The Education of Ronald Reagan - The General Election Years and the Untold Story of his Conversion to Conservatism

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-231-13861-1
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 433 g

Reihe: Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History

In October 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a televised speech in support of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. "The Speech," as it has come to be known, helped launch Ronald Reagan as a leading force in the American conservative movement. However, less than twenty years earlier, Reagan was a prominent Hollywood liberal, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, and a fervent supporter of FDR and Harry Truman. While many agree that Reagan's anticommunism grew out of his experiences with the Hollywood communists of the late 1940s, the origins of his conservative ideology have remained obscure.Based on a newly discovered collection of private papers as well as interviews and corporate documents, The Education of Ronald Reagan offers new insights into Reagan's ideological development and his political ascendancy. Thomas W. Evans links the eight years (1954-1962) in which Reagan worked for General Electric& mdash;acting as host of its television program, GE Theater, and traveling the country as the company's public-relations envoy-to his conversion to conservatism. In particular, Evans reveals the profound influence of GE executive Lemuel Boulware, who would become Reagan's political and ideological mentor. Boulware, known for his tough stance against union officials and his innovative corporate strategies to win over workers, championed the core tenets of modern American conservatism-free-market fundamentalism, anticommunism, lower taxes, and limited government. Building on the ideas and influence of Boulware, Reagan would soon begin his rise as a national political figure and an icon of the American conservative movement.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Evans, Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Politische Führung
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Biographien & Autobiographien: Historisch, Politisch, Militärisch
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politik: Sachbuch, Politikerveröffentlichungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. A New Dealer to the Core2. Politics: War by Different MeansPart I. A Postgraduate Course in Political Science 3. Boulwarism4. The Plant Tour5. Schools, Classes, and TrainsPart II. An Apprenticeship for Public Life 6. The Campaign7. Allies8. The Speech9. Two Unions10. The Art of NegotiationPart III. To Encourage an Increasing Majority of Citizens 11. The Campaign Continues12. The Presidential Bug13. A President's VisionAppendix. Speeches of Reuther, Boulware, and Reagan Walter P. Reuther, Labor and the Community Lemuel Boulware, Salvation Is Not Free Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing ("The Speech")AcknowledgmentsNotesReferencesIndex

Leseproben

Read Chapter 1 from The Education of Ronald Reagan, >A New Dealer to the Core

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas W. Evans, a lawyer and avocational politician, has supervised a successful New Hampshire presidential primary and established a national citizens' campaign organization. A former adjunct professor of education and administration at Columbia University's Teachers College, Evans was chair of the Reagan administration's national symposium on partnerships in education and counsel to the Points of Light Foundation under George H.W. Bush.