Craig Shirley learned two things when writing his book about Ronald Reagan's unsuccessful 1976 campaign to take the Republican nomination away from Gerald Ford: Mr. Reagan's explosive temper in private, and the depth of his self-confidence — his "utter belief in his abilities."
Unfailingly genial and affable in public, Mr. Reagan had a rarely seen temper that could explode like a volcano. Mr. Shirley describes a conference telephone call in which Mr. Reagan gave Bill Brock, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, "unshirted hell" for refusing to release funds the California governor had raised for the national committee and wanted to use for a Panama Canal "truth squad."
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Most younger Americans, said Mr. Shirley, who was a college junior in 1976, cannot remember the moribund state of the Republican Party after the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Nixon. Nearly everyone agreed the party was dying.
"The Republican Party stood for nothing and antagonized everybody," he said. "Even after Nixon resigned, for two years of Gerald Ford's presidency Republican identification continued to go down from 26 percent to 18 percent...."
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