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[[Ronald Reagan] You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.]
[We'll preserve for our children]
[this, the last best hope of man on earth,]
[or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.]
[You and I have the ability and the dignity and the right]
[to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.]
[[Rendezvous with Destiny-Reagan's journey from GE to the White House]]
[[Narrator] In 1964, Ronald Reagan made a ]
[televised address that would become one of the most pivotal speeches]
[[applause] Overnight, a legendary political career was born.]
[[Starring Ronald Reagan] But his journey to becoming the great communicator]
[had begun 10 years earlier when the popular]
[actor hit the airwaves as a company ambassador]
[[GE][Announcer] For General Electric, here is Ronald Reagan.]
[Tonight it is my pleasure to appear in a repeat performance with John--]
[[Thomas W. Evans Author, The Education of Ronald Reagan] When Reagan came ]
[aboard as the host of the GE theater, which became the number one ]
[Sunday night show, his contract, right from the beginning, ]
[required him to spend a quarter of his time]
[Later you will see an interesting progress report that illustrates another ]
[reason why we say, "At General Electric, progress is our most important product."]
[[Progress Is Our Most Important Product, General Electric]]
[[T.E.] GE had 250,000 employees.]
[[Edwin Meese III, Former Counselor to President Reagan and Attorney General]]
[He hated to fly, so he traveled by train around the country to the various ]
[General Electric plants and talked with the workers.]
[[Walter Buckert, Retiree, General Electric] Well, I got a call from the plant manager, ]
[and he said, "Ronald Reagan is coming to town, and he's going to tour our plant.]
[Would you mind hosting him for the day?"]
[[T.E.] And he basically walked along the plant line]
[and talked to the employees.]
[[W.B.] It took quite a while because he just about stopped and spoke ]
[with every employee and made a nice little conversation with everyone.]
[[Tom Brokaw, Special Correspondent, NBC News] He constantly embodied]
[that reassurance, if you will, about being a middle American.]
[Whether he was an actor or making a speech somewhere]
[on the General Electric circuit, we felt like]
[[W.B.] Ronald Reagan had a unique ability to relate to ]
[a janitor or whether they were the plant manager.]
[[Lou Cannon, Journalist and Reagan Biographer] ]
[Ronald Reagan was always a good listener, but he learned at GE ]
[to pay attention to his audiences.]
[It gave him a chance to learn from the ]
[working people throughout the country, of what their concerns were,]
[what their hopes were, what their problems were. ]
[[Craig Shirley, Author, Reagan's Revolution] He was listening to them talk about their]
[concerns about family, faith, community, taxes, government.]
[It also helped him, I think, to understand]
[macroeconomics, in a sense, which was very important]
[He used to say, "The best welfare check]
[is a paycheck every two weeks."]
[And GE was giving out thousands and thousands]
[of paychecks every two weeks. ]
[[Narrator] As Reagan learned what mattered most to GE workers around the country,]
[his ideology began to shift. ]
[Think about it, he's on these long train trips]
[often by himself, looking out the window, composing these speeches.]
[He's sitting there immersing ]
[himself in economic theory, political theory, ]
[everything he can get his hands on.]
[If you look at Ronald Reagan's subsequent political career,]
[it's framed during those GE speeches. ]
[[Narrator] After his time with GE, Reagan continued to ]
[refine his message, becoming one of the nation's most sought after]
[In 1964, he was asked to address the nation]
[in support of Republican Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign.]
[[TV For Goldwater-Miller] [Announcer] Ladies and Gentlemen, we take pride in ]
[presenting a thoughtful address by Ronald Reagan. [Applause]]
[[Narrator] The speech was revolutionary.]
[Never before had a candidate used ]
[television to raise funds or to reach so ]
[[Ronald Reagan] Thank you and good evening. ]
[The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs,]
[the performer hasn't been provided with a script.]
[As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my ]
[my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks. ]
[When I first heard the speech, A Time For Choosing, ]
[like most people who heard it, I was very much impressed. ]
[It was a speech that was interesting.]
[It was responsive to the needs of the country at that time, ]
[[R.R.] The line has been used, "We've never had it so good." ]
[But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't ]
[something on which we can base our hopes for the future.]
[[Narrator] Even in the speech--]
[He said, "I've been giving this speech for 10 years."]
[It was, in effect, the speech he'd been giving at GE,]
[[R.R.] No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. ]
[So government programs, once launched, never disappear. ]
[Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life]
[we'll ever see on this earth. [Laughter, Applause]]
[The speech is funny, it is powerful, ]
[it is informative, it is dramatic.]
[[R.R.] Where, then, is the road to peace?]
[Well, it's a simple answer after all. ]
[You and I have the courage to say to our enemies]
[there is a price we will not pay. ]
[There is a point beyond which they must not advance. ]
[[Applause] [Narrator] The night of the speech,]
[neither Reagan or his wife Nancy knew how it would be received. ]
[The reaction to it would change both of their lives. ]
[The public response was immediate and it was overwhelming. ]
[[Mary Matalin, Political Consultant and Strategist] It comes across as principled]
[beautifully artistically rendered.]
[It's a speech for the ages. ]
[That was the speech that really was an important]
[turning point in Ronald Reagan's life because it]
[was the cause for people to recognize him]
[as a potential political figure. ]
[And anyone who was writing about politics at that moment]
[saw that as the beginning of Ronald Reagan's]
[rise as one of the most successful politicians in American history.]
[[Narrator] With one speech, the stage was set for Ronald Reagan's political career.]
[He served two successful terms as governor of California.]
[But almost inevitably, he set his sights]
[I went from California back east to become]
[the White House correspondent., so I started dealing with my colleagues and]
[what you call the 'eastern political journalistic establishment'.]
[I would say to them, in one form or another, ]
[he's coming; he's coming to run for president.]
[They would say, "Ronald Reagan, he's an actor.]
[Come on, the guy's a lightweight.]
[And when he came, he swept through the country,]
[[Narrator] Reagan's achievements as president, ]
[both foreign and domestic, are now a part of history. ]
[But throughout his time in office, he continued to apply the lessons]
[he had learned years before on GE factory floors.]
[Even his inaugural addresses contained echoes of earlier days.]
[[Ken Khachigian, Former Chief Speechwriter to President Reagan]]
[When we were preparing the 1984 speech, he pulled out some old]
[3x5 cards from his speeches during ]
[and so the substance that he gave in that Time for Choosing speech, ]
[made its way into the things that he would say as president.]
[[T.B.] In the final analysis, I think people are going to ]
[conclude that this is a man who really was destined]
[to be a successful president]
[because he knew how to balance his strong personal ideology]
[with what the country needed.]
[find itself, and that's not a small thing.]
[[Narrator] Nearly a hundred years after his birth, ]
[Ronald Reagan's legacy remains strong.]
[He discovered America one factory town at a time.]
[Their people gave him voice, and their concerns gave him passion.]
[And from General Electric to the White House, ]
[the result was a brighter future for this country.]
[All because of one man's rendezvous with destiny.]
[Until next week, then, good night for General Electric.]
[[GE Proud Presenting Partner, The Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, ge.com/reagan]]
