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Reagan summary

Name: Reagan
Rating: 4.3 (181 reviews)
Author: H. W. Brands

H. W. Brands

The Life

4.3 (181 ratings)

31 mins

Brief summary

Reagan by H. W. Brands is a biography that tells the story of the 40th US President. It explores Reagan's life and political career, his relationship with Nancy, and his impact on US politics.

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US Presidents US History Political Figures Biographies Global Politics

Table of Contents

Reagan
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Key idea 1 of 10

What’s in it for me? A deep dive on a towering figure of American conservatism.

In the modern political era, Ronald Reagan is a controversial figure – deified by Republicans, demonized by Democrats. But during his life, the story was much more nuanced. His policies may have been unpopular with some, but his humor and relatable communication style made him almost universally popular as a person.

These blinks will take you on Reagan’s journey, from the Illinois church talent shows that gave him his first taste of applause, through to his first inauguration where he addressed half a million spectators, to his tense summits with Mikhail Gorbachev – where two men argued over the fate of the world.

Ultimately, Ronald Reagan changed the direction of the United States, using his folksy charm to turn it toward a new era of conservatism.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

which surprising politician was Reagan’s hero as a young man;
how television helped make Reagan’s political career; and
why an astrologer helped set Reagan’s schedule.

The Crowd Pleaser

There were three things Reagan remembered from his childhood: His father was drunk, his mother was an angel, and making people laugh was an antidote to all his insecurities and embarrassments.

During those years, Reagan was no stranger to insecurity and embarrassment. His family moved around Illinois a lot during his boyhood, and they never had much money. His mother would put oatmeal in the stew pot and make a big show of it, as though cereal were the finest delicacy. Reagan also struggled to make friends. He was always the new kid in school, and wasn’t very good at sports.

But he did excel at one thing: performing speeches at his mother’s church. As soon as he earned his first laughter and applause, he was hooked and wanted more. And soon enough he found a skill that would propel him to the heights of his first career: theater.

Reagan attended college in southern Illinois. He was a mediocre student. But his good looks and prowess on the stage led to a career in student politics. He was mostly in it for the attention. Attention felt good.

In college, Reagan also fell in love – with movies. He’d spend hours watching both westerns and sappy silent films. His secret dream was to be an actor, but he didn’t dare tell anyone. Ascending to the silver screen seemed about as likely as ascending to the moon.

Radio, however, seemed like a reasonable alternative. So he applied for and landed a job as a sportscaster. It was 1933. Franklin Roosevelt had just been elected president, and Reagan was electrified by Roosevelt’s radio addresses – the Fireside Chats. All across the country, people huddled around their radios, uplifted and comforted by the confidence, candor, and strength of the president. Reagan listened, too. He listened and learned.

But he wasn’t satisfied with radio. He wanted more. So he talked his bosses into sending him to Southern California on a work trip. While there, he reached out to a former colleague he knew from the radio station, a woman who was trying to make it in Hollywood. After asking to see how he looked without his glasses, she introduced him to her agent.

Things moved quickly from there. The agent got Reagan a screen test with Warner Bros., but, before the results came in, Reagan decided to take the train back out east, returning to his regular job. In Des Moines, he got a telegram: Warner was offering a seven-year contract. Reagan’s reaction was instantaneous: “Sign before they change their minds.”

From in Front of the Camera to Behind the Scenes

In 1937, Reagan drove to Hollywood. And straightaway, he was sent for a makeover. Makeup and wardrobe were nonplussed. With his midwestern aw-shucks demeanor and decent, but not drop-dead-gorgeous, face, he hardly cut the figure of a Hollywood dreamboat. “They must think I’m Houdini,” grumbled the makeup artist when she first saw Reagan.

But the makeup artist’s opinion didn’t end up mattering. Reagan loved acting, and the camera loved him. He was a hit. He bought his parents a house, and gave his father a job looking after his fan mail. He also met and married Jane Wyman, an up-and-coming actress. These were happy, charmed years.

A Political Star is Born

Things were getting exciting for Reagan. He’d found a new career in Hollywood politics. But things weren’t so good at home. As Reagan turned away from acting, his wife, Jane, became more and more successful. They grew apart, and, in 1947, they separated.

But he wouldn’t be single for long. A young actress, Nancy Davis, had her eye on Reagan. She orchestrated a meeting, and the two started dating. After a long courtship, they married in 1952. The two would be partners for over five decades.

Governor of California

Republicans in California started talking about a Reagan-for-governor campaign. It was perfect timing: civil rights and the student movement of the 1960s was triggering a backlash of conservatism, not only in California but throughout the country. Reagan’s principled stance of old-fashioned conservative values was popular in opinion polls. When influential conservatives threw their support behind him, Reagan was ready to announce his candidacy.

His platform was small government and the rights of individuals. He railed against the students protesting at Berkeley, and the tendency of Democrats to seek votes by pandering to “hyphenated Americans,” a derogatory term that’d been applied to unnaturalized citizens since the late nineteenth century. Reagan used it to refer to members of minority populations, such as “African-Americans” and “Mexican-Americans,” both of which were stylized with a hyphen at the time. And his message hit home: he won the Republican primary two-to-one against his opponent, and went on to win the election by a million votes.

Defeat, then Victory

Challenging the incumbent Gerald Ford in the presidential race of 1976 was a desperate move. But, at 65, Reagan was already old by American political standards, and he wasn’t sure how much of a career he had left. He didn’t mind splitting the Republican Party and he didn’t mind that President Ford had the machinery of government to use in his favor.

He lost the primary to Ford, but, by the end, Reagan had more visibility than ever before. He didn’t use his new platform to support Ford, though. You see, Reagan believed that the best thing for the country would be for Ford to lose to Jimmy Carter, which would finally discredit Republican moderation. Whether Ford’s loss truly was the best thing for America is up for debate. But one thing’s for certain: Jimmy Carter’s win was the best thing for Ronald Reagan.

The Greatest Political Win

Reagan’s first order of business after his 1981 inauguration was the economy. Cutting taxes is politically easy, because it makes everyone happy. Cutting spending is politically hard, because it causes everyone pain. Reagan decided to start with the easy part. Speaking to Congress, he presented his four-part economic plan. He called for a 10 percent tax cut across the board. He also called for $49 billion in government spending cuts, deregulation, and monetary policy reform. He couldn’t bring this plan home by himself; he would need Congress’s support.

But before he could begin lobbying in earnest, disaster struck. As Reagan was leaving a Washington hotel after a speech, he was shot by a deranged man hoping to get the attention of the actress Jodie Foster. Coughing up blood, he was rushed to the hospital. He collapsed immediately upon arrival.

Battles Abroad, Battles at Home

Reagan’s victory lap didn’t last long. He may have scored a tax-and-budget win, but he was struggling to find his foreign-policy footing. The Caribbean basin was in the crosshairs of his National Security Council. Communism was spreading in the region, emanating from Cuba, which was backed by the Soviets. Nicaragua, where the Soviet-backed Sandinista party was threatening the US-backed government, was particularly worrying.

The administration decided to arm the anti-Sandinista forces in Nicaragua, known as the contras. Publicly, Reagan adopted bellicose rhetoric, saying his administration would do “whatever is necessary” to ensure peace in the Caribbean. Listeners also understood that, to Reagan, “peace” meant the suppression of communism. Some of the action he took would be extremely controversial, like planting mines in Nicaraguan harbors to disrupt supplies from the USSR and Cuba.

A Historic Meeting

In March 1985, Reagan learned that Mikhail Gorbachev had been named leader of the Soviet Union. His administration was happy with the choice. Gorbachev was a reformer, and he was smart enough, they thought, to bring the USSR back to the negotiating table. In a letter delivered by Vice President George H. W. Bush, Reagan pledged to engage Gorbachev seriously in negotiations.

But arms negotiations weren’t the only things on Reagan’s agenda. The economy and the situation in Nicaragua were still primary preoccupations. He paid considerably less attention to the details of policy papers, not to mention to his staff: in an unprecedented move, his chief of staff switched jobs with his treasury secretary. It was soon up for debate whether Don Regan, the new chief of staff, was up to the job. Nancy Reagan, for one, was no fan. Remember that name – Don Regan. He’ll reenter the story in Blink 10.

A Frustrating Summit

Lebanon had been at war with itself for years. By 1985, the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah had kidnapped seven Americans for ransom. The administration agreed to a transfer of weapons from Israel to Iran, in exchange for Iran’s promise that the hostages would be released. When only one was freed, the administration oversaw more and more weapon transfers to Iran, in the hope that more hostages would be let go.

At the same time, Reagan was at war with Congress over funding the Nicaraguan contras. Congress had barred him from supporting them. But, meanwhile, without the president’s knowledge, members of his own administration had gone rogue. Oliver North, a member of the National Security Council, had put between $3 and $4 million in proceeds from the Iran weapons sale into an account that the contras could access. North had decided not to tell Reagan, so that the president would have plausible deniability regarding the arrangement.

The Great Communicator

As Reagan was recovering from Reykjavík, things went from bad to worse. It came out that the US had sold weapons to Iran right before American hostages in Lebanon were released. It looked like the two were connected, but Reagan swore to Congress – and the American people – that they weren’t.

People didn’t buy it. According to one poll, only 14 percent of Americans believed him. But it was only when the attorney general dredged up Oliver North’s secret bank account of Iranian money provided to the Nicaraguan contras that Reagan understood that he might have actually broken the law. Whether or not he knew about it wasn’t the issue. He remained responsible for what happened on his watch. And, increasingly, it seemed that what had happened on his watch had been illegal.

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What is Reagan about?

Reagan (2015) is the definitive account of the life of a towering figure in American history. Starting with his childhood in Illinois, the narrative follows the course of Ronald Reagan’s life, from his charmed days in Hollywood to his time as governor of California and, finally, from the White House to the world stage of the Cold War.

Who should read Reagan?

All those who think they know what Reagan was all about
History buffs
People looking to understand modern American conservatism

About the Author

H. W. Brands is the author of more than 30 books on American history. He is currently the chair of the History Department at the University of Texas, Austin, and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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