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Ronald Reagan Hand-Annotated 'A Time for Choosing' Speech

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:12,000.00 - 14,000.00 USD
Ronald Reagan Hand-Annotated 'A Time for Choosing' Speech

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Auction Date:2017 Oct 26 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Amazing hand-edited copy of Reagan's "A Time for Choosing" speech, three pages, 8.5 x 14, postmarked January 26, 1965, signed and inscribed on the reverse of the last page in fountain pen, "Dear Gene, Thanks for your good letter. I thought you might like a copy of this. Give your folks my regards, Ronald Reagan." The speech features nearly forty instances of emendations made by Reagan, with the majority consisting of omissions and strikethroughs, plus the presence of a few added words and edited punctuation. The speech, in part: "This is the issue of this election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down—up to man's age-old dream—the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order—or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And, regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course…I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me—the free men and women of this country—as 'the masses.' This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, 'the full power of centralized government'—this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy." In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed in Reagan's own hand.

A Hollywood Democrat early on, Reagan jumped to the right during the 1950s and identified himself as a card-carrying Republican in 1962. Two years later, the presidential election between incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater offered Reagan an ideal opportunity to commence his career migration from actor to politician—in 1964, Reagan starred in his last theatrical film, The Killers. In the polls, Goldwater ultimately lost in a landslide to Johnson, but in the public eye, the sponsorship of Reagan, still viewed as just an actor, was hailed as a promising spark to the Republican party, with his famous televised “A Time for Choosing” speech catapulting Reagan as a new conservative spokesman. The power and impression of his words all but secured Reagan the California governorship just two years after signing this speech. A tremendous offering predating the political career of the nation’s 40th president.