Ronald Reagan On Cuts To Mental Health Staffing

KTVU news footage from 1967 (specific date unknown) featuring scenes from a press conference with Governor Ronald Reagan, who defends planned staff reductions at California's state mental hospitals against widespread popular backlash. Governor Reagan states: "I'm not going to change my mind at all. As a matter of fact, the facts and figures bear out that it's a perfectly simple thing we're doing, that will make no change whatsoever with regard to the quality of service. The number of patients due to the new methods of treatment and the drugs has ... been reduced so drastically that I can give you one simple comparison. The ... annual cost of keeping someone in an institution is $4800 a year. If we did not make this cut, the cost would jump next year to $5700 ... It will remain at the present $4800 figure by effecting these reductions." When a reporter cites State Senator Stephen Teale who claims this budget cut: "Is another step back into the snake pit," Reagan counters: "I don't think the people of California should be required to maintain employees ... on the payroll when there is absolutely no justification or no longer an need for keeping them."