Nabokov

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“I came to America in 1940 and decided to become an American citizen, and make America my home. It so happened that I was immediately exposed to the very best in America, to its rich intellectual life and to its easygoing, good-natured atmosphere. I immersed myself in its great libraries and its Grand Canyon. I worked in the laboratories of zoological museums. I acquired more friends than I ever had in Europe. My books - old books and some new ones - found some admirable readers. I became stout as Cortez - mainly because I quit smoking and started to munch molasses candy instead, with the result that my weight went up from my usual 140 to a monumental and cheerful 200. In consequence, I am one-third American - good American flesh keeping me warm and safe.”

-- Vladimir Nabokov, 1964

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Ronald Reagan

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In October 1964, only two years after becoming a Republican, Reagan at the last minute was asked to give a nationally televised speech lauding the presidential candidacy of Senator Barry Goldwater. Toward the end of the speech, Reagan told his studio audience and millions of Americans, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We can preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.” Reagan’s fiery remarks electrified conservatives everywhere. The speech was later released as an LP album entitled Rendezvous with Destiny.

-- Craig Shirley, “Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America”

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I am surprised that Reagan converted so early. Reagan boasted of being a Kennedy man, but Kennedy was not even shot yet in 1962, and there were yet no Great Society Program or Civil Rights Acts. Maybe his move into the Republican camp had more to do with local politics in California as he positioned himself for the governorship.