Introducing The Real Reagan
The 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth has arrived, and hagiography is in the air. More than any modern president (with the possible exception of JFK), Reagan has been the beneficiary of a...
View ArticleThe divisive underbelly of Reagan’s sunny optimism
Ronald Reagan was an avuncular statesman whose unswerving faith in America's destiny indelibly changed the course of American society for the better. That's one way Reagan is remembered today, 100...
View ArticleThe “Southern Strategy,” fulfilled
Democrats thought they had solved their Southern problem in 1976, when a peanut farmer-turned-Georgia governor named Jimmy Carter swept through the old Confederacy, winning every state except Virginia...
View ArticleThe scandal that almost destroyed Ronald Reagan
On Nov. 13, 1986, President Reagan declared in a national address, "We did not -- repeat -- did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages -- nor will we." His assertion ran counter to covert...
View ArticleWe fought a war on lies, and lies won
Ronald Reagan gave America so many pretty sayings, but when it comes to social equality, he'll go down in history for his lyrical lie, "The federal government declared a war on poverty, and poverty...
View ArticleThe era of big spending and massive deficits
It is difficult to think of any single person more qualified to trace the roots of today's massive budget deficits, Republican tax cut fundamentalism, and overall dysfunctional government than David...
View ArticleRonald Reagan cared more about UFOs than AIDS
Ronald Reagan claimed to have seen UFOs on at least two occasions, according to reports from sources as disparate as the Wall Street Journal, Lucille Ball and the National Enquirer. He alerted the Navy...
View ArticleReagan’s embrace of apartheid South Africa
The regime of apartheid in South Africa, under which nonwhites were systematically oppressed and deprived of their rights, is remembered as one of the worst crimes against humanity of the 20th...
View ArticleWhen Reagan was (much) less popular than Carter
By 1992, three years after he left the White House, Ronald Reagan was anything but a beloved former president. As a painful recession gripped the country, the public came to see the Reagan years --...
View ArticleWhat the right won’t admit about Reagan
Nothing better symbolized Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday celebration than that it should fall on Super Bowl Sunday, with Air Force jets roaring unseen over a hermetically sealed stadium, almost, but...
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