The Education of Ronald Reagan

by Evans, Thomas W.

• ISBN13: 9780231138611
• ISBN10: 023113861X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-08
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

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 Reaganoffers 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& -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.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

Background
A New Dealer to the Core	p. 3
Politics: War by Different Means	p. 24
A Postgraduate Course in Political Science
Boulwarism	p. 37
The Plant Tour	p. 57
Schools, Classes, and Trains	p. 69
An Apprenticeship for Public Life
The Campaign	p. 83
Allies	p. 98
The Speech	p. 111
Two Unions	p. 126
The Art of Negotiation	p. 139
Encouraging an Increasing Majority of Citizens
The Campaign Continues	p. 157
The Presidential Bug	p. 185
A President's Vision	p. 199
Appendix
Speeches of Reuther, Boulware, and Reagan
Walter P. Reuther, Labor and the Community	p. 224
Lemuel Boulware, Salvation Is Not Free	p. 229
Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing ("The Speech")	p. 238
Notes	p. 251
References	p. 277
Acknowledgments	p. 285
Index	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

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