Let’s go way back to 1976.
Gerald Ford was the sitting Republican president.
Jimmy Carter of Georgia was going to beat him in the fall.
And Ronald Reagan’s primary campaign to win the Republican Party’s presidential nomination was in deep doodoo.
My father had lost seven primaries in a row to Ford. Most Republicans in Congress were backing President Ford – even Sen. Barry Goldwater, the conservative candidate my father supported in 1964 with his famous “A Time for Choosing” speech.
At one point in the spring of 1976 my father was in his plane on an airport tarmac.
His campaign had no money left to buy jet fuel. He needed a political miracle, a way to live for another day and stay in the primary game.
Lo and behold, at the darkest hour, the angel who came to his rescue was Jesse Helms, the super-conservative Republican senator from North Carolina.
With the backing of Helms and his strong political organization, my father won the North Carolina primary in March, picked up momentum and beat Ford in 23 more primaries.
Then he nearly won the nomination at the contested Republican convention with 1,078 delegates to Ford’s 1,121.
My father was asked by Ford to speak at the end of the convention, which he did as a way to preserve party unity and show his support for Ford.
But it was also a brilliant personal political move because my father’s speech also served as a launching pad to help him win the 1980 GOP nomination and ultimately the presidency.
Without Jesse Helms’ support, my father might have faded away by 1980 and there never would have been a President Reagan.
Likewise, but on a more negative note for the country’s health, in 2020 there might never have been a President Biden if South Carolina congressman James Clyburn hadn’t come to his rescue during the Democrat primaries.
Copyright 2024 Michael Reagan, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.