In the mid-1960s, Conrad was hired by the campaign managers of
Ronald Reagan, who was running for Governor of California, to coach him on the
ways in which the state government worked, as well as to brief him on
various issues. Conrad was selected for this task not only because he
was an elected politician, but also because he was an actor, and it was
felt that this would give him and Reagan a shared bond that would make
the tutoring easier. After Reagan's election and during his two terms
as Governor, Conrad was one of the only state legislators whom
Reagan...who had a notoriously bad memory for names...could ever recall
by name.