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Ultimately, Reagan sealed up conservative support. Shell hesistated to support Reagan: he questioned Reagan's late conversion to the party and some of the leftist associations that Reagan maintained during the 1950s, when he had nevertheless supported Eisenhower for President. Reagan went on to secure the nomination by defeating former San Francisco [[Mayor]] George Christopher, a Greek American who had been Nixon's lieutenant governor running mate in 1962. Shell claimed<ref>''San Francisco News'', May 18, 1965.</ref> that Reagan had earlier promised to support him for governor, an assertion that Reagan denied.<ref>http://urocresolution1975.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html; http://books.google.com/books?id=ZyNnemM0-osC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Joe+Shell&source=web&ots=Yaq55kFTeG&sig=zbejpPNL0qV6S8pI8fKOiHQUxms&hl=en#PPA58,M1</ref> Reagan financial backer Holmes Tuttle pleaded with Shell to support Reagan and offered him a leading role in the campaign, but Shell demurred.

Ultimately, Reagan sealed up conservative support. Shell hesistated to support Reagan: he questioned Reagan's late conversion to the party and some of the leftist associations that Reagan maintained during the 1950s, when he had nevertheless supported Eisenhower for President. Reagan went on to secure the nomination by defeating former San Francisco [[Mayor]] George Christopher, a Greek American who had been Nixon's lieutenant governor running mate in 1962. Shell claimed<ref>''San Francisco News'', May 18, 1965.</ref> that Reagan had earlier promised to support him for governor, an assertion that Reagan denied.<ref>http://urocresolution1975.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post.html; http://books.google.com/books?id=ZyNnemM0-osC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Joe+Shell&source=web&ots=Yaq55kFTeG&sig=zbejpPNL0qV6S8pI8fKOiHQUxms&hl=en#PPA58,M1</ref> Reagan financial backer Holmes Tuttle pleaded with Shell to support Reagan and offered him a leading role in the campaign, but Shell demurred.

Shell said that his reservations about Reagan were vindicated as early as 1967, when the newly-inaugurated governor's appointment list reflected none of the conservatives recommended by Shell, but were instead mostly individuals who had backed Rockefeller over Goldwater in 1964.<ref name=neocons/> One of the appointees was [[Caspar Weinberger]] of San Francisco, whose career would culminate as the [[United States Secretary of Defense]] under President Reagan. Shell opposed Nixon's selection of Weinberger as state party chairman in 1962.<ref>''The New York Times'', June 17, 1960, p. 60.</ref> In his 2001 memoir ''In the Arena'', Weinberger said that Nixon had been "substantially weakened" because of Shell's challenge: He was a former football player at USC, which in Southern California was practically a passport to political advancement. . . . Nixon won the primary, but he did so without generating much GOP enthusiasm." Over the years, most conservatives considered Weinberger, originally a liberal Republican, to have become one of their own.<ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-shell11apr11,0,3882843.story</ref> Another such appointment was Houston I. Flournoy, who in 1974 would carry the GOP banner in an unsuccessful bid to succeed Reagan as governor, having been defeated by Brown's son, still serving Governor [[Jerry Brown|Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr.]]

Shell said that his reservations about Reagan were vindicated as early as 1967, when the newly-inaugurated governor's appointment list reflected none of the conservatives recommended by Shell, but were instead mostly individuals who had backed Rockefeller over Goldwater in 1964.<ref name=neocons/> One of the appointees was [[Caspar Weinberger]] of San Francisco, whose career would culminate as the [[United States Secretary of Defense]] under President Reagan. Shell opposed Nixon's selection of Weinberger as state party chairman in 1962.<ref>''The New York Times'', June 17, 1960, p. 60.</ref> In his 2001 memoir ''In the Arena'', Weinberger said that Nixon had been "substantially weakened" because of Shell's challenge: He was a former football player at USC, which in Southern California was practically a passport to political advancement. . . . Nixon won the primary, but he did so without generating much GOP enthusiasm." Over the years, most conservatives considered Weinberger, originally a liberal Republican, to have become one of their own.<ref name=latimes/> Another such appointment was Houston I. Flournoy, who in 1974 would carry the GOP banner in an unsuccessful bid to succeed Reagan as governor, having been defeated by Brown's son, still serving Governor [[Jerry Brown|Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr.]]

Shell attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], which nominated his old rival Nixon on the first ballot with relatively little opposition coming from Governors Rockefeller and Reagan. Shell said that later events proved Nixon unfit for the presidency: "I felt then that Nixon was bad for the party, and [[Watergate]] and the subsequent stain he left proved me right."<ref>http://www.flashreport.org/blog.php?postID=2008041013273453L</ref>

Shell attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, [[Florida]], which nominated his old rival Nixon on the first ballot with relatively little opposition coming from Governors Rockefeller and Reagan. Shell said that later events proved Nixon unfit for the presidency: "I felt then that Nixon was bad for the party, and [[Watergate]] and the subsequent stain he left proved me right."<ref>http://www.flashreport.org/blog.php?postID=2008041013273453L</ref>