Talk about early voting: Ronald Reagan won the race for the White House 60 years ago. As columnist George Will quipped, “it only took 16 years to count the votes.”

Just a week before the November 1964 presidential election, Ronald Reagan went on television to make his case for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. In Los Angeles, Reagan recorded a 30-minute campaign announcement that aired nationally on October 27.

His address was pre-recorded but presented as a live broadcast. The program was “A Time for Choosing,” but often simply called “The Speech,” because its impact changed the trajectory of Reagan’s life. In today’s parlance, Reagan went viral.

Reagan began the Speech by saying that he had spent most of his life as a Democrat, but now saw fit to take a different course. He argued for smaller government, that government is owed to the people, and that Americans should reject the intellectual elite from any distant capital. The election was about choosing between less government control and more individual freedoms.

He was disgusted by the fiscal irresponsibility that eroded the purchasing power of a dollar. Reagan was horrified that the debt ceiling was raised three times in 1964 and the country spent 10 times more on welfare than it did during the Great Depression. He criticized the United Nations and foreign aid, claiming the billions sent abroad created more bureaucracy and were used to buy a yacht for the emperor of Ethiopia, suits of clothing for Greek officials and extra wives for Kenyan government officials. In all, Reagan claimed, 107 countries received aid from the United States. Today, 210 foreign countries and regions receive assistance from American taxpayers. The debt ceiling has been raised 70 times since 1964.

Reagan spent much time attacking the bloated federal government, bureaucratic overreach, and property confiscation. He said that every day the government spent $17 million more than it took in. Today, overspending is $4.6 billion a day. Farm subsidies were also the enemy of free enterprise and an insult to the intelligent farmer. Reagan claimed that the bureaucracy was so thick that the Department of Agriculture had one employee for every 30 farms. Today, there is one employee for every 19 farms.

His speech extolled the benefits of individual freedoms and how the country must always uphold freedom and be willing to pay the price. Reagan despised communism and worshiped freedom.

“Should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the Pharaohs?” Reagan asked, “Should the patriots at Concord Bridge lay down their guns and refuse to fire the fire heard around the world?” He concluded by saying that Goldwater has faith in America, and Americans have a rendezvous with destiny, because the United States is man’s last best hope on earth.

The show ended with a call for campaign funds. The money was raised the old-fashioned way – flooding a post office box in Los Angeles. About $1 million was raised, a staggering amount considering that the combined Democratic-Republican presidential campaigns spent $20 million in the 1960 contest.

Reagan’s performance was immediately noticed. Just two days after The Speech, a rural Plumas County newspaper wrote about a woman who said Reagan had changed her mind about voting – don’t vote for Goldwater, she’ll vote for Ronald Reagan! And so it began. Predictably, Reagan said he had no desire to run; two weeks later he was studying the opportunity and finally decided to run for governor, winning two terms.

Reagan’s performance on October 27 was not a hasty campaign stop; it was the result of relentless practice and discipline. For years, Reagan gave The Speech, in different forms and to different audiences. His eight-year contract to host the General Electric Theater television program allowed him to tour GE plants and boost his morale by public speaking. His remarks struck at the evils of socialism and the blessings of liberty.

“A Time for Choosing” evolved from those earlier speeches, such as “Business, Ballots and Offices” in 1959. Reagan warned of the growing power of bureaucrats to shape policy rather than elected lawmakers in Congress . Reagan said stifling regulations were “permanently frozen by civil service regulations beyond the reach of any election.” That criticism foreshadowed the Supreme Court’s 2024 reversal of the Chevron Doctrine, a legal principle that allowed federal agencies broad authority to interpret laws. In 1959 and 1960, Reagan gave the triple-B speech in cities ranging from Chattanooga, Abilene, Spokane and even Honolulu. By 1961, a version of the speech was titled “Introaching Control,” where he called the governor of California a tower of jello swaying to the left with every breeze.

In 1962, he balked at Nixon’s bid for governor and changed his voter registration to Republican that fall. The titles of his speeches morphed into “The Price of Freedom” and “What’s at Stake?” but the core messages of fiscal responsibility and democratic freedom remained. Reagan talked to anyone: Republican clubs, chambers of commerce, sororities, college campuses, real estate agents, Elks Clubs, Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs. And it went everywhere.

Reagan criss-crossed California from Barstow to Chico, speaking under the short banner “Time to Choose.” Each speech could be tailored to the audience. Reagan dropped lines that lacked punch; added and updated evidence as the data evolved. He studied the beat and pause, choosing the right moment to raise his voice or fall silent to absorb applause or laughter. When Reagan became co-chairman of Goldwater’s California campaign, he added parts about candidate Goldwater flying his own plane to deliver medicine to flood-ravaged Mexico.