1. Letter to Clarke Reed from Ronald Reagan, 28 June 1976, Box 4, Folder 5, Jaquelin H. Hume Papers, Hoover Institution on War, Peace, and Revolution, Stanford University, Stanford (hereafter JHH papers.) Letter to Jaquelin H. Hume from Ronald Reagan, 9 July 1976, ibid.

2. See Schulman, Bruce and Zelizer, Julian, eds., Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s (Cambridge, Mass., 2008)Google Scholar; Schulman, Bruce J., The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (Cambridge, Mass., 2002)Google Scholar; Klarman, Laura, Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974–1980 (New York, 2010)Google Scholar; Sandbrook, Dominic, Mad As Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right (New York, 2011).Google Scholar

3. The term “intermestic” is borrowed from Fredrik Logevall and Craig, Campbell, America’s Cold War: The Politics of Insecurity (Cambridge, Mass., 2009), 10.Google Scholar

4. Historians who addressed this issue have concluded that public interest in foreign policy issues such as the Panama Canal was a result of post-Vietnam insecurities. Citing the thoughts of Reagan’s campaign manager in Florida, David Keene, Adam Clymer has written that the Panama Canal treaties aroused anger among Republicans because they “were frustrated with the complexities of America’s place in the world . . . and this issue seemed simple and clear.” While anxiety about global affairs following Vietnam certainly did play a role in conservatives’ support for Reagan, it was less determinative than other factors in driving the political realignment of the Republican Party (and international politics) to the right. See Clymer, Adam, Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right (Lawrence, Kans., 2008)Google Scholar, 26. A similar line is repeated by Reagan adviser Peter Hannaford in Klarman, Right Star Rising, 167. For works that emphasize the changes to American political economy in the 1970s in contributing to conservative politics, rather than grassroots mobilization, see Cowie, Jefferson, Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class (New York, 2010)Google Scholar; Stein, Judith, Pivotal Decade: How the United States Traded Factories for Finance in the 1970s (New Haven, 2010)Google Scholar; Borstelmann, Thomas, The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic Inequality (Princeton, 2011).Google Scholar

5. The “discontents” of détente have been explored by previous scholars, but the broader context and structure of American politics and political economy in the 1970s has been overlooked in this scholarship. Suri, Jeremi, “Détente and Its Discontents” in Rightward Bound: Making American Conservative in the 1970s, ed. Schulman, Bruce J. and Zelizer, Julian E. (Cambridge, Mass., 2008), 227–45Google Scholar; Zelizer, Julian, “Détente and Domestic Politics,” Diplomatic History 33, no. 4 (September 2009): 653–70.Google Scholar

6. The term “Cold War communities” is borrowed from Ann Markusen, “Cold War Workers, Cold War Communities,” in Rethinking Cold War Culture, ed. Peter J. Kuznick and James Gilbert (Washington D.C., 2001), 35–60.

7. Jacobs, Meg and Zelizer, Julian, Conservatives in Power: The Reagan Years, 1981–1989, A Brief History with Documents (Boston, 2010).Google Scholar

8. Ford, Gerald, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald Ford (New York, 1979), 124–25.Google Scholar

9. Suri, “Détente and Its Discontents,” in Schulman and Zelizer, Rightward Bound, 236–38; Dominic Sandbrook, “Salesmanship and Substance: The Influence of Domestic Policy and Watergate,” in Nixon in the World: American Foreign Relations, 1968–1977, ed. Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston (New York, 2008), 99–100.

10. Letter to Alexander Solzhenitsyn from Jesse Helms, 1 March 1974, Box 2, James L. Buckley Papers, University Archives, St. Augustine’s Hall, St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York.

11. Text of speech by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn delivered to the AFL-CIO in Washington. D.C., 30 June 1975. Reprinted in Aleksandr Solzhenitysyn, Détente: Prospects for Democracy and Dictatorship (New Brunswick, 1976), 31–38.

12. Quoted in Mann, James, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet (New York, 2004), 65.Google Scholar

13. Link, William A., Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism (New York, 2008), 142–43.Google Scholar

14. Buckley, William F. Jr. , “The Strangled Cry of Solzhenitsyn,” National Review, 29 August 1975Google Scholar; Letter to John Duncan from Carol Hummel, 3 August 1975, folder: 104 CSCE 10/1/75–10/7/75, IT Box 104, White House Central Files Subject Files (WHCF), Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor (hereafter GRFL).

15. Hanhimaki, Jussi, “They Can Write It in Swahili: Kissinger, the Soviets, and the Helsinki Accords, 1973–1975,” Journal of Transatlantic Studies 1, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 37–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16. Memorandum from Henry Kissinger to President Ford, folder: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe 8/9/74–7/31/75, IT 104 Box 13, WHCF, GRFL. For domestic opposition to the Helsinki Accords in the United States, see Michael Cotey Morgan, “The United States and the Making of the Helsinki Final Act,” in Logevall and Preston, eds., Nixon in the World, 175–76.

17. Letter to President Ford from Victor Alin, 30 August 1975 folder: “CSCE 10/8/75–11/28/75,” IT 104 Box 14, WHCF GRFPL.

18. Letter to President Ford from Aloysis A. Masewski, 24 July 1975, folder: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe 8/9/74–7/31/75, IT 104 Box 13, WHCF, GRFPL; Letter to President Ford from Jonas Talandis, 7 August 1975, folder: CSCE 10/1/75–10/7/75, IT 104 Box 14, WHCF GRFL; “Ford’s Signing of Helsinki Pact Draws Protest, Grand Rapids Press, 1 August 1975, folder: CSCE 9/1/75–9/30/75, IT 104 Box 14, WHCF GRFL; Letter to Gerald Ford from Charles Bennett, 31 July 1975, folder: CSCE 10/1/75–10/7/75, IT 104 Box 14, WHCF GRFL; Letter to Gerald Ford from Frank Wallace, 14 August 1975, folder: “CSCE 10/8/75–11/28/75,” IT 104 Box 14, WHCF GRFL.

19. Borstelmann, Thomas, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena (Cambridge, Mass., 2003), 233–37.Google Scholar

20. Letter to Gerald Ford from Leslie Birchfield, 29 September 1976, folder: “Correspondence—Topics—Kissinger, Henry,” Box B81, President Ford Committee papers, GRFL.

21. Letter to Gerald Ford from William Ketchum, 23 April 1975, folder: ND 1 Aircraft 3/1/75–6/30/75, Box ND 1, WHCF, GRFL; “Defense Agency Cut Imperils South Jersey Clothing Industry, New York Times, 25 August 1974; Brenes, Michael, “Disarming the Devil: The Conservative Campaign Against a Nuclear Détente in the 1960s,” in The Right Side of the Sixties: Reexamining Conservatism’s Decade of Transformation, ed. Gifford, Laura Jane and Williams, Daniel K. (New York, 2012), 181–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “Military Cuts Jar New England,” New York Times, 25 December 1976.

22. Sugrue, Thomas and Skretny, John, “The White Ethnic Strategy,” in Schulman, and Zelizer, , eds., Rightward Bound, 171–92Google Scholar; Cowie, Stayin’ Alive, chap. 3.; Memorandum for Secretary Kissinger, 6 October 1975, folder: IT 104 CSCE 1129/75, IT Box 14, WHCF, GRFL; Letter to John Marsh from Rita Hauser, 9 January 1976, folder: Notes to Dick Cheney, Box 17, Richard Cheney Files, GRFL.

23. On a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being most amenable to reaching agreements with the Soviet Union and 7 absolutely opposed, Americans ranked themselves at 3.9, Congress at 3.3, and Ford at 2.9. See U.S. National Study November–December 1975, p. 42, folder: U.S. National Study, November–December 1975 (1), Box 52, Robert Teeter Papers, GRFL.

24. “President Ford: Ten Reasons Why He Should Carry the GOP Banner in November,” folder: Advocates—General,” Box 32, Ron Nessen Papers, GRFL; Memorandum for the President from Richard Cheney, 23 October 1975, folder: Polling, Box 17, Richard Cheney Files, GRFL.

25. Memo dated 7-28-75, folder 12, Box 8, JHH papers.

26. Letter to William Rusher from Dennis Dunn, 28 July 1975 Washington folder, Box 5, Citizens for Reagan Papers, Hoover Institution on War, Peace, and Revolution, Stanford University, Stanford (hereafter CFR papers).

27. “U.S. Is Criticized in Vietnam’s Fall: Reagan and Wallace Offer Views on War to V.F.W., New York Times, 19 August 1975.

28. Reagan quoted from Shirley, Craig, Reagan’s Revolution: The Untold Story of a Campaign That Started It All (Nashville, 2005), 92Google Scholar.

29. Letter to John Sears from Mike Kelly, 29 May 1975, Wisconsin folder, Box 5, CFR papers.

30. Witcover, Jules, Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency, 1972–1976 (New York, 1977), 373Google Scholar; Memorandum for Bo Callaway, 30 December 1975, folder: “Marik File, Reagan, Ronald,” Box B2, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL.

31. Memorandum for the President from James T. Lynn, 4 November 1975, folder: “Ronald Reagan,” Box 19, Richard Cheney Files, GRFL.

32. Stein, Pivotal Decade, 145.

33. “Reagan Disparages Own Funds List as ‘Some Stuff the Economists Gave Me,’” Los Angeles Times, 28 January 1976, folder: “Marik File, Reagan, Ronald,” Box B2, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL.

34. “The Economic Scene: The Picture Remains Bright,” New York Times, 8 February 1976; “Consumer Leads Recover, Retailers Find,” New York Times, 22 March 1976.

35. Evans-Novak Political Report, 17 March 1976, folder: “Evans-Novak Political Report (1),” Box 36, Ron Nessen Papers, GRFL.

36. Witcover, Marathon, 410–11.

37. Memo from David Keene to Governor Reagan, 20 November 1975, North Carolina folder, Box 31, CFR papers. For Nixon’s success in North Carolina, and Charlotte specifically, in the 1968 campaign, see Lassiter, Matthew D., The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South (Princeton, 2005), 138.Google Scholar

38. Letter to Paul Laxalt from Mrs. Armond T. Swisher, 29 August 1975, North Carolina folder, Box 4, CFR papers.

39. Link, Righteous Warrior, 144–55.

40. Barone, Michael, Ujifusa, Grant, and Matthews, Douglas, The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives, the Governors—Their Records, States, and Districts (New York, 1975), 635; 627; 631; 637.Google Scholar

41. The Right Report, 10 March 1976, folder: “Campaign—General File,” Box 32, Ron Nessen papers, GRFL; Statement by Ronald Reagan, 4 March 1976, Correspondence—File Copies folder, Box 7, CFR papers; Letter to Reagan supporter, undated, ibid.; Memorandum for Governor Reagan from David Keene, 29 October 1975, Florida folder, Box 4, CFR papers; Notes on yellow legal pad, “Dade—Lou Conde,” Florida (1) folder, Box 30, CFR papers. Florida’s importance to Reagan’s candidacy is also emphasized in Link, Righteous Warrior, 156; Memorandum from Wayne Valis, 10 March 1976, campaign-general file, Box 32, Ron Nessen Papers, GRFL.

42. See polling results in “A Survey of Republican Voters in the State of Illinois for the Citizens of Reagan December 1975,” Box 179b, Series IV, Richard Wirthin Files, Ronald Reagan 1980 Presidential Campaign Files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California (hereafter RRPL); “A Panel Survey of Republican Voters in New Hampshire, January 1976,” Box 179c, ibid. When Republican voters were polled in Illinois, only 2 percent of respondents said that a new direction in foreign affairs was the most important issue; in New Hampshire, that number was 6 percent. Only 7 percent of voters in Illinois claimed foreign policy was the most important issue in the election, compared to 38 percent, which said economic issues were their priority. In New Hampshire, the ratio was 41 percent to 13 percent of voters who believed the economy outweighed foreign policy. Taken before the economic recovery, these polls partly help explain why Reagan did not emphasize foreign policy until Florida. Furthermore, New Hampshire and Illinois had less of a connection to the military and national defense spending than did later primary states in the South and West.

43. Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution, 91–92.

44. Excerpt of Remarks by the Hon. Ronald Reagan at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, 10 February 1976, R. Reagan Speeches [2/10/1976, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire] folder, Box 21, Series I: Hannaford/California Headquarters, Ronald Reagan 1980 Presidential Campaign Papers, RRPL.

45. Memorandum for the President from Henry Kissinger, 16 November 1971, Box 830, National Security Council Names Files, Gov. Reagan [June 1969–November 1973] folder, Richard Nixon Presidential Library (hereafter RNL), Yorba Linda, California; Michael Schaller, Ronald Reagan (New York, 2011), 25.

46. Memorandum for Henry Kissinger from Helmut Sonnenfeldt, 26 June 1972, Box 830, National Security Council Names Files, Gov. Reagan [June 1969–November 1973] folder, RNL; “Overview of U.S.-European Relations,” Box 830, National Security Council Names Files, Gov. Reagan [June 69–November 73] folder, RNL.

47. For more on this point, see Wilson, James Graham, “How Grand Was Reagan’s Strategy, 1976–1984?” Diplomacy and Statecraft 18, no. 4 (2007): 773–803.Google Scholar

48. See the past-due invoices in the Presidential Campaign 1976 Financial Statements folder, Box 9, CFR papers.

49. ACU Reagan Project, 26 March 1976, folder: “Hughes Subject File—Reagan Campaign (2),” Box B8, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL; Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution, 167; “Ford Pictured as Liberal,” Lakeland Ledger, 6 March 1976; “Reagan Aided by Ads Conservative Groups Paid For,” New York Times, 6 May 1976.

50. Fergus, Devin, Liberalism, Black Power, and the Making of American Politics, 1965–1980 (Athens, 2009), 221–23Google Scholar.

51. For election results by county in North Carolina, see Department of the Secretary of State, North Carolina Manual, 1977 (Raleigh, 1977), 723–24. The numbers for Reagan’s victories in the three counties where Fort Bragg is located were the following: Cumberland, 1,963–1,225, Harnett, 822–508, and Hoke, 76–43. Reagan lost Moore with a count of 1,587 to 1,286. Reagan therefore won the Fort Bragg area with a total number of 4,448 to 3,062.

52. Ibid.

53. Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution, 167; Memorandum to Rogers Morton from Bruce Wagner, 7 April 1976, Folder: “Hughes Subject File Advertising—Primary Campaign (1),” Box B4, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL; Memorandum to Bruce Wagner from Peter Kaye, 8 April 1976, ibid.

54. Memorandum from Peter Hannaford to John Sears, 18 June 1976, Box 37, 1976 Campaign—Project “Emissary” [foreign policy strategy] folder, 1980 Presidential Campaign Files, Series I: Hannaford/California Headquarters, Subseries C, General Campaign Files, RRPL.

55. Letter from Barry Goldwater, 29 June 1976, Box 9, Barry Goldwater, Letter announcing support for GRF 6/29/76 folder, CFR papers.

56. Capturing Texas: The Most Critical State for Governor Reagan, 15 March 1976, Texas folder, Box 31, CFR papers.

57. Texas also received 10 percent of all funds spent on the space program. Barone et al., The Almanac of American Politics, 1976, 813.

58. See the comparisons of the excerpts from Reagan’s Exeter, New Hampshire, speech and the speeches he gave in Texas on 15 April 1976. Excerpt of Remarks by the Hon. Ronald Reagan at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, 10 February 1976, R. Reagan Speeches [2/10/1976, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire] folder, Box 21, Series I: Hannaford/California Headquarters, Ronald Reagan 1980 Presidential Campaign Papers, RRPL; Excerpts of Remarks by the Hon. Ronald Reagan, Texas events, Thursday, 15 April 1976, R. Reagan Speeches [4/15/1976, Texas Events] folder, Box 21, Series I: Hannaford/California Headquarters, Ronald Reagan 1980 Presidential Campaign Papers, RRPL.

59. Memorandum to Roger Morton and Stu Spencer, 28 April 1976, folder: “Hughes Subject File—Reagan Campaign (2),” Box B8, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL; Memorandum from Fred Slight, 9 April 1976, ibid.

60. Garcia, Gilbert, Reagan’s Comeback: Four Weeks in Texas That Changed American Politics Forever (San Antonio, 2012), 67.Google Scholar

61. Capturing Texas: The Most Critical State for Governor Reagan, 15 March 1976, Texas folder, Box 31, CFR papers. “Reagan Attacks Kissinger for His Stand in Rhodesia,” New York Times, 1 May 1976. Democrats and independents could also vote in the Texas Republican primary, where Reagan’s success was partly due to the large presence of “crossover” voters.

62. Letter to Gerald Ford from Bill Boodling, 29 April 1976, folder: ND 1 Aircraft 7/1/75–6/13/76, Box ND 2, WHCF, GRFL; “Navy Decision Linked to Texas Primary,” New York Times, 20 April 1976; Cunningham, Sean P., Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right (Lexington, Ky., 2010), 170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

63. “President Scores Reagan on Arms,” New York Times, 22 April 1976; “Reagan’s Issues Pursue Ford in Texas,” New York Times, 11 April 1976.

64. “Ford-Reagan Race Focusing on Arms Issue,” New York Times, 11 May 1976.

65. “Republicans: Reagan’s Startling Texas Landslide,” Time, 10 May 1976.

66. Letter to President Ford from Lloyd Kinda, folder: “Correspondence—Topics—Kissinger, Henry,” Box B1, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL; Letter to President Ford from Paul Woodworth, ibid; Memorandum to Rogers Morton from Peter Dailey, 14 May 1976, Folder: “Hughes Subject File Advertising—Primary Campaign (1),” Box B4, President Ford Committee Records, GRFL.

67. Letter to Gerald Ford from Barry Goldwater, May 7, 1976, PL (Exec.), 6/1–30/76 folder, Box 3, White House Central Files Subject File, GRFL.

68. “Reagan Catching Up,” New York Times, 5 May 1976.

69. “Under Pressure from Reagan, Ford Flip-Flops on Issues” San Francisco Examiner, 10 May 1976, Georgia Folder, Box 30, CFR papers; “Ford on Shaky Ground,” New York Times, 10 June 1976; Letter from Anne Nixon, 15 April 1975, box 12, folder 11, JHH papers. For the influence of foreign policy in the California primary, see California Poll Tracking, 24–27 May 1976, Series IV, Richard Wirthlin Files, Box 180, RRPL. By California, foreign policy was ranked the third most important issue in the election, with 14 percent of voters saying it was their leading concern, just behind “economic improvement” (18 percent) and “less government control” (16 percent). Reagan was also preferred over Ford by a 33 percent margin to “improve foreign policy,” the same figure that Californians favored Reagan for his ability to “reduce government control.”

70. Letter to Ronald Reagan from William Haggerty, 16 August 1976, Correspondence Received at the Convention folder, Box 7, CFR papers; Telegram to Ronald Reagan from Florence Daige, 14 August 1976, ibid.; Letter to Nancy Reagan, undated, ibid.; Letter to Ronald Reagan from Grace and Lee Wooster, 7 July 1976, Correspondence, Miscellaneous folder, Box 7, CFR papers.

71. Letter to Ronald Reagan from Fred Martin, 19 August 1976, Post Convention Correspondence Folder, Box 7, CFR papers; Telegram to Ronald Reagan from Reverend Salvator Franco, 15 August 1976, Correspondence Received at the Convention folder, Box 7, CFR papers. For Helms’s and Ashbrook’s reactions to the selection of Schweiker, see Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution, 275.

72. Gaddis, John Lewis, “Rescuing Choice from Circumstance: The Statecraft of Henry Kissinger,” in The Diplomats: 1939–1979, ed. Craig, Campbell and Loewenheim, Francis L. (Princeton, 1994), 564–92; 587Google Scholar.

73. Letter to Richard Nixon from Ronald Reagan, 27 August 1976, Box 1, Post-Presidential Correspondence with Ronald Reagan, RNL.