Meeting Ronald Reagan

Back in 1975, I met Ronald Reagan at a dinner in Raleigh. That fall he ran for President – I ran his North Carolina primary, working with Jesse Helms (one of two U.S. Senators who endorsed Reagan) and Tom Ellis (Reagan’s North Carolina Chairman).

Reagan lost the first five primaries to Gerald Ford – his campaign split into warring camps with Tom Ellis on one side and John Sears, the lobbyist heading Reagan’s campaign, on the other.

We parted ways with Sears, took Reagan’s North Carolina primary down a new road. Due to a 30-minute film – and one issue – Reagan came from behind, beat Ford.

We gave our strategy to Reagan’s Chairmen in Texas, California, other states – winning primaries, Reagan closed on Ford. But in the end lost by a hundred votes at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City.

Two years later, when Jesse ran for reelection, using direct mail, raising more money than had ever been raised in a Senate campaign, we built a powerful political juggernaut with donors in every state. In 1980, we ran one of the first independent campaigns to elect Reagan.

In 1984, at the start of Jesse Helms third campaign, Jesse trailed Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points – everything we tried for a year failed then, out of a clear blue sky, a gift fell into our lap.

After Reagan was wounded Tip O’Neill, going to the hospital, knelt by Reagan’s bed, said a prayer. Reagan and O’Neill hardly ever agreed but, at the same time, treated each other with mutual respect.

The Berlin Wall fell. The Cold War ended. A political era passed. A new era began – that changed politics.

Trump beat Hilary. Covid struck. Biden beat Trump. Trump ran against Harris,  called her ‘dumb as a rock’. She called him ‘a fascist.’ He called her ‘a communist.’

Today mutual respect flies out the window. Lies were once taboo in politics – now people cheer lies.

Living in a fallen world we inherit ‘some flow’rets of Eden’ but as poet Thomas Moore added ‘the trail of the serpent is over them all.’ Telling stories in my memoir, I follow The Trail of the Serpent twisting and turning through politics – from Reagan to Trump. And how lost faith has left us standing on shaky ground.

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You can order The Trail of the Serpent now from Amazon or from the publisher.

John Bolton: “Reagan lost the first five primaries to Gerald Ford in 1976 – then upset Ford in North Carolina. Carter Wrenn ran Reagan’s North Carolina campaign. He tells a compelling story about American politics, from Reagan to Trump.”

Stephen Mansfield, New York Times bestselling author: “Our generation is awash in a sea of thin analysis and easy opinion about the role of religion in American politics. What we need are the stories told by those who were there, who were in the moment, who smelled the sweat and the fear and felt the hot breath of passion full in their faces. Carter Wrenn gives us such stories and so makes a raucous era of American faith-based politics live again.”