Episode 23: Ronald Reagan

The Past, the Promise, the Presidency

Today’s episode is all about Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. It’s not too much a stretch to say we are living in the America Ronald Reagan envisioned, one in which market forces matter as much as morality in the formation of policy decisions, the American military is strong and taxes quite low by historical standards, and a Supreme Court with a noticeable conservative bent. The man who brought the conservative movement from its 1964 nadir until Barry Goldwater to triumph and the White House in 1980, remains to this day a hero to many in the Republican Party especially.

Here in 2021 the meaning and legacy of the Reagan era is frankly up for grabs as at no time since the man they called the “gipper” left office in 1989. No single person left a greater impact on American politics during the last quarter of the 20th century. Will that impact last through the first quarter of the 21st? Time will tell. Which makes it a pretty good time for us to explore Reagan anew, his presidency, and the politics of race during his era.
Joining us this week were Daniel Lucks, author of Reconsidering Reagan, Racism, Republicans, and the Road to Trump. Next we spoke to Leah Wright-Rigueur, The Harry S. Truman Professor of American History at Brandeis University, and author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican. Finally we learned from Niki Hemmer from the Obama Oral History Project and author of Messenger on the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics.

Together our conversations highlighted two themes:

• That the politics of race is oftentimes really the politics of language.
• How the best way to understand a policy’s design is often by exploring its impact.

To learn more, visit pastpromisepresidency.com.