In this episode of News World, we're going to look at somebody who dealt head on with student unrest on college campus. I was very struck when I watched the rebellion against America spread from campus to campus, students occupying buildings, and I was reminded that we went through all of this fifty six years ago, that we had, in fact, the students at Columbia occupy Hamilton Hall on April thirtieth, nineteen sixty eight, and fifty six years later, on the same day, pro Palestinian activist took over Hamilton Hall again. Now we've seen protests erupt in I think twenty four different states on forty four campuses. Several thousand students have been arrested and non students, as we're discovering at this stage, and I suspect this is far from being over. And I was reminded of the most famous confrontations involving students trying to take over and shape society by dominating their campuses, and that was starting with Berkeley in the nineteen sixties. And the person who stood up against the campus protests was Governor Ronald Reagan. And so I wanted to vote this podcast to Governor Reagan and how he dealt with student unrest, both as a candidate and then as governor of California. I think there are a lot of lessons that today's university leaders and political leaders could learn by studying what Governor Reagan did. The governor's campaign when he began in nineteen sixty five against presumably a very popular incumbent who had defeated Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty two by over a million votes, Edmund pat Brown. His son, later Jerry Brown, became governor, and Pat Brown was in its very tough to defeat. And that was a period when actors weren't in the habit yet of running for office, and so Reagan's advisors, who included the most famous consulting firm in California, decided that he had to go out and do town hall meetings and answer questions and prove that he knew enough to be governor. Now. The way they developed that is they had a large shoe box filled with four x six cards, and each card represented an answer on an issue. Reagan, being a professional actor, could memorize the entire shoebox with amazing speed, and so he was ready. He goes out to the first town hall meeting and the audience asked him about Berkeley. Wasn't one of the cards. And he goes back and he tells the consultants and they say, oh, you know, that's not really an issue. Then he goes to the second town hall meeting and once again, first question, what are you going to do about Berkeley? And he doesn't have an answer to the cards. He gives his instinctive answer, which became what he did for the rest of the campaign. Goes back and sees his consultants and they say, you know, we really don't think it's an issue. And he has this great line where he says, look, if they think it's an issue, we think it's an issue because they get to define what the issues are. And that also reflected Reagan's whole attitude for his presidency that it was the people who mattered, and you had to know what the people wanted. But let's listen for a second, and the June sixteenth, nineteen sixty nine KQED news interview, Reagan described what had happened and how it became an issue.

In this episode of News World, we're going to look at somebody who dealt head on with student unrest on college campus. I was very struck when I watched the rebellion against America spread from campus to campus, students occupying buildings, and I was reminded that we went through all of this fifty six years ago, that we had, in fact, the students at Columbia occupy Hamilton Hall on April thirtieth, nineteen sixty eight, and fifty six years later, on the same day, pro Palestinian activist took over Hamilton Hall again. Now we've seen protests erupt in I think twenty four different states on forty four campuses. Several thousand students have been arrested and non students, as we're discovering at this stage, and I suspect this is far from being over. And I was reminded of the most famous confrontations involving students trying to take over and shape society by dominating their campuses, and that was starting with Berkeley in the nineteen sixties. And the person who stood up against the campus protests was Governor Ronald Reagan. And so I wanted to vote this podcast to Governor Reagan and how he dealt with student unrest, both as a candidate and then as governor of California. I think there are a lot of lessons that today's university leaders and political leaders could learn by studying what Governor Reagan did. The governor's campaign when he began in nineteen sixty five against presumably a very popular incumbent who had defeated Richard Nixon in nineteen sixty two by over a million votes, Edmund pat Brown. His son, later Jerry Brown, became governor, and Pat Brown was in its very tough to defeat. And that was a period when actors weren't in the habit yet of running for office, and so Reagan's advisors, who included the most famous consulting firm in California, decided that he had to go out and do town hall meetings and answer questions and prove that he knew enough to be governor. Now. The way they developed that is they had a large shoe box filled with four x six cards, and each card represented an answer on an issue. Reagan, being a professional actor, could memorize the entire shoebox with amazing speed, and so he was ready. He goes out to the first town hall meeting and the audience asked him about Berkeley. Wasn't one of the cards. And he goes back and he tells the consultants and they say, oh, you know, that's not really an issue. Then he goes to the second town hall meeting and once again, first question, what are you going to do about Berkeley? And he doesn't have an answer to the cards. He gives his instinctive answer, which became what he did for the rest of the campaign. Goes back and sees his consultants and they say, you know, we really don't think it's an issue. And he has this great line where he says, look, if they think it's an issue, we think it's an issue because they get to define what the issues are. And that also reflected Reagan's whole attitude for his presidency that it was the people who mattered, and you had to know what the people wanted. But let's listen for a second, and the June sixteenth, nineteen sixty nine KQED news interview, Reagan described what had happened and how it became an issue.

Let's just straighten the record on something the people of California made this an issue I did not. I campaigned in the primary on a basis of question and answer. In every public appearance, I opened myself being a new factor on the political scene, and with people having no political record by which to judge, I threw myself open to questions in audiences that went from three thousand to thirty in size, And it became apparent for a certain period of time that the first question that was going to be asked of me was with regard to the University of California at Berkeley.

Let's just straighten the record on something the people of California made this an issue I did not. I campaigned in the primary on a basis of question and answer. In every public appearance, I opened myself being a new factor on the political scene, and with people having no political record by which to judge, I threw myself open to questions in audiences that went from three thousand to thirty in size, And it became apparent for a certain period of time that the first question that was going to be asked of me was with regard to the University of California at Berkeley.

The fact is, the students at Berkeley had created the issue, and Reagan began to shape a position about it. And when he became candidate for governor, in a formal way on the fourth of January nineteen sixty six, he talked about the protest, and this is Reagan on what was happening at Berkeley.

The fact is, the students at Berkeley had created the issue, and Reagan began to shape a position about it. And when he became candidate for governor, in a formal way on the fourth of January nineteen sixty six, he talked about the protest, and this is Reagan on what was happening at Berkeley.

My criticism of the administration at the time, end of the administration of the university was that there seemed to be no action being taken except an action of complete retreat. And as a matter of fact, my predecessor, on a number of occasions defended the things that were going on as being a worthwhile part of education. I hardly saw it that way, and that was why I said that, being on the outside, that I thought the answer might be a blue ribbon citizens committee to do some investigating and finding out.

My criticism of the administration at the time, end of the administration of the university was that there seemed to be no action being taken except an action of complete retreat. And as a matter of fact, my predecessor, on a number of occasions defended the things that were going on as being a worthwhile part of education. I hardly saw it that way, and that was why I said that, being on the outside, that I thought the answer might be a blue ribbon citizens committee to do some investigating and finding out.

Well.

Well.

With the change in presidents immediately after my coming into office, this became not the best thing to do. It couldn't go out seeking a new president while you were having an investigation going on. By this time, I don't think the investigation is required. We know what's going on in the campuses.

With the change in presidents immediately after my coming into office, this became not the best thing to do. It couldn't go out seeking a new president while you were having an investigation going on. By this time, I don't think the investigation is required. We know what's going on in the campuses.

Back at the turn of the century, we embarked on a master plan of education. It was truly a bipartisan effort above political rivalry indifferences. Its principal architects were a Democrat assembly woman and a Republican assemblyman. Believing in that plan, Californians taxed themselves at a rate higher than any other Americans to build a great university. But it takes more than dollars in stately buildings. Or do we no longer think it necessary to teach self respect, self discipline, and respect.

Back at the turn of the century, we embarked on a master plan of education. It was truly a bipartisan effort above political rivalry indifferences. Its principal architects were a Democrat assembly woman and a Republican assemblyman. Believing in that plan, Californians taxed themselves at a rate higher than any other Americans to build a great university. But it takes more than dollars in stately buildings. Or do we no longer think it necessary to teach self respect, self discipline, and respect.

For law and order.

For law and order.

Will we allow a great university to be brought to its knees by a noisy, dissident minority. Will we meet their neurotic vulgarities with vacillation and weakness, Or will we tell those entrusted with administering the university, we expect them to enforce a code based on decency, common sense, and dedication to the high and noble purpose of that university. That they will have the full support of all of us as long as they do this. But we'll settle for nothing less.

Will we allow a great university to be brought to its knees by a noisy, dissident minority. Will we meet their neurotic vulgarities with vacillation and weakness, Or will we tell those entrusted with administering the university, we expect them to enforce a code based on decency, common sense, and dedication to the high and noble purpose of that university. That they will have the full support of all of us as long as they do this. But we'll settle for nothing less.

Notice how unequivocal he is, will settle for nothing less? And he wanted them to enforce a code to them being the university based on decency, common sense, and dedication to the high and noble purpose of that university. That whole line explains the difference between the cowards and the left wingers who today can't stand up to the students more to their own faculty, and in many cases the faculty are even worse than the students now. Reagan originally thought they would have a Blue Ribbon citizens committee to investigating what was happening in the university, but after getting elected, he realized that was not the best way to approach it. On May twelfth, nineteen sixty six, as a candidate, Reagan gave a speech at the cow Palace in San Francisco on the cal Palace was the very famous auditorium where Barry Goldwater had been nominated two years earlier. Reagan, in that May twelfth speech, talked about leadership and the decency gap at the University of California at Berkeley.

Notice how unequivocal he is, will settle for nothing less? And he wanted them to enforce a code to them being the university based on decency, common sense, and dedication to the high and noble purpose of that university. That whole line explains the difference between the cowards and the left wingers who today can't stand up to the students more to their own faculty, and in many cases the faculty are even worse than the students now. Reagan originally thought they would have a Blue Ribbon citizens committee to investigating what was happening in the university, but after getting elected, he realized that was not the best way to approach it. On May twelfth, nineteen sixty six, as a candidate, Reagan gave a speech at the cow Palace in San Francisco on the cal Palace was the very famous auditorium where Barry Goldwater had been nominated two years earlier. Reagan, in that May twelfth speech, talked about leadership and the decency gap at the University of California at Berkeley.

They're a school minority of beatnik's radicals and filthy speech advocates have brought shame on a great university, so much so that applications applications for enrollment have dropped twenty one percent, and there's evidence they'll continue to drop even more. Now. We've all read the press reportings of the report that was handed in by the Senate subcommittee, and it charges that the campus has become a rallying point for communists and a center for sexual misconduct.

They're a school minority of beatnik's radicals and filthy speech advocates have brought shame on a great university, so much so that applications applications for enrollment have dropped twenty one percent, and there's evidence they'll continue to drop even more. Now. We've all read the press reportings of the report that was handed in by the Senate subcommittee, and it charges that the campus has become a rallying point for communists and a center for sexual misconduct.

I've never seen that report.

I've never seen that report.

This is not only a sign of a leadership gap.

This is not only a sign of a leadership gap.

They're not the only sign.

They're not the only sign.

It began a year ago when the so.

It began a year ago when the so.

Called free speech advocates, who in truth have no appreciation for freedom.

Called free speech advocates, who in truth have no appreciation for freedom.

We're allowed to.

We're allowed to.

Assault and humiliate the symbol of law and order a policeman on the campus.

Assault and humiliate the symbol of law and order a policeman on the campus.

And that was the moment when the ring.

And that was the moment when the ring.

Leaders should have been taken to discoff of the neck and thrown out of the university once before.

Leaders should have been taken to discoff of the neck and thrown out of the university once before.

When you think about Reagan's description of a leadership gap, and you look, for example, at Columbia University, you know exactly how parallel these things are. You have presidency universities who are intimidated by their faculty, intimidated by their students, who were intimidated by foreign donors, and would just now begin to realize how much money is coming into these universities from foreign countries, and, by the way, not being reported even though they're legally required to. So Reagan decided to take the university had on and in January nineteen sixty seven, shortly after getting sworn in as governor, Reagan proposed a plan which would cut the budget of the University of California by twenty percent and start requiring tuition payments. At the time, the students only had to pay one hundred and thirty five dollars a year in fees. Now, on the Reagan plan, the tuition charge would be four hundred dollars a year, with an additional two hundred and seventy five dollars a year for in state students, but it would be nine hundred and forty dollars a year with additional fees for out of state students. In Reagan's mind, this was a state university and therefore was focused on the students of the state of California. Even under the Reagan plan, free tuition for some students would still be available, but only for in state students. On January seventeenth, nineteen sixty seven, still in his very first month as governor, Governor Reagan issued a written statement on his plan to raise tuition and cut the university budget. In that statement, he said the following I'm quoting Governor Reagan as plainly as we can. We have told the citizens of the state the nature and size of our financial problem. We are trying, through economies of roughly ten percent, to effect saving somewhat in excess of two hundred million dollars, and will strive for more. But even so, a part of the debtset will have to be made up from new revenues. At the same time, we must provide a margin for a new, broader based tax to relieve the overburdened property taxpayer, principally the homeowner. Every segment of government must share in the economies first, as every citizen must share in the increased taxes, education and welfare total eighty percent or more of the general fund spending. There is no way we could exempt them from the belt tightening that is necessary. If we did, we'd have to eliminate all other government services to arrive at any meaningful reduction. So Reagan was putting education, which had been up to then almost a sacred institution, he was putting it right in line with having to get to a balanced budget and to control the spending by the state.

When you think about Reagan's description of a leadership gap, and you look, for example, at Columbia University, you know exactly how parallel these things are. You have presidency universities who are intimidated by their faculty, intimidated by their students, who were intimidated by foreign donors, and would just now begin to realize how much money is coming into these universities from foreign countries, and, by the way, not being reported even though they're legally required to. So Reagan decided to take the university had on and in January nineteen sixty seven, shortly after getting sworn in as governor, Reagan proposed a plan which would cut the budget of the University of California by twenty percent and start requiring tuition payments. At the time, the students only had to pay one hundred and thirty five dollars a year in fees. Now, on the Reagan plan, the tuition charge would be four hundred dollars a year, with an additional two hundred and seventy five dollars a year for in state students, but it would be nine hundred and forty dollars a year with additional fees for out of state students. In Reagan's mind, this was a state university and therefore was focused on the students of the state of California. Even under the Reagan plan, free tuition for some students would still be available, but only for in state students. On January seventeenth, nineteen sixty seven, still in his very first month as governor, Governor Reagan issued a written statement on his plan to raise tuition and cut the university budget. In that statement, he said the following I'm quoting Governor Reagan as plainly as we can. We have told the citizens of the state the nature and size of our financial problem. We are trying, through economies of roughly ten percent, to effect saving somewhat in excess of two hundred million dollars, and will strive for more. But even so, a part of the debtset will have to be made up from new revenues. At the same time, we must provide a margin for a new, broader based tax to relieve the overburdened property taxpayer, principally the homeowner. Every segment of government must share in the economies first, as every citizen must share in the increased taxes, education and welfare total eighty percent or more of the general fund spending. There is no way we could exempt them from the belt tightening that is necessary. If we did, we'd have to eliminate all other government services to arrive at any meaningful reduction. So Reagan was putting education, which had been up to then almost a sacred institution, he was putting it right in line with having to get to a balanced budget and to control the spending by the state.

Now.

Now.

The president of the University of California, Clark Kerr, who was a very famous national figure. He'd been at the university for twenty two years, was so opposed to what Reagan was doing that on January twentieth, nineteen sixty seven, still in Reagan's first month as governor, he was fired by a vote of fourteen. Date that also happened to be the first Board of Regents meeting that Governor Reagan attended. However, the vote happened in a closed session an hour after Reagan left to catch a plane to Los Angeles. Kerr had been very vocal against Reagan's plan to cut funding and enactuition university, and he'd been very unwilling to take control of the university back from the students. The lead story the next day, on January twenty first, nineteen sixty seven, in the San Francisco Chronicle read UC Ragent's firecurr big victory for Reagan. He was off to a serious start, beginning to take on Berkeley and the problems of a university that's out of control. On January twenty second, nineteen sixty seven, Regent Theodore Meyer issued a statement published in the San Francisco Chronicle quote Courage's relations with the regents were adversely affected by his handling of the Berkeley campus disorders in the fall of nineteen sixty four. Some subsequent events did not improve the relationship. The resulting on certainty and controversy had been harmful to the university in many ways. Now notice, on the one hand, he's following a pattern of being within the game, doing what it seems to be appropriate, not overruling the regents. On the other hand, he is setting a tone and a framework whether regents are doing what Reagan hoped would happen. Now that initial approach did not automatically solve anything. Over the course of nineteen sixty eight to California Highway patrolmen were fire bombed during the June twenty eighth till July third riots. Officers suffered serious burns, with one returning to limited duty. A newly constructed building near the campus was bombed, which blew a twelve by sixteen foot hole in the building and broke a water pipe. A guardhouse in Berkeley campus was bombed. The ROTC building on campus was bombed, and attempted bombing of a Berkeley police car in the police station parking lot. It would have blown up the car and several buildings if the bomb had worked, but it didn't. An explosion of a utility company tower near campus. Two bombing attempts at nearby industrial plants. Neither of the bombs worked. Law enforcement confiscated over one thousand sticks of dynamite, more than two hundred guns and other weapons, dozens of monotov cocktails and materials used to make them in apartments or cars in and around the Berkeley campus. There were about a dozen arson attempts in Berkeley, causing at least eight hundred thousand dollars in damage over seven months. Berkeley officials were forced to declare a state of civil disaster during riots taking place on June thirtieth to July third, nineteen sixty eight, and August thirtieth to September ninth, nineteen sixty eight. In both cases, outside police officers were brought in during the protest. One officer was shot and survived, and dozens more were fired on. The summer riots of nineteen sixty eight cost at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in property damage. Additionally, there were financial losses for local businesses and the cost of increased police presence has never been reported. Notice, by the way, that this was a very violent perd nationwide. The FBI estimated that in nineteen sixty nine to seventy there were twenty five hundred bombings. The level of militancy were beginning to see now, if it is not stopped, grows and frankly, becomes almost like a cancer in getting more violent, more dangerous. The people who are the hardcore become even harder, and they gradually turned to levels of violence that at the beginning seemed inconceivable. The campus draft opposition planned on May seventeenth, nineteen sixty eight, to hold an anti draft Vietnam commencement at the University of California. The Campus Draft Opposition was a registered campus organization with both students and faculty members. And interestingly, we now have had Senator Bernie Sanders that with all the student demonstrations, with what's coming up this summer in Chicago, where remember in nineteen sixty eight there were huge demonstrations and the police ended up using tear gas and the country was horrified during the Democratic National Convention in nineteen sixty eight to see the speeches inside and the riots outside. Well, Senator Sanders just said, it's possible that Gaza and the war are going to become for President Biden what Vietnam was for President Johnson. Was pretty sobering comments by Senator Sander and worth keeping in mind as you look at the parallels back with how Reagan dealt with it. The anti War Effort Vietnam commencement was planned to be held in the steps of Sprull Hall because the organization was denied the use of the ten thousand seat Greek Theater on campus by US District Judge William T. Schwegert, who refused to order the university to let them use the theater more than seven hundred Berkeley students who were refusing to sign up for the draft planned on attending. Governor Reagan was vocally against this and said that he hoped the regents would ask university President Charles J. Hitch to cancel the event. Reagan warned that unless the regents called off the event quote, I will review my options for other actions. Reagan also noted that any demonstration against the draft and that encouraged students to not sign up should be considered treason. May tenth, nineteen sixty eight. Reagan letter to Theodore Meyer, Chairman of the Board of Regents, wrote that Berkeley administrators should revoke the group's official campus registration and discipline any faculty member involved. Six thousand university students and faculty attended the hour long Vietnam commencement anyways, ignoring the ban. Several hundred attendance pledged to refuse military service and signed I won't go statements. They were, in effect publicly pledging to break the law. Students chanted, as long as the United States is involved in this war, I will not serve in the armed forces. The organizers argued that it was not a Vietnam commencement, despite a banner which set it was, but there was an anti draft rally which they had permission to have. Regent board members stated that it was an example of free expression in an orderly setting and refused to have disciplinary measures against the students and faculty and attendance. In June, Reagan suggested that the Board of Regents have a special University of California report that looked into how Regent's policy is implemented. Reagan set at a news conference quote, I intend to promote the ideas suggested before that I think the Regents should have a staff, a small staff of their own, reporting directly to the Regents on the implementation of region's policy and to make sure that policy is being carried out in various campuses. By the way, this is a theme that we'll see again and again, because over and over again you have people at the very top who are elected find out that they can't enforce their will, they can't get things done, and that the bureaucracy simply ignores them or subverts what they want. Now, Reagan had come to realize that he had to be as tough as he needed to be to quell the situation, to bring about peace and safety, and to enforce the law. February fifth, nineteen sixty nine, he declared a state of extreme emergency at the request of local officials during violence connected with the Third World Liberation Front strike at the University of California, Berkeley. According to a New York Times article, Reagan authorized H. W. Sullivan, commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, to provide all necessary manpower and aid to Sheriff Frank Madigan of Alameda County to maintain order on the campus. The state of emergency read quote. Any student suspended or expelled from a state university, college, junior college, or high school who afterward entered the property of a public educational institution without permission of the chief campus officer or his representative would be guilty of criminal trespass. Any student convicted of criminal offense growing out of a campus disturbments would be dismissed and could not enter a state school or college for at least one year. Any faculty member or other employee of a college or university, or a similar offense in these circumstances would be dismissed and become ineligible for further employment at a state college or school without specific permission of the government board. He would be illegal to bring a loud speaker on any campus without official permission. Now, these are clear specific steps that every university could take, and that probably they have to take if they're going to get control back of the campuses today. Now, despite having issued these very strong position in the state of emergency, things continued to decay, and as of February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine, a total of one hundred and twenty five adults and two juveniles were arrested during the Third World Liberation Front strike, which started in the Berkeley campus on January twenty second, nineteen sixty nine. Of that number, eighty eight were students, thirty four were not students, two were faculty members, and three were non teaching employees of the university. And noticed by the way that we're getting increasing reports that maybe as much as half of the people involved in the incidents on campus who are being arrested, up to half of them are not in fact students and don't belong on the campus in the first place. In Reagan's era, of the students, one was dismissed, eleven were on interim suspension, sixty faced disciplinary hearings and thirty nine runner investigation for possible disciplinary hearings. Twenty eight of the non students who were previously students were barred for readmission at the university. During a press conference on February twenty at nineteen sixty nine, Reagans said, I do not feel the university has matched us with a determination to help us effectively. He went on. Governor Reagan, at the University of California Berkeley Border Regents meeting on February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine, demanded that striking students to be expelled and faculty be fired. We're seeing what real leadership from somebody who's committed to restoring order can really look like. Outside of the February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine Board of Regents meeting, about three thousand railed outside protesting and, as the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, shouted on principal epithets directed against Governor Reagan. All of this continued to build. The People's Park protests May fifteenth to June two was the fourth major riode at Berkeley in less than a year. What happened was an undeveloped area that was now slated for development became a symbol for the left wing students, and they decided that they were going to in fact occupy the park. The People's Park were just a blank space was becoming a real problem for the police beginning in May of nineteen sixty nine. During April twenty eighth to May fourteenth, nineteen sixty nine, police received forty eight formal complaints of incidents happening in the park. The university decided to put up a fence around the park to keep out on oneted individuals or The university surveyed the area and prepared for previously planned development. On May fourteenth, Berkeley University posted no trespassing signs around People's Park in Berkeley. Demonstrators took down the fifty one signs and burned them in a fire pit. Later that day, about three hundred and fifty people gathered at the park. Seventy five people brought sleeping gear on blankets to occupy the site overnight. About two hundred and seventy five officers were sent from the Berkeley Police Department, Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and the California Highway Patrol. On May fifteenth, nineteen sixty nine. At four forty five am, police informed the cloud that they were trespassing and were told to leave or be arrested. Only about a dozen state most of the crowd left. Three people were arrested. At six twenty am, a construction crew went to the site to build a fence around the park to prevent people from occupy it. About one hundred people showed up, but did not intervene with the construction, so the police made no attempt at arresting them. A group of students addressed the crowd, telling them that a mass protest was to take place at noon on the Spraul Hall Plaza. By noon, about two thousand people gathered at Sproul Hall Plaza, including people not affiliated with the college. At the start of the noon protest, one hundred and fifty nine officers, thirty seven Berkeley Police, twenty six Sheriff's deputies in one hundred California Highway Patrol were on duty. Various speatures took place, ending with the UC student Body President Daniel Siegel saying, quote, if we were to win this thing, it is because we are making it more costly for the university to put up its fence than it is for them to take down the fence. Let's go and take over the park. The group of two thousand then started advancing the People's Park, where the construction crew was still putting up the fence. Violence ensued. Rocks, sticks, bricks, pieces of pipe were thrown at the officers. Cherry bombs began exploding on the streets. Protests broke local business windows vandalized police cars. At twelve fifty two PM, officers began throwing tear gas containers in the crowd in hopes to contain them and to protect themselves. The officers were unable to control the violence, and other officers arrived at two fifteen. By that evening, at least one hundred and three officers were injured, twenty two businesses had their windows smashed, and an unknown number of police cars were damaged. At nine pm, Governor Reagan signed a proclamation declaring a national emergency calling the National Guard. At the request of local and state law enforcement. The Berkeley City Council voted eight to one against sending in the National Guard. Reagan ignored them and sent the Guard anyway. During the period of May fifteenth to twenty fourth, there were a total of seven hundred and sixty eight arrests, two hundred and seventy two university students and four hundred and ninety six non university students, almost a two to one margin of non students, About forty percent of those arrested were not residents of the town of Berkeley and came from out of town. According to a report published on July first, nineteen sixty nine, to Governor Reagan detailing the People's Park confrontation, the cost of maintaining the National Guard support forces at Berkeley was estimated by the Department of Finance at almost fifty thousand dollars a day. The troops were withdrawn on June second, making a total of seventeen days duty. A preliminary answer of the cost was seven hundred and sixty four thousand dollars for the National Guard expenses. And remember this is in nineteen sixty nine dollars, so you'd have to multiply by three or four to get to a current cost. And in April seventeenth, nineteen seventy press conference, the university spokes when accused Reagan of escalating the situation by bringing in the National Guard. Reagan responded, first.

The president of the University of California, Clark Kerr, who was a very famous national figure. He'd been at the university for twenty two years, was so opposed to what Reagan was doing that on January twentieth, nineteen sixty seven, still in Reagan's first month as governor, he was fired by a vote of fourteen. Date that also happened to be the first Board of Regents meeting that Governor Reagan attended. However, the vote happened in a closed session an hour after Reagan left to catch a plane to Los Angeles. Kerr had been very vocal against Reagan's plan to cut funding and enactuition university, and he'd been very unwilling to take control of the university back from the students. The lead story the next day, on January twenty first, nineteen sixty seven, in the San Francisco Chronicle read UC Ragent's firecurr big victory for Reagan. He was off to a serious start, beginning to take on Berkeley and the problems of a university that's out of control. On January twenty second, nineteen sixty seven, Regent Theodore Meyer issued a statement published in the San Francisco Chronicle quote Courage's relations with the regents were adversely affected by his handling of the Berkeley campus disorders in the fall of nineteen sixty four. Some subsequent events did not improve the relationship. The resulting on certainty and controversy had been harmful to the university in many ways. Now notice, on the one hand, he's following a pattern of being within the game, doing what it seems to be appropriate, not overruling the regents. On the other hand, he is setting a tone and a framework whether regents are doing what Reagan hoped would happen. Now that initial approach did not automatically solve anything. Over the course of nineteen sixty eight to California Highway patrolmen were fire bombed during the June twenty eighth till July third riots. Officers suffered serious burns, with one returning to limited duty. A newly constructed building near the campus was bombed, which blew a twelve by sixteen foot hole in the building and broke a water pipe. A guardhouse in Berkeley campus was bombed. The ROTC building on campus was bombed, and attempted bombing of a Berkeley police car in the police station parking lot. It would have blown up the car and several buildings if the bomb had worked, but it didn't. An explosion of a utility company tower near campus. Two bombing attempts at nearby industrial plants. Neither of the bombs worked. Law enforcement confiscated over one thousand sticks of dynamite, more than two hundred guns and other weapons, dozens of monotov cocktails and materials used to make them in apartments or cars in and around the Berkeley campus. There were about a dozen arson attempts in Berkeley, causing at least eight hundred thousand dollars in damage over seven months. Berkeley officials were forced to declare a state of civil disaster during riots taking place on June thirtieth to July third, nineteen sixty eight, and August thirtieth to September ninth, nineteen sixty eight. In both cases, outside police officers were brought in during the protest. One officer was shot and survived, and dozens more were fired on. The summer riots of nineteen sixty eight cost at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in property damage. Additionally, there were financial losses for local businesses and the cost of increased police presence has never been reported. Notice, by the way, that this was a very violent perd nationwide. The FBI estimated that in nineteen sixty nine to seventy there were twenty five hundred bombings. The level of militancy were beginning to see now, if it is not stopped, grows and frankly, becomes almost like a cancer in getting more violent, more dangerous. The people who are the hardcore become even harder, and they gradually turned to levels of violence that at the beginning seemed inconceivable. The campus draft opposition planned on May seventeenth, nineteen sixty eight, to hold an anti draft Vietnam commencement at the University of California. The Campus Draft Opposition was a registered campus organization with both students and faculty members. And interestingly, we now have had Senator Bernie Sanders that with all the student demonstrations, with what's coming up this summer in Chicago, where remember in nineteen sixty eight there were huge demonstrations and the police ended up using tear gas and the country was horrified during the Democratic National Convention in nineteen sixty eight to see the speeches inside and the riots outside. Well, Senator Sanders just said, it's possible that Gaza and the war are going to become for President Biden what Vietnam was for President Johnson. Was pretty sobering comments by Senator Sander and worth keeping in mind as you look at the parallels back with how Reagan dealt with it. The anti War Effort Vietnam commencement was planned to be held in the steps of Sprull Hall because the organization was denied the use of the ten thousand seat Greek Theater on campus by US District Judge William T. Schwegert, who refused to order the university to let them use the theater more than seven hundred Berkeley students who were refusing to sign up for the draft planned on attending. Governor Reagan was vocally against this and said that he hoped the regents would ask university President Charles J. Hitch to cancel the event. Reagan warned that unless the regents called off the event quote, I will review my options for other actions. Reagan also noted that any demonstration against the draft and that encouraged students to not sign up should be considered treason. May tenth, nineteen sixty eight. Reagan letter to Theodore Meyer, Chairman of the Board of Regents, wrote that Berkeley administrators should revoke the group's official campus registration and discipline any faculty member involved. Six thousand university students and faculty attended the hour long Vietnam commencement anyways, ignoring the ban. Several hundred attendance pledged to refuse military service and signed I won't go statements. They were, in effect publicly pledging to break the law. Students chanted, as long as the United States is involved in this war, I will not serve in the armed forces. The organizers argued that it was not a Vietnam commencement, despite a banner which set it was, but there was an anti draft rally which they had permission to have. Regent board members stated that it was an example of free expression in an orderly setting and refused to have disciplinary measures against the students and faculty and attendance. In June, Reagan suggested that the Board of Regents have a special University of California report that looked into how Regent's policy is implemented. Reagan set at a news conference quote, I intend to promote the ideas suggested before that I think the Regents should have a staff, a small staff of their own, reporting directly to the Regents on the implementation of region's policy and to make sure that policy is being carried out in various campuses. By the way, this is a theme that we'll see again and again, because over and over again you have people at the very top who are elected find out that they can't enforce their will, they can't get things done, and that the bureaucracy simply ignores them or subverts what they want. Now, Reagan had come to realize that he had to be as tough as he needed to be to quell the situation, to bring about peace and safety, and to enforce the law. February fifth, nineteen sixty nine, he declared a state of extreme emergency at the request of local officials during violence connected with the Third World Liberation Front strike at the University of California, Berkeley. According to a New York Times article, Reagan authorized H. W. Sullivan, commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, to provide all necessary manpower and aid to Sheriff Frank Madigan of Alameda County to maintain order on the campus. The state of emergency read quote. Any student suspended or expelled from a state university, college, junior college, or high school who afterward entered the property of a public educational institution without permission of the chief campus officer or his representative would be guilty of criminal trespass. Any student convicted of criminal offense growing out of a campus disturbments would be dismissed and could not enter a state school or college for at least one year. Any faculty member or other employee of a college or university, or a similar offense in these circumstances would be dismissed and become ineligible for further employment at a state college or school without specific permission of the government board. He would be illegal to bring a loud speaker on any campus without official permission. Now, these are clear specific steps that every university could take, and that probably they have to take if they're going to get control back of the campuses today. Now, despite having issued these very strong position in the state of emergency, things continued to decay, and as of February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine, a total of one hundred and twenty five adults and two juveniles were arrested during the Third World Liberation Front strike, which started in the Berkeley campus on January twenty second, nineteen sixty nine. Of that number, eighty eight were students, thirty four were not students, two were faculty members, and three were non teaching employees of the university. And noticed by the way that we're getting increasing reports that maybe as much as half of the people involved in the incidents on campus who are being arrested, up to half of them are not in fact students and don't belong on the campus in the first place. In Reagan's era, of the students, one was dismissed, eleven were on interim suspension, sixty faced disciplinary hearings and thirty nine runner investigation for possible disciplinary hearings. Twenty eight of the non students who were previously students were barred for readmission at the university. During a press conference on February twenty at nineteen sixty nine, Reagans said, I do not feel the university has matched us with a determination to help us effectively. He went on. Governor Reagan, at the University of California Berkeley Border Regents meeting on February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine, demanded that striking students to be expelled and faculty be fired. We're seeing what real leadership from somebody who's committed to restoring order can really look like. Outside of the February twenty first, nineteen sixty nine Board of Regents meeting, about three thousand railed outside protesting and, as the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, shouted on principal epithets directed against Governor Reagan. All of this continued to build. The People's Park protests May fifteenth to June two was the fourth major riode at Berkeley in less than a year. What happened was an undeveloped area that was now slated for development became a symbol for the left wing students, and they decided that they were going to in fact occupy the park. The People's Park were just a blank space was becoming a real problem for the police beginning in May of nineteen sixty nine. During April twenty eighth to May fourteenth, nineteen sixty nine, police received forty eight formal complaints of incidents happening in the park. The university decided to put up a fence around the park to keep out on oneted individuals or The university surveyed the area and prepared for previously planned development. On May fourteenth, Berkeley University posted no trespassing signs around People's Park in Berkeley. Demonstrators took down the fifty one signs and burned them in a fire pit. Later that day, about three hundred and fifty people gathered at the park. Seventy five people brought sleeping gear on blankets to occupy the site overnight. About two hundred and seventy five officers were sent from the Berkeley Police Department, Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and the California Highway Patrol. On May fifteenth, nineteen sixty nine. At four forty five am, police informed the cloud that they were trespassing and were told to leave or be arrested. Only about a dozen state most of the crowd left. Three people were arrested. At six twenty am, a construction crew went to the site to build a fence around the park to prevent people from occupy it. About one hundred people showed up, but did not intervene with the construction, so the police made no attempt at arresting them. A group of students addressed the crowd, telling them that a mass protest was to take place at noon on the Spraul Hall Plaza. By noon, about two thousand people gathered at Sproul Hall Plaza, including people not affiliated with the college. At the start of the noon protest, one hundred and fifty nine officers, thirty seven Berkeley Police, twenty six Sheriff's deputies in one hundred California Highway Patrol were on duty. Various speatures took place, ending with the UC student Body President Daniel Siegel saying, quote, if we were to win this thing, it is because we are making it more costly for the university to put up its fence than it is for them to take down the fence. Let's go and take over the park. The group of two thousand then started advancing the People's Park, where the construction crew was still putting up the fence. Violence ensued. Rocks, sticks, bricks, pieces of pipe were thrown at the officers. Cherry bombs began exploding on the streets. Protests broke local business windows vandalized police cars. At twelve fifty two PM, officers began throwing tear gas containers in the crowd in hopes to contain them and to protect themselves. The officers were unable to control the violence, and other officers arrived at two fifteen. By that evening, at least one hundred and three officers were injured, twenty two businesses had their windows smashed, and an unknown number of police cars were damaged. At nine pm, Governor Reagan signed a proclamation declaring a national emergency calling the National Guard. At the request of local and state law enforcement. The Berkeley City Council voted eight to one against sending in the National Guard. Reagan ignored them and sent the Guard anyway. During the period of May fifteenth to twenty fourth, there were a total of seven hundred and sixty eight arrests, two hundred and seventy two university students and four hundred and ninety six non university students, almost a two to one margin of non students, About forty percent of those arrested were not residents of the town of Berkeley and came from out of town. According to a report published on July first, nineteen sixty nine, to Governor Reagan detailing the People's Park confrontation, the cost of maintaining the National Guard support forces at Berkeley was estimated by the Department of Finance at almost fifty thousand dollars a day. The troops were withdrawn on June second, making a total of seventeen days duty. A preliminary answer of the cost was seven hundred and sixty four thousand dollars for the National Guard expenses. And remember this is in nineteen sixty nine dollars, so you'd have to multiply by three or four to get to a current cost. And in April seventeenth, nineteen seventy press conference, the university spokes when accused Reagan of escalating the situation by bringing in the National Guard. Reagan responded, first.

Of all, the police have a very difficult role. I think that every doubt should be resolved in their favor. At the same time, as a citizen, if you throw a rocke at me, I have no right to use a gun back at you. It's this escalation of force that we've got to stop. But as Nixon has said that we've got to lower our voices. What I find is that Governor Reagan and some of the police activity, not all of it. Most of it is excellent, but some of it is escalating. As I've said before that instead of throwing water in these situations and quieting them down, I find certain individuals in our public life are throwing kerosen and making the situation worse. We're going to get somebody killed if it isn't stopped.

Of all, the police have a very difficult role. I think that every doubt should be resolved in their favor. At the same time, as a citizen, if you throw a rocke at me, I have no right to use a gun back at you. It's this escalation of force that we've got to stop. But as Nixon has said that we've got to lower our voices. What I find is that Governor Reagan and some of the police activity, not all of it. Most of it is excellent, but some of it is escalating. As I've said before that instead of throwing water in these situations and quieting them down, I find certain individuals in our public life are throwing kerosen and making the situation worse. We're going to get somebody killed if it isn't stopped.

There's some key things that we have to recognize. One is that the problems we're facing today go back a long way. Reagan thoroughly understand that. In fact, in a May twelfth, nineteen seventy speech at the San Francisco Hilton, he suggested the students are being indoctrinated in college campuses.

There's some key things that we have to recognize. One is that the problems we're facing today go back a long way. Reagan thoroughly understand that. In fact, in a May twelfth, nineteen seventy speech at the San Francisco Hilton, he suggested the students are being indoctrinated in college campuses.

I have a terrible suspicion that if we really I could open the door on higher education. We would find that our young people, many many of them, have been indoctrinated in thousands of social science courses, not to find it the way it is, but to believe it the way it isn't that they have been indoctrinated with one viewpoint regarding our system. When students tell me that the capitalistic system must go, and these are not rioting students, these are good students.

I have a terrible suspicion that if we really I could open the door on higher education. We would find that our young people, many many of them, have been indoctrinated in thousands of social science courses, not to find it the way it is, but to believe it the way it isn't that they have been indoctrinated with one viewpoint regarding our system. When students tell me that the capitalistic system must go, and these are not rioting students, these are good students.

I think it's very important to understand that Reagan recognized the core problems we're now dealing with. If you look at his farewell address in January nineteen eighty nine, he warns that we are failing to protect American citizenship, we're failing to teach American history, and that we have a great problem growing among our young people. Well, that's just metastasized over and over again, and we are today faced with not yet as big a problem, not yet as violent a problem, but clearly a growing challenge of people who are overtly anti American, people who chant death to America, people who chant death to Israel, clear open vivid anti Semitism, and a dramatically greater influence from foreign governments who have given billions of dollars to the very universities whose leaders are now afraid to defend America and fraid to defend the rule of law. I think you can learn a lot about Governor Ronald Reagan's approach to student protests. We have it on our showpage at neut world dot com. Certainly, if you go to the Reagan Library, the amount of material they have is astounding. Governor Reagan and then President Reagan, we're always clear, always firm, and always willing to stand up for what he believed in. I think it's very important for us to recognize that we once again are at the hinge of history. We once again have to stand up for freedom, for America, for citizenship, for the rule of law, and that Reagan is a pretty good guide for how to do that. I'm going to thank you for listening. We can learn more about Governor Reagan's approach to student protesters on our show page at neut world dot com. Newt World is produced by Ginglis three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guernsey Sloan and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley, special thanks to the team at Ginger Street sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld concerner from my three free weekly columns at gingerstre sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Neutsworld.

I think it's very important to understand that Reagan recognized the core problems we're now dealing with. If you look at his farewell address in January nineteen eighty nine, he warns that we are failing to protect American citizenship, we're failing to teach American history, and that we have a great problem growing among our young people. Well, that's just metastasized over and over again, and we are today faced with not yet as big a problem, not yet as violent a problem, but clearly a growing challenge of people who are overtly anti American, people who chant death to America, people who chant death to Israel, clear open vivid anti Semitism, and a dramatically greater influence from foreign governments who have given billions of dollars to the very universities whose leaders are now afraid to defend America and fraid to defend the rule of law. I think you can learn a lot about Governor Ronald Reagan's approach to student protests. We have it on our showpage at neut world dot com. Certainly, if you go to the Reagan Library, the amount of material they have is astounding. Governor Reagan and then President Reagan, we're always clear, always firm, and always willing to stand up for what he believed in. I think it's very important for us to recognize that we once again are at the hinge of history. We once again have to stand up for freedom, for America, for citizenship, for the rule of law, and that Reagan is a pretty good guide for how to do that. I'm going to thank you for listening. We can learn more about Governor Reagan's approach to student protesters on our show page at neut world dot com. Newt World is produced by Ginglis three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guernsey Sloan and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley, special thanks to the team at Ginger Street sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld concerner from my three free weekly columns at gingerstre sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Neutsworld.