Reagan is Sworn in as Governor of California

Reagan is sworn in as governor of California.

He inherits a $200 million deficit in a state where the governor is required by Constitution to submit a balanced budget.

Reagan proposes a 10% across-the-board cut. There are both needed cuts and unnecessary, unpopular ones, such as cuts in the mental health system and for the University of California.

BERKELEY – Ronald Reagan launched his political career in 1966 by targeting UC Berkeley's student peace activists, professors, and, to a great extent, the University of California itself. In his successful campaign for governor of California, his first elective office, he attacked the Berkeley campus, cementing what would remain a turbulent relationship between Reagan and California's leading institution for public higher education.