# Annie Hall "impeach Ronald Reagan" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759 "2017-02-13T15:57:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/1 "2017-02-13T15:57:24Z")
Watched Annie Hall last night. There is a scene where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are splitting up their belongings. Woody has a bunch of presidential pins saying impeach Johnson, impeach Eisenhower. Then one that says “impeach Ronald Reagan” The movie was released in 1977, and Reagan was president starting in 1981. Am I missing anything? Was Reagan a viable candidate choice 4 years before he took office? Just a joke that just happened to come true? ---
**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/2 "2017-02-13T16:01:56Z")
He challenged Ford in the primary in '76. According to the Wikipedia page, he didn’t do too badly. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/3 "2017-02-13T16:02:08Z")
Reagan ran for the Republican nomination in 1976 and lost in a contested ballot, 47% to 52% for Ford. After Reagan lost the nomination, there was a clear feeling of “I’ll be back”. Woody Allen was looking ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/4 "2017-02-13T16:03:34Z")
Reagan made a serious run for the Presidency in 1976 against Ford. As Governor Of California he stirred up immense dislike among liberals. There were an unending series of jokes about a President Reagan in those years. So a joke Impeach Reagan button would get a great reaction from half the audience, or more. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/5 "2017-02-13T16:41:59Z")
Isn’t it possible Woody is making a dig at RR’s years as President of the Screen Actor’s Guild? (Slightly ahead of my time.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/6 "2017-02-13T16:57:15Z")
Reagan was governor of California from 1966 to 1975 and, as pointed out upthread, made a serious run for the presidency in 1976. And there were plenty of “Impeach Earl Warren” buttons around, and he was only a Chief Justice. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/7 "2017-02-13T16:57:20Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Isn’t it possible Woody is making a dig at RR’s years as President of the Screen Actor’s Guild? (Slightly ahead of my time.) Certainly not. That would be a very obscure joke and wouldn’t be the least bit funny to 99% of the audience. Certainly the obvious one is what was intended. And that wouldn’t even make sense, since you wouldn’t impeach the President of SAG. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/8 "2017-02-13T17:04:46Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And there were plenty of “Impeach Earl Warren” buttons around, and he was only a Chief Justice. But he could have been impeached, unlike Reagan in 1976-77. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/9 "2017-02-13T17:05:34Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And there were plenty of “Impeach Earl Warren” buttons around, and he was only a Chief Justice. The process for removing judges, including the Chief Justice, from office is also called impeachment. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/10 "2017-02-13T18:15:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But he could have been impeached, unlike Reagan in 1976-77. I haven’t looked at the state constitution, but I presume Reagan could have been impeached as governor of California. True he wasn’t governor at the time of the movie, but then Eisenhower and Johnson weren’t President at the time of the movie either. The buttons dated from earlier times. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/11 "2017-02-13T18:49:26Z")
Reagan had been governor. You can impeach governors. “Ronald Reagan” has always worked as a comic punchline. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/12 "2017-02-13T21:14:18Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > I haven’t looked at the state constitution, but I presume Reagan could have been impeached as governor of California… You presume correctly: [Early California Impeachment Proceedings on JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3635199?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) An interesting gubernatorial impeachment case from Arizona in 1987-88: [Evan Mecham - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham#Impeachment_and_criminal_charges) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/13 "2017-02-13T21:26:41Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Reagan had been governor. You can impeach governors. “Ronald Reagan” has always worked as a comic punchline. "I haven’t felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film. " ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/14 "2017-02-13T21:51:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You presume correctly: [Early California Impeachment Proceedings on JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3635199?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) > > An interesting gubernatorial impeachment case from Arizona in 1987-88: [Evan Mecham - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Mecham#Impeachment_and_criminal_charges) The bumper sticker I remember read, “Mecham. Impeach him”. Cute, but a mispronunciation of his name (the “ch” is pronounced like a “k”). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/15 "2017-02-14T02:38:11Z")
There were buttons made during Reagan’s time as governor which said “Impeach Reagan”: [http://oldpoliticals.com/lot-12412.aspx](http://oldpoliticals.com/lot-12412.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annie-hall-impeach-ronald-reagan/779759/16 "2017-02-14T03:01:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > "I haven’t felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film. " “Don’t start up with that White Zone shit of yours again.”