And the big one, in 1964, when conservatives symbolized by Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona (whose campaign slogan was “In your heart you know he’s right”) battled with moderates symbolized by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York (whose supporters said of Mr. Goldwater that “in your guts you know he’s nuts”)?

The most important moment that year came just days before the election, when the B-list actor Ronald Reagan delivered television remarks now celebrated in legend as the “A Time for Choosing” speech. That night he said:

“This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”

Close the door, strain your ears and you can almost hear Mr. Trump deliver those remarks without altering even one of those words.