The Governor and the Students videotape series, 1973-1974

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Summary

Creators:
Reagan, Ronald and JRH and Associates, Inc
Abstract:
Videotape cassettes and selected transcripts of broadcasts of a televised series of question-and-answer sessions with high school students conducted by Ronald Reagan as governor of California relating to California state political issues. Produced by JRH and Associates, Inc.
Extent:
1 manuscript box and 77 videotapes (27.4 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], The Governor and the Students videotape series, [Box number, if appropriate], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of videotapes and selected transcripts of broadcasts of a televised series of question-and-answer sessions with high school students conducted by Ronald Reagan as governor of California relating to California state political issues.

Transcripts are available for ten programs, and lists of questions asked by the students are available for another ten shows.

Labels on the videotapes provide limited information about their contents. Fully identifying each tape by date and version is dependent on, and limited by, its label. Some tapes are labeled as opening and closing credits sequences. Based on the videotape labels, it appears that the programs are about 30 minutes in duration.

Biographical / historical:

Ronald Reagan described The Governor and the Students this way:

"During my last two years in office we had a program in cooperation with the department of education. Each week a different high school class would come to the Capitol and I would field their questions (or try to) for one hour. The program was entirely unrehearsed. I would meet them only a few minutes before we actually started and, of course, had no preview of their questions.

The hour was taped for television and made available for closed circuit classroom use in all of California's 1100-plus school districts. It was also played on the educational TV network." [Box 1; original source unidentified]

The program gave Reagan a way to connect with young people. Modeled on the press conference format, the idea for the show originated with Reagan aides Michael K. Deaver and Joseph R. Holmes. High school students were chosen over college students based on the theory that they lived with their parents, had not been exposed to liberal college professors, and would therefore be more polite and less radical.

The shows were taped on a weekday after school, and the videotapes were distributed to TV stations in California to air at no cost. While most were public broadcast stations, it aired on a commercial station in Visalia because there was no public broadcast station in that area. The series was produced by JRH and Associates in Sacramento. The name Young People's Television (YPTV) is also associated with this program.

Source: John H. Fund, "Leave It to Deaver: 'Close Reagan Aide Dies.' I Remember Him from High School," Jewish World Review, 20 August 2007, http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/fund082007.php3.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 1984.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], The Governor and the Students videotape series, [Box number, if appropriate], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US