A Dozen Ronald Reagans: An Objective Look at Ronald Reagan's Life and Presidency (From My History Can Beat Up Your Politics)

Where does Reagan fit into politics today?  Would he fit in the modern GOP?  Or somewhere else.  Can you compare and contrast Reagan and Trump in any meaningful way?  How was his Presidency?  How do his accomplishment stack up and what can future politicians learn from his example?  We review the dozen episodes of our series on President Reagan and attempt to answer a few questions.

Supporters say Reagan is the reason the Cold War ended. Detractors say he happened upon a defeated power.  The truth?  Well... A look at Reagan's second term, meetings with Gorbachev, the INF treaty, and other moves as we attempt to determine Reagan's actual role.  

It's 1983 and the world is scared.  In answering the question of Reagan's credit for "winning the Cold War." it's necessary to break up the first-term pre-Gorbachev moves from the second-term moves.  We do that in this episode

A New President.  Breaking norms.  Everything is Different.  Strange Cabinet People. No one can believe it.  

In the eight part of our series on the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, we look at the scandal that engulfed his administration, and management style mistakes that may have led to it. In the course of doing this we peel back a few layers, including the Walsh investigation and the critical Senate investigation.

A look at the 1986 Tax Reform Bill, Reagan's oft-forgotten collaboration with liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans, which closed loopholes, a form of raising taxes and changed the tax code forever.  Also savings and loans and other domestic policies.  

Life can be tough.  It was for Dutch Reagan's family, and it was for many in the forgotten recession of the early eighties.  A look at Reagan's domestic politics, the homelessness issue - both the real problems and the media coverage.  A critical look at Reagan's AIDS policy and why given earlier California politics, his attitude was surprising.  

A brokered convention.  A race for every delegate's vote.  And a last minute ploy that shocked both opponents and supporters.  Reagan took on Gerald Ford in the 1976 convention, angering moderates in the party.  How the convention came, and how Reagan nearly found himself the party's nominee 4 years earlier. 

A look at Ronald Reagan's foreign policy.  James Baker, Reagan's Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary, called Ronald Reagan's foreign policy a "witches brew." Particularly around Central America, the results of his policy more than matched the description.  In this episode we talk about his pressure moves on Central America, and the reaction worldwide and in the United States.  We also look at Poland, where tactics that failed elsewhere came together.   

We seek to solve two puzzles:  How did Reagan the Truman booster become Reagan the Goldwater acolyte?   And when he entered politics, became GOP nominee and President, what were the economic results of his presidency? Also, Reagan and the KAL007 incident that reveals a bit about his personality and approach.