of her last name in the "black list" was ignored by Reagan. In 1980, as an elderly woman, she still couldn't hide her bitterness at being essentially betrayed by her union. Of Reagan, she said, "It's not that he's a bad person. The worst thing about Ronnie is that he always wants to be on the side of those who have the power. I don't think he is capable of independent actions and decisions, I have never seen him ever have an idea of his own in his life. To be honest, I don't think he even understands how dangerous what he's doing is. " 9 Morley was almost the only person who had known Reagan for decades who was willing to speak her mind openly about him. Journalists trying to find out more about the man who was about to enter the White House in the run-up to the 1980 presidential election were met with a remarkable reticence by those who, it would seem, should have known about many aspects of the personal, creative, and socio-political life of their old acquaintance and colleague that were little known to the general public. California old - timers-Hollywood actors, local politicians, and just neighbors on land plots-claimed that they did not know Reagan at all, or they got off with such phrases: "He likes to chop wood and ride horses, ""Likes to saw logs and ride horseback, ""Loves to fix fences and sit in the saddle," loves to good wines, jelly beans, and telling jokes."

It seemed that it was not so much that these people didn't know Reagan well, but that they knew him too well and were afraid that they might make some rash judgment about him that might backfire on them. There was probably a lot of talk in California about Reagan's connections to people close to the mafia, and what happened to those who tried to question the integrity of his actions in the 1950s. The actors, directors, and screenwriters expelled from Hollywood with Reagan's direct involvement, many of whom were already quite well known in the country by that time, received a "wolf ticket" from the American film industry, and their names never appeared in the credits of Hollywood films. In California (at least to journalists), there were few people who dared to speak openly about Reagan's personality. Even "his closest friends, when talking about him, got off with seemingly pre-rehearsed purely formal phrases" 10 .

Back in the 1940s, Reagan's chosen tactics and carefully considered choice of "who to be with" bore fruit: a solid weight in Hollywood's "high society", universal respect, as he believed, and the fearful reticence of colleagues who tickled his ego when communicating with him. He was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild five times in a row, from 1947 to 1951 (the sixth time he was elected after a long hiatus, in 1959). Reagan's connections in the business world as president of the Screen Actors Guild paid dividends in 1954, when the management of the General Electric company invited him to conduct a regular television program. the General Electric Theater program for a very substantial reward-

8 Newsweek, 21.VII.1980, p. 29.

9 Esquire, August 1980, p. 28.

10 Atlantic. October 1980, p. 40.

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He received $ 125,000 a year (by 1962, he was already receiving $ 165,000). The job did not require much effort, giving Reagan in return substantial benefits in the form of newfound weight in society and fame, not to mention the material side of the matter. The rather high remuneration paid to him included periodic trips around the country to deliver speeches to working audiences of General Electric factories on the advantages of class peace between capitalists and workers, on the common interests of both, on the danger to the free enterprise society of excessive government interference in the activities of private capital, on private initiative as "the unshakable foundation of a free society"and, of course, about the satanic intentions of Soviet and international communism.

"My most dramatic presentation was about the Communist attempt to seize power in the American film industry, "Reagan writes, complaining that"despite the wide publicity that this case received, ordinary audiences were completely unaware of international communism and its methods." In this regard, Reagan complacently states, he played "a very useful role in awakening many people to the danger in their own backyard." 11 It is not surprising that the organizers of Reagan's trips around the country found it necessary to give him an FBI agent as a permanent escort: the fact is that working audiences often reacted too violently to the inflammatory statements of a hired speaker. This is when the formulations of Reagan's political credo were honed and polished, which formed the basis of his platform in the subsequent elections for governor and then president of the United States, and in the 50s were paid for by the giant monopoly - the General Electric company-according to the scenario approved by its leadership. 12 At the same time, a contingent of future political and financial supervisors of Reagan was formed from among the representatives of the California military-industrial complex who shared his views and admired his anti-communist frenzy.

Reagan's eight-year missionary work in the interests of "big business" in the United States taught him a lot, especially the skill of communicating with a live audience. Fulfilling the social order of the monopolistic capital of the United States, Reagan did not mentally overexert himself: having covered during this period of work for the General Electric company the working audience of 135 of its factories, exceeding a quarter of a million people, Reagan did not spoil the audience with a variety of propositions put forward by him, repeating almost the same text. But, as those who heard him in those years testify, he pronounced this text "brilliantly", with once and for all well-developed intonations, facial expressions and gestures. Reagan's acting skills were finally put to good use in the service of monopoly capital.

In 1961. Reagan turned 50 years old. He was known to US TV viewers as the host of a popular program, received a solid income, which allowed him to have his own ranch, stable and house on the Pacific coast, equipped for free with Generalelectric's bounty with all the well-known and even just being introduced into mass production electrical and electronic devices and devices (only chairs and chairs were not electrified in the house, Reagan bragged openly); he had a new family - wife Nancy, daughter Patty,and son Ronald Jr. Reagan's anti-communist sermons, punctuated as necessary by attacks on the government-

11 Reagan R., Hubler R. C. Op. cit., pp. 300 - 301.

12 A curious detail describing Reagan's attitude to the "big business" representatives of the United States who brought him "into the public eye" was noticed by the journalist L. Barrett, author of the book "Gambling with History; Ronald Reagan in the White House" published in 1983. Having met and interviewed Reagan several times, Barrett noticed that Reagan referred to D. Eisenhower as "Ike" and J. R. R. Tolkien as " Ike." Ford's name was "Jerry," but the chairman of the General Electric Company's board of directors continued to be Reagan's "Mr. Cordiner" many years later.

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The work that "saddled the ordinary worker and prevented him from breathing freely" was generously paid for by monopoly capital and planned for many years to come.

In his memoirs, Reagan refers to the statements of W. Chambers, a paid FBI provocateur whose " testimonies "were the basis for the prosecution and conviction of innocent people during the years of the witch hunt:" When I picked up a slingshot and fired a charge at the Communists, I hit someone else. I fell into the power of the great socialist revolution, which, hiding under the name of liberalism, has been throwing an ice sheet over our country with convulsive jerks, step by step, unnoticed for two decades. I had no clear idea of the scale or depth of this process, nor of the ferocious vindictiveness of the revolutionary temper of this force. " 13 Reagan needed a reference to the statements of a man with a clearly mentally ill mind to express his belief that after the democratic administration of J. R. R. Tolkien came to power, he would not be able to do so. In January 1961, the same thing happened to him that happened to Chambers: he and his personal "crusade" in defense of democracy and freedom from government control and communist domination were opposed by the same "ferocious, vindictive liberal force", which hung on him "the label of a loud mouthpiece of right-wing extremism." on the verge of insanity " 14 (in 1984, President Reagan signed a decree posthumously awarding Chambers the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian government award, especially emphasizing the contribution of the provocateur who died in 1961 to "public service").

Without risking further strong condemnation of Reagan's missionary work by the general American public, and rightly believing that the Reagan association with General Electric might adversely affect the company's relationship with government agencies and, among other things, the marketing of its products, the company's management was forced to cancel the broadcast of the program on television. "The General Electric Theater," which Reagan hosted all these years, and stop his propaganda trips around the country.

By that time, Reagan had already stopped being invited to appear in films (after the film "Sea Devils", in which he starred in 1957 with his second wife Nancy, he starred only in the film"Murderers"). But he hoped that he would not be abandoned by those circles of monopoly capital to whom he had rendered such useful service and who, as advertisers, retained a great influence on American television. And indeed, in 1962. Reagan has a new owner - the corporation: Borax ,which specialized in the production of synthetic detergents. For two whole years, he became the host of the weekly TV program "Dead Valley Days"-a popular Western series created at the expense of the corporation. The host's duties included the responsibility to advertise the corporation's products, including the Boratim washing powder, during specially scheduled breaks in the show's run.

The circles interested in Reagan, however, were not entirely convinced that he had mastered the art of gaining popularity with the "man from the street", and Reagan decided to use the services of an advertising agency where his brother Neil worked. According to the plan developed by the brothers, a "spontaneous public opinion poll" was conducted, ostensibly to determine how popular the products of the Borax Corporation advertised by Reagan on television were with the buyer. The results of the "survey" were published by N. Reagan: "We invited women directly from the street and showed them a commercial. We asked them what they thought of Ronald. They said they would buy anything from him. They even said that they were ready to vote for him if he ran for an elected post, although we did not ask them about this. " 15
13 Reagan R., HubIer R. C. Op. cit., p. 305.

14 Ibid., p. 307.

15 Esquire. August 1980, p. 29.

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The final phrase contained the entire meaning of the survey, and the results of the conceived advertising stunt were not long in coming. In the same year, 1962, among the representatives of a small group of wealthy California businessmen closely connected with the military-industrial complex, the idea arose to nominate Reagan as a candidate for the post of governor of the state from the Republican party (it can hardly be considered a pure coincidence that Reagan first registered as a Republican).

The factor that united this group of people of approximately the same age in an ideologically and politically unified whole was the same approach to assessing the role of the monopolistic upper class of the ruling class in the life of American society. They were and still are sincerely convinced that the vast fortunes accumulated by a small minority of American citizens are an eloquent testimony and result of the special talent and enterprise of these people. Give them complete freedom of action, stop "state interference" in their activities, and the economic problems of the United States will be solved in the shortest possible time. Their position on disarmament and arms control is extremely simple: the stronger the United States is strategically, the more terrible the weapons it possesses, the more likely it is to create and maintain a situation in the world that meets its political and economic interests. "They see the private enterprise system as the secret of America's economic success, and they object to the fact that an ever-growing portion of their business income is being spent on financing a government that they believe is wasteful and inefficient, a government that interferes in matters that are rightfully within the purview of private entrepreneurs and encourages the people to do nothing"16, - such a description of the views of the members of this group was given by the journalist R. Lindsay, who knows them well.

The members of the group themselves speak about themselves with much more restraint. "The thing that unites us all is that our group is made up of successful people," said film producer J. R. R. Tolkien. Rather, one of the most influential members of this group, which later became known as the "Reagan team." "We all stand for economic stability and prefer - although it sounds very boring-a quiet, family life." Rather's "unifying factor" of millions of fortunes and conservative thinking brought together industrialists J. Dart, E. Jorgenson, financiers and businessmen A. Bloomingdale, H. Tuttle, K. Stone, A. Deutsch, W. Wilson, a major corporate lawyer W. F. Smith, and several other people from the business community."the California elite", who decided to bet on Reagan, as they bet on horses that have already proven their speed.

For people who are not experienced in the rules of the big game in the world of American politics and do not know what careful preparation precedes the appearance of a new name for voters on the US political horizon, Reagan's political career began only in 1964, during the election campaign preceding the election of L. Johnson to the post of President of the United States. Then, through the efforts of his older brother Neil, who by that time had become the first vice president of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency, R. Reagan was assigned to act as a "confidant" of Senator B. Goldwater at numerous paid events in the state of California, held to raise funds for the senator's campaign for the presidency. Introducing his brother to the attention of a major oil producer, G. Salvatori, chairman of the California Committee for fundraising for the Republican candidate's treasury, N. Reagan pointedly promised: "Give this guy the opportunity to go on the air, and he will prove his effectiveness to you. We've already tested it on laundry detergent. " 17
Salvatori undoubtedly had the necessary information about Reagan and his conservative, right-wing extremist position on major aspects of US foreign and domestic policy; however, only by personally listening to Reagan's speech

16 Smith H., Clymer A., Silk L., Lindsey R., Burt R. Reagan the Man, the President. N. Y. 1980, p. 37.

17 Newsweek, 21.VII.1980, p. 31.

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At one of the dinners that Goldwater collected from, he argued for Reagan to be given time on national television. "After this speech, we decided to let him speak on television. We realized that Reagan was expressing Goldwater's position better than Goldwater himself," Salvatori said. One can only imagine how much Reagan was superior to Goldwater in his extreme - right views, if the latter, having heard about Reagan's upcoming televised speech, showed a rare concern for him-would he allow too harsh and inflexible statements in his presentation of Goldwater's position that would scare off voters? Reagan's supporters argued, however, that Goldwater was simply afraid that Reagan's openly conservative and uncompromising position on the issues of US foreign and domestic policy raised during the election campaign would lead the conservative circles of the country that supported him, Goldwater, to conclude that they were betting on the wrong person. Eventually, Reagan's supporters managed to calm Goldwater down, and Reagan was given the go-ahead to go on the air.

The very first sentences of Reagan's televised speech left no doubt that Goldwater and his supporters ' concerns were far from unfounded. The main points of Goldwater's domestic and foreign policy campaign platform, as presented by Reagan, took on an even more sinister tone, which was so appealing to the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. "Guns are silent in this war," Reagan said, " but borders are falling down, while those who should be fighting prefer to remain neutral." America, he said, was faced with a choice between free enterprise and an overgrown government, between individual freedom and the " ant heap of totalitarianism, "between the need to show resilience in the current dangerous international environment and capitulation to"the most vicious enemy that humanity has ever known on its long journey from the swamp to the stars." Reagan hit back at all those who dared to call for reasonableness and foresight in foreign policy, and those who tried to condemn dangerous extremism in developing approaches to solving modern international problems.

After finishing one topic, Reagan switched to "an overgrown government" that has "taken over health care, housing, farming, industry, commerce, and education, and is increasingly encroaching on the people's right to information"; it is "unable to function as well and economically as the private sector of our country." economy". He described social welfare programs as "charitable assistance" programs, economic aid to foreign countries as "subsidies to socialism", urban construction as "an attack on individual freedom", and free education as "not a universal right, but a privilege for those who deserve it". Reagan's 30-minute speech on national television ended with a menacing warning about the dangers that await Americans if the Democrats win the upcoming 19 elections . It was Reagan's speech that did more to consolidate America's right-wing extremist and neoconservative forces around Reagan than anything else he has said or done before. Reagan didn't just pick up the banner of right - wing extremism and political reaction that fell from Goldwater's hands-it was handed to him to the cheers of neoconservatives by large monopolistic capital and the US military-industrial complex.

After the 1964 election, California's far-right Republicans, who enthusiastically supported the extremist views of their new idol, received a standing ovation for another Reagan attack on the liberal wing of the Republican Party, whose betrayal, according to Reagan, led the party to one of the most crushing defeats in political history.-

18 Esquire, August 1980. p. 30.

19 Reagan R., Hubler R. C. Op. cit., pp. 342 - 358.

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rii of the country. The specific recipient of Reagan's hatred and contempt was New York State Governor N. Rockefeller, who refused to support Goldwater in 1964. "We are not going to hand over the Republican Party to traitors who betrayed it in the struggle that has just ended," Reagan raged. - Goldwater's defeat does not mean abandoning the conservative ideology. We no longer need candidates who have sworn allegiance to the socialist philosophy of our opponents." 20
By early 1965, representatives of the right wing of the Republican Party in California officially invited Reagan to run for governor of the state in the 1966 election. They were authorized to take this step by Reagan's "benefactor fathers" - Salvatori, Tuttle, and Rubell, who, after undisclosed consultations with other influential members of the California military - industrial complex, decided, in Salvatori's words, "to make him governor." Outwardly indicating that he still doubted the wisdom of such a move, Reagan, however, already at the first conversation on this topic raised the question that if he won the election, he would have to give up personal participation in financial and business operations and, consequently, suffer significant material damage. California millionaires assured Reagan that they would ensure his financial interests personally.

To achieve this, it was decided to create an image of Reagan, perhaps in some ways repeating the features of some of his "decent" movie characters, capable of winning the sympathy of California voters. There was also a need for a sufficiently meaningful, but at the same time vague, slogan that, without committing Reagan and the circles supporting him to anything, would embody the expectations associated with his name. As a result of the efforts of specialists from the political advertising advisory firm Spencer-Roberts, the slogan "Creative Society" was created. Reagan himself was dubbed a "citizen-politician" - a person who was not corrupted by contacts with the world of professional politicians. The person who knew Reagan best - his older brother, Neil, who later cynically admitted that he knew him-was a significant help to political advertising specialists.: "I knew how to sell it to the public. I sold it not as my brother, but as a bar of soap. " 21
Even as he entered the campaign for governor, Reagan never stopped reminding his "benefactors" of their promise to provide for his personal financial interests. The fact was that neither Reagan's long career as a film actor, nor his work as a union leader in the Screen Actors Guild, nor his association with General Electric and Borax had made him a millionaire. Since 1956, Ronald and Nancy Reagan had owned a ranch-style mansion in the Pacific Palisades, one of the most exclusive areas of Los Angeles; Reagan's annual income, including his years in television, was estimated at more than $ 100,000 (although before paying taxes that irritated Reagan so much). In addition, in 1951, he purchased two plots of land in Santa Monica, north of Los Angeles, for $ 85,000. It was these two 236-acre and 54-acre plots that were destined to form the basis of an unprecedented speculative transaction made by Reagan's "benefactor fathers" in the run-up to Reagan's entry into the governor's mansion in the California state capital, Sacramento.

To advance Reagan until he won the gubernatorial election was not in the rules of calculating California millionaire businessmen to the smallest detail. However, the fact that Reagan became a millionaire immediately after defeating the former governor's office, also a former Hollywood film actor P. Brown, testified to the seriousness of their intentions regarding the political future of their protege. In December 1966 (Reagan was elected governor of the state in November, and he was to take up the governorship in January of the following year), one of his 236-acre plots of land was purchased by the Governor's office.-

20 Evans R., Novak R. The Reagan Revolution. N. Y. 1981, pp. 29 - 30.

21 Esquire, August 1980, p. 30.

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ten Hollywood film studio "XX century-Fox" for an incredibly high amount of 1930 thousand dollars. It is understandable that one still has to marvel at the reasons that "forced" the owners of the studio, who had never shown such obvious carelessness and generosity in financial transactions, to pay more than $ 8 thousand per acre of land, which initially cost Reagan only $ 275 per acre and,according to real estate experts, it cost at least 3 times less than the amount paid to Reagan. Throughout the years since the sale, Reagan's political opponents have been trying to unearth information that could serve as evidence of illegal financial fraud and a speculative transaction carried out by Ronald's" friends " to bribe the future governor of the state, but all their efforts have so far been futile. The Malibu Canyon Ranch operation was led by one of the members of the Reagan team, lawyer W. F. Smith, who became the country's top lawyer - the US Secretary of Justice-when Reagan came to the White House.

Reagan's remaining land plot of a smaller area was already estimated at $ 165 thousand when he was governor of California and accepted as a partial payment for the huge 778-acre plot of land that he then purchased for $ 347 thousand. Other members of the Reagan team, such as W. Wilson and W. F. Smith, also purchased land in the neighborhood, explaining their decision to buy neighboring land because they did not want to leave Reagan alone: "This is a remote place, and he would not have a single neighbor around him."". Truly, a touching concern! Speculative land transactions on behalf of Reagan were carried out on behalf of a "blind trust" formed after Reagan's election as governor to avoid charges of "using official position for personal purposes." Reagan's financial solicitors under the blind trust were the same W. F. Smith, J. Dart, and W. Wilson, who kept out of the public eye all the shady things the trust did in the interests of the governor.

For some time after acquiring a large piece of land in a part of the state known as Rancho California, Reagan tried to convince those who were interested in the reason for the strange purchase that he intended to use it to build a homestead where he could spend his rare days off from performing his gubernatorial duties and where he could retire after retiring to retire and raise horses and cattle. It was difficult to find a piece of land less suitable for such purposes in all of California: it was located at a considerable distance from any major water resources and sources, and access to it was provided by a country road that was in a deplorable state. But this section was definitely "gold-bearing": it was in this direction that one of the channels of the Southern California Water System was being laid and plans were being hatched for the construction of a highway passing through this area. It is doubtful that these plans were not known to the Governor of the state and his powerful "proxies", who had free access to documents and projects of the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Highways in the state administration. Construction of the canal was completed during Reagan's term as governor and, of course, affected the cost of the site. Never starting construction on the site of his much-publicized personal estate, eight years after the acquisition, Reagan sold it for $ 856.5 thousand.

And this land speculative operation was carried out by W. F. Smith through a mysterious firm called the 57 Madison Corporation, one of the owners of which was a certain J. F. Smith. Stein is an old friend of Reagan's, and a debt of gratitude from the days when Screen Actors Guild President Reagan rendered a valuable service to Stein's Music Corporation of America. Later, Reagan bought steers for his ranch through the Oppenheimer Industries company, owned by Stein's son, and one of the major shareholders - the same W. F. Smith. Reagan's net income from speculative land transactions in California was more than $ 2 million, according to the New York Times. In the last year of his term as Governor of California, Reagan purchased another plot of land near Santa Barbara with an area of almost

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in 700 acres, on which he built his "Rancho del Cielo" ("Sky Ranch"), which he still owns.

Reagan "earned" future millions by running a fierce re-election campaign, first with his Republican colleague, former San Francisco Mayor J. P. Morgan, and then with the President of the United States. Christopher, and after defeating him with an advantage of 700 thousand votes - with the Democratic candidate Brown, who was known as a liberal and served for two terms as governor of California. By the way, there were also acting experience, and long-term performances in front of various professional and social audiences, and the ability to stand in front of TV cameras, and (last but not least in American political reality) photogenic. "For years, "packers" of candidates for elected positions tried to make complete actors from their political raw materials. Reagan turned this process inside out, being first an actor, and then a "concerned citizen" 22.

Reagan was strikingly different from what the state's voters were familiar with in the last election. He called the recipients of all kinds of state benefits "a faceless mass waiting for alms," called for "starting a prairie fire that will engulf the whole country and restore full confidence in the government," rejected the need for a "fair distribution of housing stock" law, which, if approved, would help to somewhat moderate the appetites of presumptuous homeowners, and suggested to end the "display of weakness" in the face of the" pathological vulgarity " of students, scoffed at those who spoke out in favor of taking prompt measures to protect nature that is dying due to human fault ("Well, how many more redwoods do you need so that you can enjoy their view?", Reagan quipped).

While some of his supporters argued that Reagan "softened" his position on domestic and economic issues in order not to scare off "moderate" Republicans, on foreign policy issues he remained a militant anti-communist and a hard-line approach to solving international problems. "We must declare war on North Vietnam," he urged. "The enemy must not know that we will not use a nuclear bomb. He has to go to bed every night, afraid that we might use it. " 23 "We want Ronnie! " members of the Real Estate Owners Association chanted after Reagan's speech at a dinner given in his honor. In California, it is not recommended to underestimate the desires of the influential lobby of this Association.

On November 8, 1966, Reagan defeated Brown with a majority of nearly 1 million votes. At a quarter past midnight on January 3, 1966 (in full compliance with the strong recommendation of the author of his horoscope), he took the solemn oath of office as governor of the state of California. The first step to the White House was taken. During the 1980 election campaign Reagan will flaunt being a "big business candidate." 24 He will not become so outspoken immediately, but only after making sure that such an admission not only does not undermine, but, on the contrary, strengthens his political position in those circles whose support he has always considered decisive in any conflicts. As governor of California, Reagan was still hesitant to advertise his dependence on the "powerful," even though his close ties to them were no secret. In 1967, he contented himself with admitting that his administration was "guided by the interests of the business community." 25
In the first weeks of his governorship, Reagan enlisted the help of a" special task force " of more than 200 of the state's top business leaders, advising them on how to design future socio - economic and administrative reforms in the state. But Reagan's main advisers continued to be about a dozen members of the former "Reagan team," who were listed as "top advisers" to the White House.

22 Atlantic, October 1980, p. 41.

23 RWR: the Official Ronald Wilson Reagan Quote Book. St. Louis Park (Minn.). 1980, p. 20.

24 National Journal, 19.VII.1980, p. 1181.

25 Esquire, August 1980, p. 30.

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now as the" kitchen cabinet " of the governor. However, unlike the members of the "kitchen cabinet" of the seventh President of the United States, E. While members of the Reagan "kitchen cabinet" considered it beneath their dignity to gather in the kitchen of the governor's mansion. H. Tuttle, J. Dart, W. Wilson, A. Bloomingdale, J. Rather, K. Stone, E. Jorgenson, G. Salvatori, P. Laxalt, C. Wick, and W. F. Smith met to solve problems and develop a common tactical line in the living room or study of the governor's mansion, and always under the pretext of friendly lunches or dinners. They had the right to do so: to" ease "the governor's financial situation, members of the" kitchen cabinet " purchased this mansion from the state for $ 150,000. and now they rented it out to the governor "for rent" for only 2.5 thousand dollars. per month, which was covered by the state treasury. It was called " saving the state's money." "You don't look a gift house in the mouth," Reagan responded to the generous gift of 26 friends .

Tuttle was no doubt speaking for his kitchen cabinet colleagues when he admitted, "Our political philosophy is the same as that of Governor Reagan." 27 This commonality of views was so complete that, according to a member of the Governor's secretariat, "there is simply absolutely no diversity of views" in the "kitchen cabinet" .28 According to the latter, the world was made up of" us "and"them." "They" were enemies who existed in various guises: violent students whose "young energy should be strapped", radicals and liberals of all shades, people of color, unemployed and poor people, along with the elderly, hoping to "live their lives at the expense of others", the federal government in Washington, seeking to "suppress private initiative and limit individual freedom". freedom", "leave the American economy to the collective socialists", and, of course, the Communists and "reds" in Moscow and around the world, who have set themselves the goal of "spreading their ideology everywhere and forcibly" 29.

Because, as the magazine noted, "there was never a case where at least one of the enemies was not within sight, whether they were mad dogs (as Reagan called the participants in racial unrest-E. I.), disgusting intellectuals, mind manipulators, or people receiving fraudulent social Security benefits." 30 Reagan's political biography from the first days of its countdown was like a frantic and endless "crusade", and he imagined himself as a knight of the" just cause " on a white horse, following the predestinations of god in his struggle for "the eradication of injustice" and "reward the worthy". "He's inclined to think," said one California political figure who knew of the governor's messianic sentiments, " so be it, if it's God's will. I am a tool in his hands. " 31
As early as March 1967, two months after entering the governor's mansion, Reagan's behavior showed signs of interest in running for the White House, although he categorically denied such intentions, referring to his 1966 promise not to use his governorship as a stepping stone to the White House. However, while claiming that he had no desire to run for the presidency, Reagan said that it would be "impertinent" for him to deny his interest in doing so. Reagan was required to explain his position not only on the domestic and socio-economic aspects of the US state course, but also on less familiar foreign policy issues. It was impossible to allow the belief expressed by the well-known columnist W. Lippman that "Governor Reagan has no experience" to spread in the country, and especially in the circles on whose support Reagan counted.,

26 RWR, p. 12.

27 US News and World Report, 17.XI.1980, p. 51.

28 National Journal, 19.VII.1980, p. 1181.

29 RWR, pp. 25, 36, 38.

30 Harper's Magazine, February 1976, p. 10.

31 Newsweek, 22.V.1967, p. 20.

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essential to being President of the United States in this critical age. " 32
A complex foreign policy problem that divided the country's political circles into "pigeons" and "hawks" remained the US policy in Southeast Asia and the ongoing war in Vietnam. And Reagan did not hesitate to make his choice, taking the most extreme position even among those who advocated more decisive action in Vietnam. He called the US - Vietnam talks in Paris "communist propaganda" and questioned the wisdom of even the false decisions made by the Johnson government to" limit the bombing of North Vietnam " for propaganda purposes. "I am not a candidate for president," he began, as usual, in one of his early-stage speeches for the White House, " but as a private citizen, I have long insisted that our goal should be to win, and that, as far as possible a quick victory and that betting on the exhaustion of the enemy will cost more in terms of human lives than a sudden strike aimed at achieving victory." Reagan went on to say that if he had been in the White House, he "would have accelerated the pace of the war and ended it long before 1968." 33 "The question is not whether escalation is legitimate or not," he said at a press conference. "The question is whether we should escalate gradually and to a certain extent, or whether we should do everything possible to achieve victory in this war." But this means that Reagan is unequivocally in favor of further escalation, the journalists said. "Yes," the governor of California replied without hesitation," in order to win as soon as possible. " 34
In the fall of 1967. Reagan, along with other Republican presidential contenders, toured the country, building a political base for the upcoming election campaign next year. Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, New York, Washington flashed by like a rapid-fire movie. In a voice hoarse from overexertion, Reagan lavished the entire set of jokes and witticisms carefully prepared by professional authors hired by the "benefactor fathers" in front of another provincial audience that was dying with delight at the sight of the "Hollywood actor-governor". The meeting with Reagan was treated like a performance, and he gave extra-class performances, during which jokes and anecdotes so beloved in the world of "business people" were interspersed with complaints made in a concerned, "down-to-earth" voice about the government "thoughtlessly spending public funds." Distortion of events, speculation, and far-fetched situations combined with seeming competence have become a characteristic feature of Reagan's public statements literally from the very first days of his appearance on the American political scene.

On August 8, 1968, having successfully conducted the necessary behind - the-scenes work among the governors and leading political figures of a number of states whose votes decided the outcome of the struggle in the congress hall, and having enlisted the support of one of the decisive states-Maryland, whose Governor S. Agnew was promised the post of vice president, R. Nixon became the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States. In an attempt to keep a good face against a bad game, Reagan even called on Republicans at the convention to support the candidacy of "the future president of the United States." However, the unfair political game he played during all the months of the struggle, and the clearly anti-Nixonian nature of his actions during the last weeks of the competition, made it impossible for Reagan to count on any responsible post in the administration in the event of a Republican victory in November. So, Reagan's first attempt to get into the White House ended in defeat on the far approaches to it. But a new Reagan was already returning to Sacramento, hardened in political battles, realizing that he (or,

32 International Herald Tribune, 5.III.1968.

33 Newsweek, 10.VII.1967, p. 31.

34 Ibid., 25.IX.1967, p. 12.

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Rather, a certain part of the country's propertied class is behind the political philosophy of conservatism professed by its "benefactor fathers" and adopted by them.

It is not easy to write about the personal qualities of a statesman who was able to convince a significant part of his compatriots to give him their votes and put him at the head of one of the largest states in the world. It is possible, of course, to suspect political opponents of wanting to damage his popularity or authority and accuse detractors of distorting the facts, but it is difficult, perhaps simply impossible, not to pay attention to the striking unanimity of all political figures who write or speak about Reagan, historians, journalists, and people who know him intimately, with the exception of perhaps his closest friends and employees, when they speak about their level of intelligence and their abilities. "Like any actor, Reagan is used to working with a script in his hands. He's a bright student, " says Brown, a former Reagan gubernatorial rival. - For a number of years, he made a good living playing roles that required only one thing: that he did not forget words, did not try to penetrate deep into the search for hidden meaning, subtleties or nuances"; "long before computers began to control our daily lives, Reagan was "programmed" by writers and directors, formed produced by producers and studio directors, packaged and hand-delivered by advertising specialists " 35 . But here is what Reagan's Republican ally, former chairman of the California Senate Health and Social Security Committee, who later became a member of the US House of Representatives, E. Beilinson, says: "At first glance, he is a very unusual person. He knows his words and his feelings, but it is impossible to make him understand anything else. He cannot be taught anything or forced to study a particular issue in depth. " 36
One of Reagan's advisers admits that he is unable to see the connection between related problems and goals, and another, even closer to Reagan, who now works in the White House, says: "He is not stupid, but simply has a lazy mind. He can subtract something, and this information settles without any verification in his memory. It pours out of him when he turns on the tap. " 37 The American historian and political scientist N. von Hoffman wrote: "We are dealing with a person who knows what he is going to do, who does not weigh the pros and cons, and who does not want or feel the need for additional information before making a decision. Ronald Reagan made his decisions thirty years ago. And since then, his visual and audio antennas have been set up in such a way that they do not receive information that does not support what he decided to do." 38
During one of his press conferences, Governor Reagan, responding to a question about unemployment, said that the columns of ads in newspapers are filled with job offers, and anyone who really (he always emphasized this word) wants to find a job, can find it without much difficulty. (Similarly, with the same intonation and emphasis, he will answer similar questions later, when he becomes president of the United States.) "Despite the recession, the depression, you will still not be able to convince Ronald Reagan that you can't get a job, even though you want to work," with bitter sarcasm states von Hoffmann. - There is no unemployment, because he always managed to find a job. War is an acceptable possibility, since he fought by making instructional films in which the wounded bled to death in ketchup instead of blood, and the dead jumped up and came back to life at the director's "Stop"command. When Ronald Reagan is ridiculed as uneducated, ill - informed, or uninformed, he comes to a disturbing conclusion, it is tantamount to underestimating and misunderstanding him. He is informed for his own purposes, not ours. " 39
35 Washington Journalism Review, January-February 1981, p. 27.

36 National Journal, l9.VII.1980, p. 1178.

37 Time, 20.X.1980, p. 27.

38 Harper's Magazine, May 1982, p. 32.

39 Ibid., p. 39.

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During numerous press conferences during his time as Governor of California, Reagan demonstrated his mastery of answering simple questions and his enviable ability to avoid answering complex ones. "He was a master of saying everything and nothing. He had a good memory as an actor and an actor's ability to speak with confidence, whether he really felt that confidence or not, " wrote J. R. R. Tolkien. Whitcover. After the gubernatorial press conferences were over, reporters paused over their transcripts, trying to figure out what it was that made them frantically record every word Reagan said, and why those words, which were so powerful when they were spoken by Reagan or broadcast on television, looked so unconvincing on paper.

Reagan has always shown a particular dislike for journalists ' questions concerning his personal life and, in particular, the state of his financial affairs, usually flatly refusing to answer them. But at one of the press conferences held in May 1971, the question was put, as they say, "head-on": is it true that the governor did not pay a single cent of taxes for 1970? Caught off guard by the unexpected question, the governor became flustered: "You know, to be honest, I do not know whether I paid or not... I'll have to check it out... I know that I - I know that I've been reimbursed for some part of my federal taxes in the last two years, or something like that. But I don't know... I don't know what's going on with my taxes." On the same day, the Governor's Office issued a short official statement that read:: "In connection with the financial losses incurred by Governor Reagan on his investments, no income tax was due on him in 1970." Reporters insisted on a more plausible explanation. The governor's reaction indicated that journalists had managed to find a clear violation of the law on the part of a person who had been calling for strict compliance with the law for several years.

The scandal flared up. An editorial published in a California newspaper stated: "A man who chastely taught that taxes should be painful escaped pain when most Californians were properly suffering." According to an investigation conducted by another local newspaper, from 1966 to 1969, the governor paid an average of about $ 1,000 a year in income tax on incomes exceeding $ 50,000 a year, and managed to pay the minimum income tax from a land deal that brought him almost $ 2 million in profit in 1967. tax in the amount of 90 thousand dollars. To illustrate the governor's hypocrisy, the newspaper quoted Reagan as saying in 1968, a year when he paid only $ 1,000 in income taxes: "I mailed my own tax bill last night, and I'm ready to say, like everyone else,' Oh, that hurts! ' "41
But after some time, the scandal for "unexplained reasons" began to subside, and then stopped altogether. Since then, no one has been able to determine what exactly was meant by the financial losses cited as the reason for the non-payment of income taxes by millionaire Reagan in 1970: Smith, the governor's personal financial manager, was known for his ability to cover his tracks. After the information about Reagan's latest financial fraud was leaked to the press, the governor's meetings with journalists were reduced to a minimum, and from now on, press representatives were forced to comply with strict rules governing the publication of their materials. All this could not but affect Reagan's already low popularity among Californians. Just a few months earlier, in November 1970, he had been re-elected to a second term with half a million votes over his rival, in February 1971, the governor's popularity was at 32%, and by August it had fallen to 28%. By December 1971, the number of residents of the state of California who expressed a negative assessment of-

40 Witcover J. Marathon; the Pursuit of the Presidency, 1972 - 1976. N. Y. 1977, pp. 92 - 93.

41 New York Times. 6.X.1980, p. 120.

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The number of people who approved of the governor's activities exceeded the number of those who approved of it. Newsweek magazine stated on December 20, 1971: "Reagan should now admit that California has gone bankrupt under his leadership and that it has nothing to pay the bill with."

During the 1970 campaign for re-election to a second term, Governor Reagan: promised the state's voters that after the end of the 4-year term in 1974, he would no longer run for re-election and would readily resign. "Resigning" actually meant preparing for the upcoming political battles in 1976 for the right to represent the Republican Party in the next presidential election. The" Watergate scandal " messed up all of Reagan's plans. On August 9, 1974, six months before the end of Reagan's 8 - year term as governor of California, President Nixon resigned. At 12: 03 p.m. of the same day, J. R. R. Tolkien Ford was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States. It was with him that the former governor of California, a politician who became the only hope of American neoconservatism and right-wing reaction, was to enter the fight for the White House.

Shortly before the 1976 presidential election, one of the leading American researchers of presidential power, J. M. Berne, warned with obvious alarm, clearly alluding to Reagan and the forces behind him, that somewhere behind the scenes, Caesar was already waiting in the wings, which would strike a blow to American democracy. However, the liberal-bourgeois circles of the United States, together with the" moderate "Republicans, clearly underestimating in the long term the dangers of the plans of the neoconservatives and the" new right " for the traditional political coalitions of both leading parties, were mostly limited to frivolous comments. Characteristic in this respect is the judgment usually expressed by the more reasonable and far-sighted J. R. R. Tolkien. Reston: "Reagan gives less reason to be concerned, because unlike (Senator - E. I.) Jackson, he is truly ignorant of international affairs and also has another drawback - he is lazy to the point of insanity. Ford works, fights, and listens, but Reagan thinks he knows all the answers; he has a bad temper, and when important issues are discussed, it turns out that he's gone to lunch." 42
Reagan's purely personal shortcomings and lack of seriousness as a national political figure were thoughtlessly and erroneously attributed to the entire neoconservative movement, which in the meantime not only managed to unite the traditional conservative forces of both leading parties in its ranks and activate the" new right " youth (which Goldwater and his supporters failed to do in the 60s), but also and with the help of well-formulated demagogic slogans and claims against the "Washington government" to enlist the support of some part of Americans who consider themselves to be "middle class". A similar mistake was made at first by President Ford, who admitted in his memoirs that, despite the warnings of his aides about the upcoming difficult fight for the White House with Reagan, he "took these warnings lightly, because he did not take Reagan seriously." 43 However, as the heat of the election campaign grew, Ford began to lean to the other extreme - to give up without a fight those positions that were expected to be particularly harsh and sensitive criticism of his political course from "right-wing fanatics", as he himself called Reagan supporters. The president's unprincipled attitude, which allowed him to succumb to pressure from the right, sometimes led to the fact that in some matters of foreign policy he began to show no less rigidity than his main rival.

In March 1976, Ford announced the decision to remove the word "detente "from the American foreign policy lexicon:" Detente " is just a made - up word. I don't think it should be applied in the future." One of Mr. Kissinger's aides had to admit what was clear to everyone: "Ford reacted this way more because of Reagan than anything else." 44 (Reagan's reaction to Ford's weakness: "It always bothered us

42 International Herald Tribune, 11.III.1976.

43 Ford G. A Time to Heal. N. Y. 1979, p. 294.

44 Drew E. The American Journal: the Events of 1976. N. Y. 1977, pp. 64, 81.

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not the word, but the policy itself.") "By taking an extremist position, out of conviction or out of opportunistic considerations, and possibly based on both, Reagan achieved Ford's shift to the right," wrote the American political commentator S. Karnow. As a result, by May 1976, the Ford administration had "relegated all foreign policy debates to the common denominator proposed by Reagan." 45
After the outcome of the Republican convention in Kansas City in August became clear during the preliminary elections, Reagan's supporters, and especially members of the Reagan team, continued to hope that by somewhat moderating the belligerence of Reagan's statements in the run-up to the convention, they would be able to win the votes of "moderate" delegates from Ford. The tactical ploy of the right-wing conservative forces did not bear the expected fruit; many convention delegates were inclined to agree with the warning put forward by Ford's supporters:"Governor Reagan could not have started a war, but President Reagan could have started one." On August 18, 1976, in the first round of voting, J. Ford was confirmed as the Republican candidate for President of the United States by a majority of delegates.

One of Reagan's closest aides, L. Nofziger, expressed the point of view of the Reagan team in an interview with journalist E. Drew: "If Ford wins (in the presidential election in November - E. I.), then we have the opportunity to put pressure on him. If he is defeated, we will take over the leadership of the party. And, believe me, we are following the course of events very closely. We are not going to let them run wild, as Goldwater did after the 1964 election. " 46 From the neocons ' point of view, the second option of the presidential election was much preferable to the first, since Ford's victory in the 1976 election would have opened up a real opportunity for the "random president" to remain in the White House until January 1985, which is too long for the aging Reagan to have any chance of claiming the presidency. Of course, it was possible to devote the coming years (assuming Ford won) to finding a new favorite. But no one could guarantee that he would have all the qualities that initially attracted Reagan to the attention of California millionaires and made him the standard-bearer of neoconservatism.

In these circumstances, the most preferable victory was for a Democratic candidate who was preferably poorly prepared for the responsible political role of the US president, who did not have a stable political base in the country and, by virtue of all this, was doomed to one 4-year term in office. Ideal, from the point of view of all the same neoconservative circles, was one of the Democratic governors of one of the southern US states, traditionally tending to the right wing of the Republican Party and often causing a serious split in the Democratic party by their actions in the past. Such a Democratic candidate could be useful in that, once in the White House, he would continue to prepare the ground for a painless transition of power to the conservatives and in this regard would deserve the support of the Neoconservatives in the 1976 elections to a greater extent than the" traditional " Republican Ford. Were these considerations not the basis for the unexpected rise of the almost unknown to the country until February 1976, the Governor of Georgia, J. R. R. Tolkien? Carter's? Does this explain the defeat in the primary election and the withdrawal of much more popular Democratic politicians than Carter, as well as the support given to him by many of those who considered themselves Reagan supporters? And isn't this calculation the explanation for Carter's eventual victory in November 1976?

After the defeat at the Republican Convention and up to the entry of the new president into the White House, Reagan's visible political activity began to decline. But the passivity of him and the Reagan team was deceptive. The decision to seek Reagan's nomination for President of the United States in 1980

45 Newsweek, 24.V.1976, р. 34.

46 Drew E. Op. cit., pp. 448 - 449.

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It was irrevocable, and the Reagan team immediately began to create favorable conditions for this. It was necessary to expand Reagan's political contacts with local organizations of the Republican Party, for which the "public" organization "Citizens for the Republic" was created, headed by Nofziger. Reagan's unexpectedly early exit in 1976 left $ 1.5 million in his coffers unused during the election campaign. This huge sum, which consisted of contributions from the California " benefactor fathers, "was placed at the full disposal of Nofziger, his" community organization, "and its newsletter, with the explicit goal of providing assistance to all Conservative candidates for elected office (candidates for financial assistance were determined by a narrow circle of the"Reagan team").

But there was another, equally important problem - how to erase from the memory of Americans Reagan's political extremism, which gave him the nickname "Mr. Right"? How can we convince the public opinion of the country that he is the representative of the interests and friend of those" unsung "and" forgotten " Americans, whose aspirations he always remembered and spoke about, and not at all a protege and creature of the US monopoly capital? That he is a true "populist", just holding conservative views on the relationship between the government and the people and on the role of the United States in today's complex and contradictory world? The " Reagan team "needed an idea that could prove to the general American public that Reagan's desire to get into the White House was driven not by personal self-interest and unsatisfied vanity, but by a desire to be useful to"ordinary people." This idea was "borrowed" from a former football player, and now a member of the US House of Representatives, J. R. R. Tolkien. It was a general idea that tax cuts should inevitably lead to a revival of business activity and economic recovery.

A bright outlook was drawn as follows: tax cuts, accompanied by a weakening of state control over private enterprise activities and a reduction in the cost of maintaining the state apparatus, will stimulate production, which, in turn, will increase the number of jobs and the volume of products produced. This will ultimately reduce the rate of inflation growth and ensure that the state treasury receives additional funds in the amount that allows it to eliminate the budget deficit. Critics, including many major economists, including Nobel Prize winners, argued that tax cuts while sharply increasing military spending (and the need for this in the context of the supposedly "growing lag of the United States behind the USSR in strategic weapons" was emphasized in all Reagan's foreign policy statements) would lead to an even larger budget deficit. and the reduction of allocations for non-military needs, primarily for health, social security and education. It was impossible not to agree with J. R. R. Tolkien. George W. Bush, then Reagan's rival for the White House, aptly called the primitive economic calculations of the Reaganites "an economy based on shamanic spells." 47
The foreign policy course of the Carter administration as a whole, its regional features and conceptual foundations became the object of devastating criticism from right-wing conservative political circles in the United States almost from the first weeks of the president's stay in the White House. After making minor adjustments to the harsh wording of his foreign policy statements on the issue of strategic arms limitation and the prospects for negotiations with the Soviet Union on the recommendation of his advisers (so as not to scare off the bulk of Americans with their aggressiveness), Reagan continued to accuse the Carter administration of "moral disarmament", of pursuing a "conciliatory" course in the international arena, stating that that he hears "the pathetic tapping of Neville Chamberlain's umbrella on the cobblestones of Munich." 48 Reagan's Grope advisers and aides-

47 See, in particular, Time, 28. VII. 1980, p. 16.

48 Newsweek, 5.III.1979, p. 30.

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whether the nostalgic longing of the conservative-minded part of Americans for the "good old days, when" no one dared to step on the toes of the United States anywhere "and when they were " all feared and respected". After all, how pleasant it was to realize that all the complex economic and foreign policy problems of our time have simple solutions that do not require much effort or intelligence.

Despite the fact that at least 10 Republicans, including Reagan, were running for the party's presidential nomination, predicting the outcome of the July 1980 convention in Detroit was not particularly difficult. Throughout the preceding months of primary elections in 33 states, Reagan had never conceded leadership to anyone, and in the convention hall, the control of events by the Reagan team was so exclusive that the small group of delegates representing the moderate wing of the party did not even try to create at least the appearance of opposition: they watched in silence. "I'm scared to death of the prospect of him getting elected," said one American who knew Reagan from his time as governor of California. "What bothers me most is that he's such a shallow person. He's an actor. He circulates everywhere, making six or eight speeches a day, saying the same thing, reading all these facts of his from his cards. It seems that he has a conditioned reflex, like the Pavlovo dogs. " 49
There were many reasons for this fright. It was enough, in particular, to get acquainted with the platform of the Republican Party approved by the congress, especially with the part of it that referred to "an immediate increase in defense spending." Almost every item in Reagan's proposed program for the construction of the US armed forces began with the words "immediately", "as soon as possible", "without wasting time": "rapid deployment of the construction of mobile land-based missile systems MX", "accelerated construction of a new strategic bomber", " accelerated deployment and construction of cruise missiles for land, sea and air rapid modernization of short-range nuclear weapons, accelerated construction of warships, increased efforts in the field of research and development of anti-satellite weapons, directed energy systems (lasers), and the use of space for civil and military purposes, etc. etc. And although, as Carter later acknowledged, " candidates in any campaign claim that the Russians have military superiority over the United States," and after the campaign ends , these claims turn out to be false," 50 the effects of the scare of such statements and plans affected in November 1980 the number of those who simply did not want to or did not want to. I decided to go to the polls.

The results of the 1980 election, which were published in the American press under the headlines "Reagan's impressive victory", "Carter's crushing defeat", were not so pleasant for the Republican party and its candidate. There was no doubt that Carter and the Democratic Party had suffered a crushing defeat, and there could have been no other outcome. However, there was absolutely no reason to claim that Reagan and the Republicans had won a " landslide victory." Of the more than 160 million Americans who were eligible to vote, only 43.8 million voted for Reagan and the Republican Party's political and economic agenda. Among the 117 million American voters who refused to support Reagan, there were 76 million who did not show up to the polls because none of the candidates running for president of the United States met their requirements. Carter's crushing defeat was not a convincing victory for Reagan, although it made the latter the 40th president of the United States. Reagan's candidacy was supported by 72% of Americans who called themselves conservatives, but more than half of American women refused to support him.,

49 New York Times Magazine, 29.VI.1980, p. 34.

50 International Herald Tribune, 11 - 12.X.1980.

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85% of black voters in America and the same number of representatives of the Spanish-speaking population of the country. Reagan was elected president of the United States by the smallest percentage of voters in more than 50 years: less than 26.7% of eligible Americans voted for him.

Reagan was about two and a half months away from officially assuming the presidency of the United States. On one of the days of this "transition period", Carter met with Reagan, during which, as planned, the future US president was to receive comprehensive information about the state of affairs in the field of foreign policy activities of the outgoing democratic administration. About this meeting (with a clear subtext load: "Look who you traded me for"), Carter told, shocked by Reagan's complete lack of interest in what he was told about the difficult state problems that awaited him: "Discuss all foreign policy and military matters with my adviser, Richard Allen, until I appoint Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and other cabinet members," Reagan recommended to Carter. It was only when the subject of South Korea came up that Reagan, according to Carter, became animated and commented with envy on the determination with which South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee suppressed student unrest, closed universities, and recruited "rioters" into the army. "He stayed with me for about an hour," Carter writes of Reagan with ill - concealed irony, "and on the whole it was a pleasant meeting, but I was not convinced that we understood each other." 51
Brzezinski also recalled how, after Reagan's victory in the 1980 presidential election, Carter, who served the remainder of his term, expressed concern that the future US president did not show much desire to meet with representatives of the outgoing administration and get at least a general picture of the domestic and international problems awaiting him. So how is Reagan going to run the country? Carter was voicing his doubts aloud. Was it with the help of a government made up of old millionaires who formed his unofficial "kitchen cabinet"? The president leaned back in his chair at the Oval Office desk, put his hands behind his head, and mused, " Does Reagan intend to run the country like they run General Motors? I said, " No, Mr. President. They're going to run it like they ran Chrysler, " 52 Brzezinski recalled of his allusion to the pending Reagan administration bankruptcy (the Chrysler company failed).

At 7 a.m. on January 20, 1981, Carter called Reagan on the phone, wanting to bring to his attention a very important message: the authorities of the new Iran agreed to release the employees of the US embassy they had detained. In response, Carter was told that Reagan was asleep and preferred not to be disturbed.

Five hours after that, a new, 40th president of the United States entered the White House, whose tenure in the highest administrative post will then be associated with an adventurous foreign policy course, an unprecedented escalation of international tension, a sharp deterioration in the living conditions of broad strata of American workers and endless political scandals in the president's entourage.

51 Carter J. Keeping Faith. Memoirs of a President. N. Y. 1982, p. 578.

52 Brzezinski Z. Power and Principle. Memoirs of the National Security Adviser, 1977 - 1981. N. Y. 1983, p. 513.

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