On a February night in 1975, as the chief political writer of The Associated Press, I attended the second annual meeting of a new conservative organization for a speech that was to have a historic long-term impact.
The organization was the Conservative Political Action Conference, and the speaker was recently retired California Gov. Ronald Reagan, giving his prescription for a Republican Party that was floundering in the aftermath of President Richard Nizon’s Watergate-precipitated resignation six months earlier.
“Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which makes it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?” Reagan asked.
