After giving a speech of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964, he was persuaded to run for governor. Reagan ran as a Republican against the then governor, Pat Brown during the 1966 gubernatorial election. Reagan won the election with 3,742,913 (57.55%) of the vote while Brown won 2,749,174 (42.27%) of the vote. Reagan was inaugurated on January 2, 1967.
During his years as Governor, Reagan stopped hiring government workers. He did this to slow the growth of California's workforce. Reagan also approved tax increases to balance the state budget. Reagan worked with the Democratic Party majority in the state legislature to help create a major reform of the welfare system in 1971. The reform helped give money to the poor and increase the pay of the rich. During his term as governor, Reagan served as the President of the Republican Governors Association from 1968 to 1969. In 1967, Reagan signed an act that did not allow the public carrying loaded guns. In 1968, a petition to force Reagan into a recall election failed.
Reagan ran briefly for president in 1968. He was not nominated by the Republican Party at the 1968 Republican National Convention as Richard Nixon was nominated.
On May 15, 1969, during the People's Park protests at the University of California, Berkeley, Reagan sent the California Highway Patrol and other officers to fight off the protests, in an event that became known as "Bloody Thursday". Reagan then called out 2,200 state National Guard troops to occupy the city of Berkeley for two weeks in order to crack down on the protesters.
Reagan ran for re-election in the 1970 gubernatorial election against assemblyman Jesse M. Unruh. Reagan won 3,439,174 (52.83%) of the vote while Unruh won 2,938,607 (45.14%) of the vote.
During his final term as governor, he played a major role in California's educational system. He raised student loans. This caused a massive protest between Reagan and the college students. Reagan would soon be criticized of his views of the educational system. In 2019, a 1971 audio recording of a conversation between Reagan and President Nixon was released in which Reagan called Africans diplomats at the United Nations "monkeys".
Reagan left office on January 6, 1975 when Jerry Brown, Pat Brown's son, succeeded Reagan as governor.
In 1976, Reagan said he would run against President Gerald Ford to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. Reagan soon became the conservative candidate with the support of organizations such as the American Conservative Union, which became key supporters of his political run, while Ford was considered a more moderate Republican.
During his 1976 campaign, Reagan controversially used the pejorative phrase "welfare queen" to describe Linda Taylor who illegally misused her welfare benefits in 1974. He used Taylor and her criminals activities to defend his criticisms about social programs in the United States.
Reagan selected United States Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate.
Reagan won a few primaries early such as North Carolina, Texas and California, but soon failed to win key primaries such as New Hampshire, Florida, and his native Illinois.
During the 1976 GOP convention, Ford won the nomination with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070. Ford would go on to lose the 1976 presidential election to the Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter.
Though he lost the nomination, Reagan got 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an Independent on Wyoming's ballot, and a single electoral vote from general election from the state of Washington.
In November 1979, Reagan announced his plans to run for president again in the 1980 presidential election against incumbent President Jimmy Carter. His campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again", was heavily used in the 1980 election and in Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. The slogan would be used by Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump in their presidential campaigns. Reagan faced primary challenges from former Director George H. W. Bush, United States representatives John B. Anderson and Phil Crane, United States senators Bob Dole, Howard Baker, Larry Pressler and Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., Governor Harold Stassen, former Treasury Secretary John Connally and to Republican executive Ben Fernandez. In May 1980, Reagan won enough delegates to win the Republican Party nomination. At the 1980 Republican National Convention, Reagan named Bush as his running mate.
Reagan's presidential campaign focused on lowering taxes to grow the economy, less government in people's lives, states' rights, and a strong national defense.
His relaxed and confident appearance during the televised Reagan-Carter debate on October 28, grew his popularity, and helped to expand his lead in the polls.
On November 4, Reagan won the election winning 44 states and 489 electoral votes, to Carter's 49 electoral votes from six states plus the District of Columbia. He won the popular vote by a larger margin, winning 50.7% to Carter's 41.0%, with independent John B. Anderson winning 6.6%.
Reagan was first sworn in as president on January 20, 1981. In his inaugural address (which Reagan himself wrote), he talked about the country's economic problems, arguing:
In 1981, Reagan became the first president to propose a constitutional amendment on school prayer. In 1985, Reagan expressed his disappointment that the Supreme Court ruling still bans a moment of silence for public schools, and said he had "an uphill battle." In 1987 Reagan renewed his call for Congress to support voluntary prayer in schools and end "the expulsion of God from America's classrooms." People who did not support this said it is not right for any government force to be included in schools.
Reagan was nearly killed in an assassination attempt that happened on Monday, March 30, 1981. 69 days after becoming President, he was leaving after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. He was shot by John Hinckley. Hinckley shot six bullets.
White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head. Brady later recovered, but was paralyzed. Two other bullets shot officer Thomas Delahanty in the back, also paralyzing him, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the chest. McCarthy took a bullet for Reagan. No one was killed during the event.
Reagan was taken to the George Washington University Hospital, which was nearest hospital from the hotel and White House. He suffered a punctured lung and a broken rib bone. He lost about 3/4 of his blood. Reagan soon made a fast recovery after doctors performed surgery. It was later said that the bullet was one inch away from his heart.
This made Reagan the only President of the United States to have been shot and survive afterwards.
Reagan believed that the government should be small, not big. This means that the government should not interfere in people's lives very much or interfere with what businesses do. He believed in supply-side economics, which was also called Reaganomics and Voodoo economics (by people who didn't like it) during his term. He lowered everybody's income taxes by 25% and cut spending in many government departments.
He also lowered inflation from 14% to 4% and he vetoed 78 bills. Reagan's economic plan resulted in a bad economy during the year 1982, but the economy turned around in 1983. The economy soon recovered. Reagan called it "Morning in America". During his presidency the United States declared a "War on Drugs".