History UsefulNotes / RonaldReagan

* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos story, ''A Colder War'', by Charles Stross has Reagan accidentally causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, by jokingly saying "We'll starting bombing in fifteen minutes!" during a speech in Finland. This leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of Iraq and Iran, panicking and unleasing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by lauching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand, which they got from studing leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed.

* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos story, ''A Colder War'', by Charles Stross has Reagan accidentally causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, by jokingly saying "We'll starting bombing in fifteen minutes!" during a speech in Finland. as it leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of Iraq and Iran, panicking and unleasing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by lauching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand, which they got from studing leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed.

* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos story, ''A Colder War'', by Charles Stross has Reagan's infamous "We begin bombing in five minutes!" gaffe causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, as it leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of Iraq and Iran, panicking and unleasing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by lauching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand, which they got from studing leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed.

* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos story, ''A Colder War'', by Charles Stross has Reagan's infamous "We'll bomb in five minutes!" gaffe causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, as it leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of Iraq and Iran, panicking and unleasing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by lauching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand, which they got from studing leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed.

* The Franchise/CthulhuMythos story, ''A Colder War'', by Charles Stross has Reagan's infamous "We'll bomb in fifteen minutes!" gaffe causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, as it leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of Iraq and Iran, panicking and unleasing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by lauching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand, which they got from studing leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed.

* He appears in ''Literature/AWorldOfLaughterAWorldOfTears'' as the ExcitedKidsShowHost for ''The Mickey Mouse Club''.

Yes, he's the actor who became President. However, many of the jokes about that don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only the "former actor who's running for Governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}}". After he vacated that office, he became known as the "former two-term Republican Governor of California who's running for President." People today will more likely know Reagan as the conservative guy who was President in UsefulNotes/TheEighties. You usually either [[LoveItOrHateIt love or hate him]]. If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character is a Republican. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character to hold mainly left-of-center beliefs. ([[PeripheryDemographic There do exist Democrats who think fondly of him]], known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats", and there are also self-described conservatives who dislike him, mostly for his support for policies that [[NoTrueScotsman they do not think are truly conservative]], such as tripling the National Debt, giving amnesty to over 3 million undocumented immigrants, overseeing the largest peacetime tax increase in American history, and selling military weapons to {{UsefulNotes/Iran}}). British media substitute UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect. Reagan's other use in popular culture is to evoke the 1980's, so expect him to be referenced in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade.

Yes, he's the actor who became President. However, many of the jokes about that don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only the "former actor who's running for Governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}}". After he vacated that office, he became known as the "former two-term Republican Governor of California who's running for President." People today will more likely know Reagan as the conservative guy who was President in UsefulNotes/TheEighties. You usually either [[LoveItOrHateIt love or hate him]]. If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character is a Republican. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character to hold mainly left-of-center beliefs. ([[PeripheryDemographic There do exist Democrats who think fondly of him]], known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats", and there are also self-described conservatives who dislike him, mostly for his support for policies that [[NoTrueScotsman they do not think are truly conservative]].) British media substitute UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect. Reagan's other use in popular culture is to evoke the 1980's, so expect him to be referenced in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade.

* The page's quote is from ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', with Doc Brown laughing when Marty mentioned it to him in 1955. In the second, the '80s Cafe is shown, a bit of a [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of the decade. Reagan was shown on a ''MaxHeadroom''-like display offering Marty a drink, vying with an animated Ayatollah Khomeni for his attention. This may be a ShoutOut to ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'''s "Ron Headrest", a similar ''Headroom'' parody. The filmmakers wanted Reagan to play the mayor of 1885 Hill Valley in the third film. Reagan ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen wanted]]'' to play the mayor, but it was his aides who turned down the offer.

->'''Dr. Brown:''' Then tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?\\
'''Marty:''' Ronald Reagan.\\
'''Dr. Brown:''' Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's vice president? Creator/JerryLewis?\\
--'''''Film/BackToTheFuture'''''

** "California Uber Alles" by DisposableHeroesOfHiphoprisy

* Music/MichaelJackson appeared with Ron and Nancy in a Rose Garden photo op. Reagan honored Michael for allowing the JustSayNo campaign to use the song "Beat It" in an ad. According to the Jackson biography, ''The Magic and the Madness'' TheFirstLady found Michael somewhat peculiar but attractive. To say that this was controversial would be... an {{overstatement}}.

'''Ronald Wilson Reagan''' (1911-2004) was the 40th President of the United States, serving from [[TheEighties 1981 to 1989]]. He was the sixteenth from the Republican Party, serving between UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush. Reagan is well-known for moving the country to the right politically, socially, and economically, and for his efforts to end the Cold War.

----

* He is often referred to on ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', being one of Hank's two leading presidential heroes (the other being [[LyndonJohnson LBJ]], who [[EverythingIsBigInTexas for obvious reasons]] serves as the only Democrat whom Hank holds in such high esteem).

[[caption-width-right:300: "[[MikhailGorbachev Mr. Gorbachev]], tear down [[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall this wall]]!"]]

'''Ronald Wilson Reagan''' (1911-2004) was the 40th President of the United States, serving from [[TheEighties 1981 to 1989]]. He was the sixteenth from the Republican Party, serving between JimmyCarter and GeorgeHWBush. Reagan is well-known for moving the country to the right politically, socially, and economically, and for his efforts to end the Cold War.

Yes, he's the actor who became President. However, many of the jokes about that don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only the "former actor who's running for Governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}}". After he vacated that office, he became known as the "former two-term Republican Governor of California who's running for President." People today will more likely know Reagan as the conservative guy who was President in TheEighties. You usually either [[LoveItOrHateIt love or hate him]]. If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character is a Republican. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character to hold mainly left-of-center beliefs. ([[PeripheryDemographic There do exist Democrats who think fondly of him]], known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats", and there are also self-described conservatives who dislike him, mostly for his support for policies that [[NoTrueScotsman they do not think are truly conservative]].) British media substitute MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect. Reagan's other use in popular culture is to evoke the 1980's, so expect him to be referenced in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade.

* Issue #344 of ''CaptainAmerica'' had The Viper using a serum she got from Slithers (a minor XMan villain) turning Ronald and Nancy into BrainwashedAndCrazy serpent-men with the rest of Washington, DC in an earlier stage of the transformation. The Captain (as he was known at the time because of a dispute with the government) didn't manage to stop the plot before throwing down with the suddenly scaly Commander-In-Chief who was clad only in his underwear. Reagan even used old glory as a weapon during the fight. While Cap was preoccupied with the president, Viper was able to make a VillainExitStageLeft but she was not able to get very far before she was stopped and defeated by Cobra (who is usually an enemy of TheMightyThor). He said it was payback for Cap helping Sidewinder retake control of the Serpent Society and had nothing to do with his political affiliation.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (an AlternateHistory where RichardNixon is still president), editors at a right-wing newspaper mock the idea of a "cowboy actor" like Robert Redford running for president; the film [[ViewersAreMorons dispenses with subtlety]] and has them mocking the idea of Reagan ''himself'' running, despite the fact that he would be eight years ''older'' on taking office and probably beginning to show signs of Alzheimer's, not to mention losing some of the original irony. The film dialogue rewords it as just "a cowboy running for President", turning it into a dig at [[GeorgeWBush someone a little more recent.]]

-->'''Alien 1:''' So this is he--[[RonaldReagan The Reagan]]? [[PunyEarthlings A puny specimen]], even for a human. Just like [[HumansAreBastards the defilers]] to worship such a one! Do you suppose [[HumansAreUgly ugliness is a virtue to them]]?

* The page's quote is from ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', with Doc Brown laughing when Marty mentioned it to him in 1955. In the second, the '80s Cafe is shown, a bit of a [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of the decade. Reagan was shown on a ''MaxHeadroom''-like display offering Marty a drink, vying with an animated Ayatollah Khomeni for his attention. This may be a ShoutOut to ''{{Doonesbury}}'''s "Ron Headrest", a similar ''Headroom'' parody. The filmmakers wanted Reagan to play the mayor of 1885 Hill Valley in the third film. Reagan ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen wanted]]'' to play the mayor, but it was his aides who turned down the offer.
* He's mentioned several times in ''Born in East L.A.''. When the immigration officer asks Rudy who's the president, he answers JohnWayne by mistake, which is "proof" enough that he's an illegal despite his protests and his ability to clearly speak English.

* Rumor has it that George Lucas named "Nute Gunray" of ''StarWars Episode I: ThePhantomMenace'' after ''Newt'' Gingrich and Ronald ''Reagan'', which would make it a TakeThat. Alternatively, "Nute" may have come from '''''Knute''' Rockne: All American'', the film which gave Reagan his nickname "The Gipper." Supposedly, Lucas was upset about the [=SDI=]'s nickname, even though it was Reagan's critics who dubbed it "StarWars," not the President.

* Reagan was one of the four ''X'' -Presidents on ''SaturdayNightLive'''s "TV Funhouse," and the comic books based on it, a group of superheroes who fought crime.

* In the satirical puppet show ''SpittingImage'' he was often portrayed as in a relationship with MargaretThatcher, and as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} always accompanied by the chimpanzee Bonzo (see NeverLiveItDown).

* TheRamones released a song in 1985 called, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg", criticizing Reagan for making an official visit to a German cemetery where a number of Nazi SS officers were buried. Of particular note because the band included lifelong Republican Johnny Ramone.

** "Rambozo the Clown" by DeadKennedys.

* MichaelJackson appeared with Ron and Nancy in a Rose Garden photo op. Reagan honored Michael for allowing the JustSayNo campaign to use the song "Beat It" in an ad. According to the Jackson biography, ''The Magic and the Madness'' TheFirstLady found Michael somewhat peculiar but attractive. To say that this was controversial would be... an {{overstatement}}.

* In the musical ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'', John Hinckley Jr. shoots Reagan as an act of love for JodieFoster. Reagan survives. Like the other assassination attempts, it's presented as a carnival game, with a buzzer sounding every time Hinckley fails to kill the president, and the Proprietor mocking him with Reagan's various quips.

* The 1984 off-Broadway musical ''Rap Master Ronnie'', co-written by Elizabeth Swados and ''{{Doonesbury}}'' creator Garry Trudeau, satirizes key Reagan administration events and individuals. A movie version was released in 1988.

* ''AnsemRetort'' also used the REAGAN SMASH joke mentioned below...except this time Reagan turned into TheIncredibleHulk and really did tear down the Berlin Wall. [[spoiler: And as it turns out, the reason Ronald Reagan can turn into TheIncredibleHulk is because Axel brought a gamma bomb from the future and set it off at the set of Kings Row.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (an AlternateHistory where RichardNixon is still president), editors at a right-wing newspaper mock the idea of a "cowboy actor" like Robert Redford running for president; the film [[ViewersAreMorons dispenses with subtlety]] and has them mocking the idea of Reagan ''himself'' running, despite the fact that he would be eight years ''older'' on taking office and probably beginning to show signs of Alzheimer's, not to mention losing some of the original irony. The actual dialogue rewords it as just "a cowboy running for President", turning it into a dig at [[GeorgeWBush someone a little more recent.]]

* Rumor has it that George Lucas named "Nute Gunray" of ''StarWars Episode I: ThePhantomMenace'' after ''Newt'' Gingrich and Ronald ''Reagan'', which would make it a TakeThat. Alternatively, "Nute" may have come from '''''Knute''' Rockne: All American'', the film which gave Reagan his nickname "The Gipper." Supposedly, Lucas was upset about the [=SDI=]'s nickname, even though it was Reagan's critics who dubbed it "StarWars," not the President. (''See also'' RealLife,'' below''.)

Yes, he's the actor who became President. However, many of the jokes about that don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only the "former actor who's running for Governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}}". After he vacated that office, he became known as the "former two-term Republican Governor of California who's running for President." People today will more likely know Reagan as the conservative guy who was President in TheEighties. You usually either [[LoveItOrHateIt love or hate him]]. If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character is a Republican. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character to hold mainly left-of-center beliefs. ([[PeripheryDemographic There are Democrats do exist who think fondly of him]], known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats", and there are also self-described conservatives who dislike him, mostly for his support for policies that [[NoTrueScotsman they do not think are truly conservative]].) British media substitute MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect. Reagan's other use in popular culture is to evoke the 1980's, so expect him to be referenced in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade.

Fun fact: Reagan was very, very addicted to jelly beans. He started eating them when he quit smoking, and he seriously had jelly bean cup-holders placed on government planes. When he won in 1980, he wanted a jelly bean flag of red, white, and blue to be created to the occasion. There were no blue-colored jelly beans at the time, so the Jelly Belly company created the blueberry flavor specifically for the ceremony. It ended up becoming one of their most popular flavors. Surely this was one of his finest accomplishments.

* Every punk band around in the '80s has at least one song about him. As did many Heavy Metal bands and Hip-Hop artists that veered into politics as subject matter for song lyrics.

Fun fact: Reagan was very, VERY addicted to jelly beans. He started eating them when he quit smoking, and he seriously had jelly bean cup-holders placed on government planes. When he won in 1980, he wanted a jelly bean flag of red, white, and blue to be created to the occasion. There were no blue-colored jelly beans at the time, so the Jelly Belly company created the blueberry flavor specifically for the ceremony. It ended up becoming one of their most popular flavors. Surely this was one of his finest accomplishments.

* In TheDCU, wannabe superhero Michael Jon "Booster" Carter, calling himself Goldstar, traveled back in time to 1986 and managed to save Reagan from an assassination attempt. When Ronnie asked him his name, he responded "Boost... er, Gold...," and was forever more known as BoosterGold.
** Also, in the CrisisCrossover ''Legends'', [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=798:president-reagan-bad-ass&catid=30:frames-and-panels-index&Itemid=34 Reagan apparently faces down a group of armed gunmen breaking into the Oval Office]]. "You have five seconds to surrender yourselves!" (Gunfire to Reagan's chest ... with no effect beside ClothingDamage.) "Now you have two seconds!" It's revealed to be a disguised Martian Manhunter acting as a decoy.

* The page's quote is from ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', with Doc Brown laughing when Marty mentioned it to him in 1955. In the second, the '80s Cafe is shown, a bit of a [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of the decade. Reagan was shown on a ''MaxHeadroom''-like display offering Marty a drink, vying with an animated Ayatollah Khomeni for his attention.
** This may be a ShoutOut to ''{{Doonesbury}}'''s "Ron Headrest", a similar ''Headroom'' parody.
** Additionally, the filmmakers wanted Reagan to play the mayor of 1885 Hill Valley in the third film. Reagan ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen wanted]]'' to play the mayor, but it was his aides who turned down the offer.

* In Creator/DouglasAdams' posthumous collection ''Literature/TheSalmonOfDoubt'', a short story starring Zaphod ends with the revelation that Ronald Reagan [[{{Anvilicious}} is an escaped alien-engineered weapon of mass political destruction]], and that the aliens responsible will have to make the Earth [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt 'safe, perfectly safe']].
** ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' featured "Know-Nothing Bozo the Non-Wonder Dog", so named "due to a remarkable similarity to the American President". The dog's owner and his friends would play a game with the dog where they would shout "Commies!" repeatedly and watch as the dog went berserk.

* Every punk band around in the '80s has at least one song about him.
** As did many Heavy Metal bands and Hip-Hop artists that veered into politics as subject matter for song lyrics.

* [[TheBoondocks Huey Freeman]] is convinced that Ronald Reagan is really TheAntichrist.
** This is based on actual conspiracy theories by some black militants, citing, among their reasons, the fact that his first, middle, and last names [[NumberOfTheBeast All had six letters]].

* ''AnsemRetort'' also used the REAGAN SMASH joke mentioned below...except this time Reagan turned into TheIncredibleHulk and really did tear down the Berlin Wall.
** [[spoiler: And as it turns out, the reason Ronald Reagan can turn into TheIncredibleHulk is because Axel brought a gamma bomb from the future and set it off at the set of Kings Row.]]

* Ronald Reagan is a member of the cast of ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'', after the owner of the eponymous toy store heard one of his employees remark "Bring back anything from the '80s, and it's money in the bank" (just ''how'' he was "brought back" is [[RuleOfFunny never really addressed]] although ImportedAlienPhlebotinum capable of resurrecting the dead ''does'' exist in [[{{Walkyverse}} the strip's universe]]). "Ronnie" is played as a kindly old man, slightly absentminded, with an occasional tendency to burst into a PatrioticFervor and total inability to retain information about AIDS.
** He is also portrayed as remarkably accepting of homosexuality, despite his politics, a stance he explains by reminding people that he got his start in Hollywood and personally knew Rock Hudson.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 SCP-1981]], an anomalous VHS tape of Reagan's 1983 "Evil Empire" speech. Something happened to the tape so that every time it's played back its contents are different, with the contents always consisting of Reagan giving [[WordSaladHorror nonsensical (and creepy) anecdotes and parables]] while he's being mutilated by an invisible force.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', members of the Springfield Republican Party mention that they have a mission to rename everything after Reagan. (For example, all schools named in UsefulNotes/MillardFillmore's honor will be transferred to Reagan's.)
** TruthInTelevision (though obviously a satirical exaggeration); there is an organized movement in the U.S., funded by right-wing Republican anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, to name at least one public building, monument, park, etc., in every U.S. county after Reagan.
** Homer's "Rappin' Ronnie Reagan" tape.
*** This is actually a ShoutOut to [[ImpersonationParadox Rich Little's]] "Rappin' Ronnie", a fictious appeal to minority voters with Ron rapping and Nancy on Bass. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XECby_mT1w Watch it here]]

** And [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]] is partly based on Mr. Reagan.

* Reagan is depicted in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Peter's Got Woods" saying his "Tear down this wall" line and then beating on a brickwall with his bare fists yelling: "REAGAN SMASH! REAGAN SMASH!". It turns out it was the wall of a [=McDonald's=] and the workers inside comment that it was nothing to be concerned about, and that he tends to wear himself out quickly. He is then seen curling up like a child, muttering: "Reagan sleepy …"
** More recently, the episode "Family Gay" implied he and Gorbachev were gay lovers.
* In an ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode, "De-Zanitized," Reagan appears in Scratchansniff's flashback, taking place when he was an actor, and tells the doctor about his dream where he becomes president. Scratchansniff deems him incurable.
** May be a FunnyAneurysmMoment. The episode came out in 1993, a year before he revealed his Alzheimer's.

*** "Hey, now, if Ron Reagan dyed his hair -- and I'm not saying he did -- it was only to show his strength to the Communists."

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Although not technically fiction, Phillip Adams gave Reagan a [[FanNickname Detractor Nickname]]: "Ronnie Raygun" -- a reference to the Strategic Defense Initiative, which sought to put the United States at the front of technological arms race during the cold war by putting satellites in space to shoot down any nuclear missiles headed the United States' way with FrickinLaserBeams, nicknamed the "Franchise/StarWars" project.
* The lack of good ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketches about him has been rectified a bit by Dana Carvey's "Reagan Oracle" routine, portraying him as having masterminded every presidential election of the next twenty years at the end of his own term.
* Impressionist Rich Little, who could do convincing imitations of quite a few presidents, said Reagan was his favorite (which may or may not have to do with his voice being quite similar to Little's natural one).

He was also, ironically, strongly pro-union during this period, a two-time President of the [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood Screen Actors Guild]], named names before the [[RedScare House Un-American Activities Committee]], and stood up to Herb Sorell's attempted take-over of SAG. Sorrell threatened those who opposed him, such as Reagan, saying, "There may be men hurt, there may be men killed before this is over." Sorrell's faction was financed by the CPUSA.

Yes, he's the actor who became President (scroll down to read about his acting career). However, many of these jokes don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only the "former actor who's running for Governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}}". After he vacated that office, he became known as the "former two-term Republican Governor of California who's running for President." [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Which is a kind of scary concept]], if you're unfamiliar with the clause which excludes [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem all foreign-born people from becoming President]]. Actually, people today will more likely know Reagan as the conservative guy who was President in TheEighties. You usually either [[LoveItOrHateIt love or hate him]]. If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character (or his/her writer) is a Republican. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character (or writer) to hold mainly left-of-center beliefs. ([[PeripheryDemographic There are Democrats do exist who think fondly of him]], known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats", and there are also self-described conservatives who dislike him, mostly for his support for policies that [[NoTrueScotsman they do not think are truly conservative]].) British media substitute MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect. Reagan's other use in popular culture is to evoke the 1980's, so expect him to be referenced in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade.

Reagan is an icon for members of the Republican Party. In fact, most Republicans will couple him with [[AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]] and [[GeorgeWashington Washington]] when they talk about their favorite presidents (Democrats will usually say FranklinDRoosevelt instead). Funnily enough, he started off as a Democrat (he even voted for Roosevelt ''all four times''), and only started to vote Republican in [[DwightDEisenhower 1952]]. This is a fact he would joke about in later life, saying that he didn't leave the Democratic Party -- it left him! For what it's worth, Reagan always maintained that he never betrayed the New Deal, but that he thought the Democrats were starting to take it farther than FDR planned and that someone had to rein them in. Reagan always had a lot of respect for FDR even as he moved further to the right, remembering that Roosevelt's public work programs gave jobs to his father and brother during the Great Depression. He started his move into politics in 1964, when he delivered a well-received speech in favor of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. Goldwater lost that election with less than 40% of the popular vote. Reagan then went on to serve two terms as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, where he was usually pretty popular. It brought him to the national spotlight when, after [[RichardNixon Watergate]], the Republicans were searching for a new leader. He tried to win the Republican ticket in 1976, but incumbent GeraldFord won narrowly.

He beat JimmyCarter in the 1980 election by a popular vote margin of just under ten percentage points, although he only got 50.7% of the popular vote due to a losing Republican primary candidate, John Bayard Anderson, running as a more moderate independent. The Electoral College victory was more emphatic (489 votes for Reagan, 49 for Carter, 0 for Anderson). Running mate GeorgeHWBush, who also tried to win the Republican ticket in 1980, would go on to win the presidency himself in 1988. The Iran hostage crisis which plagued Carter's presidency saw its end just twenty minutes after Reagan was inaugurated when Iran released all of the dozens of Americans held since 1979.[[note]]While many of Reagan's most passionate fans say that the Iranians did this because they feared what Reagan would do to them, in truth, the Carter administration was already negotiating with the Iranians when two things happened in late 1980. The first, Iraq invaded Iran. The second, Carter lost reelection. The Iranians knew that they could not fight a war while there was still an international embargo on them because of the hostage situation, and since Carter, who they despised, was leaving office they didn't need to give the man what might be called a victory. A deal had already been reached by the end of Carter's term, but the Iranians wanted to humiliate the man and waited until he was officially a former President. Either way, Reagan knew better than to invade Iran or anything, since they would kill all of the American hostages immediately, so it's doubtful that he would have been able to solve it had the crisis continued into his presidency. Also, some people suspect that the Reagan campaign contacted the Iranians and told them to keep the hostages in order to help his chances of winning. No one knows the truth.[[/note]] Reagan was, and still is, the oldest man to hold the office of president, taking office just seventeen days shy of his 70th birthday and serving a full two terms. He is also the first president elected in a year ending in '''0''' who did not die in office since UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe (who was reelected in ''1820''), though he did come scarily close. Two months into the presidency, a [[LoonyFan man obsessed]] with Creator/JodieFoster (and who wanted to be as famous as her) shot Reagan in 1981, possibly in imitation of [[Film/TaxiDriver Travis Bickle]]. Reagan wasn't actually aware that he had been shot for several minutes. He also was [[CasualDangerDialogue cracking jokes on his way to the hospital]] -- one can only imagine the look on Nancy Reagan's face as he said, "Honey, I forgot to duck." His most notable line, however, was telling his surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans!" (The chief surgeon, a liberal Democrat, is said to have answered [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans"]].) The public sympathy for the Commander in Chief was enormous, and his humor about the incident endeared him to many. This coincided with Reagan's economic proposals being debated by Congress, and many historians credit this outburst of popularity with helping much of it get passed.

Most of his first term was spent on domestic issues, especially the economy. When he entered office, unemployment was above 7%, the economic growth was stagnating, and inflation was in the double digits. Whereas most of the Presidents in the decades before him supported either liberal or center-leaning economic policies, Reagan brought the first truly right-of-center economic plan since arguably the pre-[[FranklinDRoosevelt New Deal]] era. In his inaugural address, he famously declared "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government ''is'' the problem," and he actively sought to decrease the size of the federal government and give more power to business, the states, and the average citizens. His economic policies are famously known as "Reaganomics." Reaganomics lowered taxes for all income groups (the top-income tax bracket saw their income tax drop by over 50% from the start of his presidency to the end), deregulation and less rigorous enforcement of anti-trust laws, support for business, less support for unions, less spending on domestic programs and more on the military, simplifying the tax code to prevent people from abusing loopholes (which affected both poor and wealthy people who abused loopholes, for the record), and stronger control of the monetary supply. The thought behind this was that tax cuts for the wealthy would allow them to spend more on philanthropic efforts and job creation that would benefit the average American - this is known as "trickle-down economics." He also wanted to cut back government spending and pay off the debt, but Congress was not willing to cut spending on most programs - as a result, the lower taxes and increased spending saw the federal debt increase by almost '''200%''' during his eight years. When, in the first months of his presidency, the air traffic controllers went on strike, he said that it is illegal for federal workers to strike and he fired all 12,000 of them, putting the commercial air traffic under temporary military control. His administration also oversaw a major expansion of the War on Drugs and significant cuts for environmental programs. He signed a compromise bill in 1983 which ended the crisis with Social Security costs and helped save the program for a generation. The Equal Rights Amendment, a major issue during TheSeventies, died under his watch; Reagan opposed the amendment.

Like [[FranklinDRoosevelt the policies of another President which significantly changed how the government handles the economy]], it is still debated by historians, scholars, and economists how much his policies worked or whether they did at all. In 1982, the economy went through a major recession where unemployment reached 10.8% - higher than it did during the [[GeorgeWBush current]] [[BarackObama recession]]. After that, both inflation and unemployment started to plummet and economic growth exploded for the rest of the decade. Supporters point out the increased economic growth during his two terms (it was the equivalent of the United States adding the entire economy of Germany, then the third-largest world economy), more jobs, and end to the uncontrollable inflation of the 1970's, and several people rising above the poverty line, including a record number of minorities. Critics contend that the huge deficits of the 80's and early 90's rest on his shoulders, and point out that he oversaw the creation of a rising income gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of the country that is still a major problem, that the United States went from the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor, and that millions of homeless or impoverished went without adequate care. The truth is probably a mixture of both, for the record, and [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment let us leave it at that]]. What can't be denied is that Reagan and his policies moved American politics to the right of center. In 1982 the House went to the Democrats, along with the Senate in 1986; Reagan maintained good relations with Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and usually found important compromises. He also strongly supported the leadership of Federal Reserve heads Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan (who he nominated in 1987, and remained there until 2006) and their efforts to control the monetary supply. Interestingly, despite his well-known advocacy for lower taxes, he did raise taxes several times during his presidency following his initial dramatic tax cut, and by the end about half of the tax cut had been taken back. Reagan is also the only two-term President since 1938 not to raise the minimum wage even once.

There were some notable foreign policy concerns and incidents during his first term, for the record. Reagan rejected the détente of the 1970's and wanted to actively "roll back" the communist world. He had the toughest talk on the Soviet Union of any President since HarryTruman, notably calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire," and he lent support to many countries fighting the USSR or other communist forces. Controversially, several of the right-wing forces and dictatorships he armed committed human rights abuses, some of which are around and still do these things. This included sending arms to the Mujaheddin forces fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It's one of the most controversial parts of his presidency, since these groups would later use these arms to fight each other. Some of its members would go on to form both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, too. Following the Soviets in 1983 downing a Korean airliner which flew off course (a Congressman was on that plane, interestingly), Reagan imposed tougher sanctions on the USSR and suspending any Soviet passenger air service to the US. Wanting to avoid another such incident, he also decided to release the GPS program, which was in development in the military at the time, to the public, and the first satellite was launched in 1989. Military spending skyrocketed during the Reagan administration and PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower reached its peak; Reagan believed that the American economy could outspend the Soviet economy on military buildups, bankrupt that country, and force them to the peace table without firing a single shot. He proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, which would basically create a system of space lasers to destroy any missiles being launched at America. While most scientists laughed at the idea and called it nearly impossible (critics famously nicknamed the idea StarWars), the Soviet Union took it very seriously, and this is the point where they became much more willing to negotiate and consider more peaceful relations. He sent a peacekeeping force to Lebanon in 1982 to bring peace to the country following an invasion by Israel, but one year later a terrorist bombing at the barracks in Beirut killed more than 200 Americans and Reagan withdrew the forces. Two days after that attack he ordered a successful [[OperationUrgentFury military operation in Grenada]] to overthrow a Marxist government and rescue American medical students there. Reagan was a strong ally of Prime Minister MargaretThatcher, and he was also the first American President to address the British Parliament. In 1984, America sent its first ambassador to the Vatican.

The 1984 victory over Democratic candidate Walter Mondale (previously Carter's second in command) was the second-largest electoral beatdown in U.S. history[[note]]after FDR's first reelection in 1936[[/note]] -- [[LandslideElection a 49-state landslide]], with Mondale only winning his home state of Minnesota (and even then, by a small margin) and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. Citing the economic recovery and rising public faith in government, he declared that it was "Morning in America." One of his most notable moments during the second election was when he was asked if his advanced age hindered his ability to fulfill his duties as President. Reagan shot back "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," and then calmly drank a glass of water. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny The entire audience laughed and applauded]], and ''even Mondale himself'' was caught on camera laughing. That same year, he also opened the [[OlympicGames Summer Olympics]] in Los Angeles, the first sitting President to open the games (FDR previously did so as Governor of New York in 1932). During his second term in office, he became the first President affected by the Acting President clause of the TwentyFifthAmendment - in both 1985 and 1987, Reagan underwent surgery, and Bush was acting President for a few hours.

His second term was mostly centered on foreign affairs. The United States began to go after Middle East terrorists, notably when they bombed Libya after a terrorist attack in Germany was linked to the Libyan regime. Public disapproval of the apartheid government in South Africa exploded in his second term, but Reagan wasn't willing to impose sanctions or boycott products from the country. Understandably, he's not very well-liked down there. He supported a revolution in the Philippines which brought down a corrupt military dictatorship. A war between Iran and Iraq saw the United States providing aid to the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, and years after Reagan's death it was revealed that he [[WhatTheHellHero helped them carry out chemical weapons attacks on Iranians]]. Remember, this was just a few years after the Iran hostage crisis, so Iran was America's biggest enemy abroad besides the USSR. El Salvador and Nicaragua were plagued by violence and civil war during the 1980's, and Reagan supported the anti-communist fighters in the conflicts. Congress placed a ban on any aid to the rebels in Nicaragua, known as the Contras. In 1986, this caused a huge scandal which nearly ended the Reagan presidency. It was revealed that he had okayed an arms sale to Iran (which, remember, had a public policy of wanted to destroy the United States) in return for the Iranians helping to free American hostages in Lebanon. Then, members of his administration used this money to aid the Contras. This is called the Iran-Contra scandal, and all of this, of course, was blatantly illegal. Reagan declared that he had indeed given his approval of the arms sale but that he didn't know about giving the money to the Contras. Several members of his administration were impeached and convicted, his popularity dropped almost overnight by about 15%, and a Congressional investigation declared "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have." Whether he really knew about the full-extent of the scandal is still hotly debated today.[[note]]Oliver North, the main leader of the dealing, has gone on record as admitting that Reagan knew the details of both the Iran deals and the Contra deals.[[/note]] This wasn't the only scandal to plague the Reagan administration, though it is the most well-known. The total number of government officials who were investigated, indited, or convicted during the Reagan years was 138, larger than that of any other President. Reagan himself usually managed to escape scandals while maintaining a good deal of public faith, leading many critics on the left to nickname him "Teflon Ron."

Domestic concerns were still vibrant during his second term, however. First Lady Nancy Reagan went on the "Just Say No" campaign to prevent youths from taking drugs. While her intentions were admirable, it is a case of amazing irony that nearly all of the young celebrities who participated would grow up to be drug addicts, including Music/WhitneyHouston. The Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' exploded in 1986, the night he was supposed to give his State of the Union address; instead he gave a very moving tribute speech to the seven astronauts who were killed, and it is widely regarded as a high-point for his presidency. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986) made it a crime to (knowingly) hire illegal immigrants and also granted amnesty to most of the millions already living in the country. He also made a lot of important nominations to the [[AmericanCourts judicial branch]]. When Chief Justice Warren Burger died that year, he nominated sitting Justice William Rehnquist to take his place, and he would head the SCOTUS until 2005. Reagan appointed a number of conservative Justices to the Court and moved them right of center; two sitting Justices, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, were put on the Court by Reagan. The first woman on the Court, Sandra Day O'Connor, was nominated by Reagan - she was the swing vote on many important cases, leading many to joke that she was the one really in charge of the judicial branch. It was during Reagan's time in office that AIDS was recognized. It is widely alleged the he did little about it until [[ItsPersonal his friend and fellow actor]] Rock Hudson died from AIDS. In reality, Reagan inaugurated federal action on AIDS research and treatment in 1981, allocating half a billion dollars in the years prior to Hudson's death, with over 5 billion[[note]]All told, $10.6 billion in 2012 dollars[[/note]] more coming in the years following. In 1988, he signed a bill which granted reparations to Japanese Americans who were interned during WorldWarII. Crime rates, especially in urban areas, were very high during the Reagan administration - twice as high as they are now, in fact.

However, the most notable policy of Reagan's second term, and probably his most important accomplishment overall, were his peace talks with the Soviet Union's leader MikhailGorbachev. When he entered office, the Soviet Union was already very wobbly, suffering from terrible economic standing, incompetent handling of the invasion of Afghanistan, and growing resistance to the Soviets in Eastern Europe, especially the Solidarity movement in Poland. More economic sanctions from the United States, the increased military spending, and the defeat of communists in several regions (especially Latin America) only made things worse for them. Gorbachev became of the USSR's leader in 1985 and was determined the change the country for the better. He made the country more free and democratic, ended restrictions on free speech, (eventually) ended the invasion of Afghanistan, and moved the economy to the center with stronger emphasis on making markets freer. Reagan and Gorbachev met several times from 1985 to 1989, and they held four summits together. Both of them agreed on the threats of nuclear weapons and wanted to end the military buildup and make the world a safer place. In 1987, Reagan made a speech before the Berlin Wall where he stated "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!]]" Later that year, he signed the INF Treaty with Gorbachev, which saw both countries dismantle over 2,500 nuclear missiles. The two of them also agreed to reduce their forces in Europe. Gorbachev visited Washington and Reagan visited Moscow, and both were well-received in the other country's capital. It was clear that, in just a few years, the Cold War had thawed significantly. Less than a year after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall was torn down, the countries of the Eastern bloc overthrew the communist regimes in place since 1945, and Bush and Gorbachev declared that the Cold War was officially over. The USSR would itself dissolve into 15 independent states in 1991, with Russia taking over several of the Soviet Union's old places in the world. How much of it was a direct result of Reagan's actions is debated. Gorbachev, at least, sided with those who claimed that Reagan was responsible for its end, and he always praised Reagan when he had the chance.

Towards the end of his presidency, the economy started to walk on shaky ground again. In October 1987, the stock market went through a major crash, with the Dow Jones dropping by over one third in just a few weeks, and it wouldn't recover until after he left office. Also in 1987, the Savings & Loans institutions went through a major crisis after Reagan deregulated them. Lasting until 1995, 747 of the country's 3,234 S&L associations went under, a shocking change for what used to be one of the safest investment opportunities in America. Reagan had to spend over $125 billion to help save the programs. The budget deficits continued to rise more and more, too. Additionally, inflation started to go up again, doubling in the last two years of his presidency. In 1988, Reagan's Vice President, GeorgeHWBush, gained the Republican ticket and won the election by a significant landslide. Along with the end of the Cold War and the reduction of military spending that resulted (the United States economy was used to over forty years of huge military budgets, and these suddenly going away caused some issues), these problems probably helped cause the 1992 recession which caused Bush to lose reelection to BillClinton. Many supporters contend that these were just bumps on the road, and that the Reagan administration helped pave the way for the great economy of the 1990's. Critics say that Reagan was the root cause of the 1992 recession and even the current Great Recession. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Leave it at that, please.]] In 1991, he also wrote a moving editorial in support of the Brady Bill, a gun control bill named after his personal secretary who was shot and permanently handicapped during his attempted assassination; it was passed by Clinton in 1993.

Appropriately enough for a former actor, Reagan was very much [[OneOfUs in touch with the popular culture of the time]], and became known as the "Great Communicator" for his speaking skills. Reagan started the practice of weekly radio broadcasts to the American people, which recalled FranklinDRoosevelt's fireside chats; his successors have continued to do this, with the current President, BarackObama, starting to use the Internet as well. He called the Soviet Union an [[Franchise/StarWars evil Empire]], and quoted ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' (he reportedly found the above lines from that movie quite amusing) in a State of the Union Address. His favorite television show was ''FamilyTies'', which may or may not be related to the fact that one of the show's lead characters admired Reagan. Ironically, in private, he and Gorbachev became good friends, and this helped thaw U.S.-Soviet relations leading into George H.W. Bush's term. After leaving office, when asked what his greatest accomplishment was, he said it was making the American people believe in themselves again. Reagan was so great with public relations and convincing the people to support his policy proposals that he is known as "the Great Communicator."

Late in his life, Reagan began succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease. The time and speed of its onset is somewhat contended, especially as to how much of his tenure as president was possibly compromised by it. As a result, the most well-known satirical portrayal of Reagan is as a bumbling {{Cloudcuckoolander}} or, at the very least, a doddering old man. He is the UrExample of many recent examples of [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President Buffoon]], most notably, a recurring list a statements such as "more of our imports come from overseas", "how hard it is to put food on your family", ''etc''. These are often immediately redistributed to GeorgeWBush or DanQuayle, who are actually the source of some of them. Unfortunately, much of this kind of humor, and above all of the quite real statements of "do not recall" during the Iran-Contra affair, became a [[FunnyAneurysmMoment Funny Alzheimer's Moment]], i.e. not so funny any more (and the "imports" knee-slapper misses that two of America's largest importers are Mexico and Canada. D'oh.). He was also the TropeNamer for TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires. As his Alzheimer's progressed, his family decided to keep him away from the public eye towards the end of his life. He died in 2004, and his state funeral saw the attendance of many famous world leaders and his former friends and allies, including both Thatcher and Gorbachev. He is the second-longest-lived President, with Gerald Ford ahead by less than two months. Currently, Nancy is a public advocate for stem cell research, believing that it could potentially lead to a cure for the disease, and she had very positive things to say when BarackObama lifted restrictions on the research.

He has an aircraft carrier, as well as quite a few other things, named after him. He is the first former President to benefit from an organized project to polish his presidential legacy after the fact. Grover Norquist's "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Reagan Legacy Project]]" lists, among its goals, getting at least one major landmark in every state named after him, and at one point launched a campaign to get his image on the $10 bill, until it was discovered that legislation (signed into law by Reagan himself!) requires a person to have been dead for 50 years before they can appear on U.S. currency. He passed away in June of 2004 and, thus, is currently (until June 2054) ineligible. However, in 2005, the Presidential Dollar Coin act provided for the release of dollar coinage featuring all the presidents who were in office up to that point and died at least two years before the issuing of their coinage. Reagan's coin is scheduled for 2016. (This maybe considered less valuable since one-dollar coins have never been particularly popular in the United States). Humorously Republican Reagan, the oldest man ever elected president was one of two fully Irish-American presidents (as opposed to being "of Irish descent", of which there are eleven Presidents in total, including BarackObama), the other being Democrat JohnFKennedy, the youngest man ever elected President.

In a nationwide public poll conducted by the DiscoveryChannel in 2005, Ronald Reagan was voted the greatest American of all time. Yes, he even ranked above GeorgeWashington, AbrahamLincoln, and [[CivilRightsMovement Martin Luther King, Jr.]] Though, it ''is'' worth mentioning that the poll was conducted only a few months after his death and this probably helped a bit.

Though often smeared by those who hate him as being involved in blacklisting, Reagan said at the time "As a citizen, I would hesitate to see any political party outlawed on the basis of its political ideology. However, if it is proven that an organization is an agent of foreign power, or in any way not a legitimate political party -- and I think the government is capable of proving that -- then that is another matter. But at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment." He also made a number of statements critical of [=McCarthyism=] as being un-American. He did, however, during the Red Scare in the late 1940s provide the FBI with names of people whom he believed to be communist sympathizers within the motion picture industry.

Please remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment.

!! Tropes present in Reagan's life and legacy

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: During the second debate, Reagan was pretty much on the defensive after he made a poor showing in the first. His tired look in the first debate was the subject of a question whether he was too old for the Presidency (being, at the time, 73). Reagan immediately fired back:
-->"I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."[[note]]His opponent, Walter Mondale, was 56 at that time, and had been a powerful senator (for twelve years) as well as Vice President.[[/note]]
** The camera cut to a shot of Mondale laughing along with the rest of the crowd. Looking back on the campaign, Mondale recognised that was the moment he had totally lost the election.
* AffectionateNickname: Ronald's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance and his "Dutchboy" haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his life.
* ArchEnemy: During Reagan's tenure as president, his primary opponent was the ever-so outspoken Democratic Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, the second-longest running Speaker after Sam Rayburn.
** Though political commentator Chris Matthews has offered the AlternateCharacterInterpretation that Reagan and O'Neill were friendly after work, noting that Reagan once said "We're all friends after five o'clock."
* AscendedFanboy: Reagan was a lifelong fan of the Western genre. As an adult, he finally achieved his dream of becoming a rancher when he bought a ranch nestled in the California mountains, Rancho del Cielo, and actually did the necessary work on the ranch, mostly by hand. One Reagan assistant noted that the President was at his happiest when he was at the ranch doing simple things like clearing brush, tending to the horses, or chopping firewood.
** At the start of his career, Reagan was simply an actor and spokesman with an interest in politics....
* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: Although his more positive "Morning in America" ads are more famous, he was not immune to this either.
-->''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwdcmjBgNA There's a bear in the woods...]]''
* BadassBoast:
-->''Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!''
-->''The United States will not contain Communism, [[TakeThat it will transcend Communism]]. We'll not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp whose last pages are even now being written.]]''
** The second also doubles as an IronicEcho to Nikita Khruschev's "We will bury you" speech (in actuality, he said something to the effect of, "the USSR shall outlast the US").
* BeamMeUpScotty: President Reagan never said that ketchup was a vegetable.[[note]]The phrase was coined by ''Newsweek'' and politicians who noted that according to the revised School Lunch Plan criteria, ketchup and relish could be considered a substitute for vegetables. And it was Jimmy Carter who was responsible for the subsidy cuts that forced USDA to do this.[[/note]]
* TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires: {{Trope Namer|s}}.
* TheChessmaster: To an extent, mainly with how he helped combat communism and the Soviets.
** For one example, it's been theorized that Reagan never intended to fully or even substantially implement the Strategic Defense Initiative (better known as "Star Wars"), not the least reason being the massive technical hurdles that 1980s technology would have had to surmount to have space-based lasers capable of shooting down Soviet warheads accurately. Instead, it's believed that the program was a massive BatmanGambit intended to force the USSR, especially under the Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko governments, to try and outspend the US in anticipating and defeating such a system, helping to bankrupt them.
*** This theory, of course, ignores the fact that Brezhnev offered to begin the process of completel nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War entirely, if Reagan would just give up the SDI. Reagan, however, was too attached to the idea, and decided to prolong the threat of nuclear Armageddon.
* ConspiracyTheories: ''Whoo boy''. A lot of people theorize over how much, if any, Alzheimer's affected his time in office. His wife, Nancy, is known to have had a very big influence on both Ronald and the number of people who got to see him. Some conspiracy theorists have not ignored this. Additionally, some people believe that Vice President Bush was the real leader during Reagan's last few years in office. (See TheManBehindTheMan below.)
* ControversyProofImage: Reagan earned the nickname "Teflon Ron" due to how no matter what seemed to happen in Washington during his presidency, his massive popularity was never affected. Also, lets face it, ''[[LyndonJohnson any]] [[RichardNixon other]] [[GeorgeWBush president]]'' would have been impeached and thrown out of office for presiding over something as shady as the Iran-Contra affair; however, all Reagan had to do was make a televised address apologizing to the nation and he was off scot-free. The Democrats would put [[BillClinton a similarly slick man]] in office not long after Reagan left, and keep ''him'' there for eight years too.
* CoolOldGuy: A lot of people, even if they disagreed with his policies, seem to like Reagan as a person.
* {{Curse}} / ScrewDestiny: Appears to have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Tippecanoe broken a curse]] that all presidents elected in years divisible by 20 die in office after the assassination attempt failed (for proof GeorgeWBush, elected 20 years after Reagan, survived both his terms without any significant threat to his life).
* DeadpanSnarker / GentlemanSnarker: His quips are the stuff of which ''legends'' are made. When beginning his own take on the "Little Red Hen" fable:
--> "A modern-day Little Red Hen may not appear to be a quotable authority on economics; but then some authorities on economics aren't worth quoting."
* TheEighties: Often nicknamed the "Reagan Era" by his fans.
* FriendlyEnemy: Gorbachev.
* FullNameBasis: Nowadays, out of respect, his supporters primarily refer to Ronald Reagan by his full name.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: He's very beloved in Poland for his support for the Solidarity movement and his efforts to end the Cold War. He's well-known in other former Eastern bloc countries, too, but Poland especially loves the man. Besides WoodrowWilson (who helped Poland attain independence after WorldWarI and is, for the obvious reason, practically worshiped), he's probably the most well-known historical President over there.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill clashed fiercely over politics, but supposedly were quite friendly after the debates were over.
** More famously, Reagan and Gorbachev apparently got along very well, despite being the leaders of opposing superpowers.
* HappilyMarried: The love story of "Ronnie and Nancy" is often touted as one of the greatest love stories of modern American politics. Watching Nancy give her final goodbyes to her husband during his funeral is [[TearJerker truly heartbreaking]].
* HeadbuttingHeroes: 38th president GeraldFord strongly disliked Reagan, which stemmed from Reagan challenging him for the Republican nomination in 1976.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: GeorgeHWBush.
* IAmNotMyFather: Applies to his son, Ron Reagan, at least politically. Ron is a liberal pundit and had a show on Air America Radio as well as being a commentator on MSNBC. Ron commented that he disagreed with his father, but back when Ronald was president was an era where someone ''could'' respectfully disagree politically with someone without it turning into a media circus.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With [[CanadaEh Canadian Prime Minister]] Brian Mulroney, who was 28 years younger than the Gipper and was also elected by an historic landslide.[[note]]Tellingly, Mulroney was elected for the first time in 1984, about two months before Reagan was reelected.[[/note]]
** Though many Canadians who remember their shared tenures will [[InsistentTerminology demand that the relationship be referred to as]] "Mulroney kissing Reagan's ass," given the many, many, ''many'' similarities in their policy agendas.
* {{Irony}}: His son once said that Reagan could not empathize with groups. If you could personalize a issue, if you could put a face to it, that captivates him, but if that face becomes several faces, he won't react as fondly. Following Reagan's own death, he's become both a face and abstract, as the memory and legacy of the man has been twisted.
* IsThisThingOn: Reagan, during a mic test; the USSR responded with DudeNotFunny:
-->"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've just signed legislation that will outlaw [[DirtyCommunists Russia]] forever. We [[NuclearOption begin bombing]] in five minutes."
* KickTheDog: Across from supporting the apartheid regime as means of combating communism and vetoing a bill that will place sanctions on South African apartheid regime, his administration is strongly responsible for listing Nelson Mandela and the ANC in the terrorist watch list simply because of their communist connections. This was lifted in 2008 however, four years after Reagan's death.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Some Presidential historians have theorized that by 1987, Vice President GeorgeHWBush was effectively running the Reagan Administration due to advanced age and stress taking a major toll on Reagan's mental health. However, this has been disputed.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: During the ColdWar, Reagan was vehement in wanting to defeat the SovietUnion (which itself was facing a lot of internal problems), so he supported and installed several regimes at the time that would later cause the U.S. any manner of trouble or embarrassment, including those of SaddamHussein of Iraq and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Furthermore, he trained, equipped and funded the Mujahideen resistance fighters in Afghanistan (positioning them ideally to become warlords) with virtually no concern over what this would do to Afghanistan once the Soviets left.
** In the 1980s, [[ModernEgypt Egypt under Mubarak]] was seen as being not just an ally against the Soviets but as an important moderating force in the Middle East and a front-line ally against [[MuammarGaddafi Colonel Qadaffi]] (remember that the U.S. fought a series of sea and air clashes with UsefulNotes/{{Libya}} over the so-called "Line of Death" and then bombed Libya in retaliation for terrorist attacks), and the U.S. also wanted to bolster Egypt to reward it for having made peace with Israel. The USA also had absolutely nothing to do with the Mubarak government, repeatedly urged him to be more democratic, and provided support only to the Egyptian Military for the above stated reasons. Mubarak could have risen to power and kept his hold on Egypt with or without American support.
** U.S. support of UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} was more in the manner of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" than anything else (before the {{Iran-Iraq war}}, Iraq's chief foreign ally had been the Soviet Union); notwithstanding the arms-for-hostages fiasco, the U.S. and Iran were openly hostile throughout the decade and indeed fought a series of naval engagements in the Persian Gulf in 1988. Nonetheless, U.S. support of Iraq was comparatively limited compared to the cornucopia of arms and aid it poured into, for example, Egypt; it mainly took the form of providing intelligence support and escorts for oil tankers from Iraqi and Kuwaiti ports (Kuwait, along with the other Gulf Arab states, supported Iraq). In fact, the number one backer of Iraq was... France.
** A better example may be TheFalklandsWar. The U.S. initially got itself into a rather awkward position because Argentina, which had invaded and occupied British territory (UsefulNotes/TheFalklandIslands), was providing important support to the U.S. in its operations against Marxist guerrilla movements in Central America (especially El Salvador). The Reagan Administration therefore sought, not too successfully, to take a neutral posture between Argentina and Great Britain. In the end, however, America ended up tilting toward the U.K., providing crucial logistical and intelligence support to the fleet steaming south to retake the islands.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Many in the public saw Reagan as a cute old grandfatherly figure if they were fans of his, or an "amiable dunce" if they were his opponents. In the decades since his presidency, declassified documents and interviews with people close to him reveal that Reagan was arguably quite clever and politically savvy, particularly when it came to his relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev.
** A popular Saturday Night Skit featured Reagan (played by Phil Hartman) as an evil genius who's folksy personality is all an act.
* PutAFaceOnTheCompany: During his Hollywood years, he was a host of General Electric Theatre and worked as a spokesman for the company. (His time working for GE helped push him to the right.)
* RousingSpeech: Many. His speech after the ''Challenger'' space shuttle exploded, killing all seven astronauts aboard, gets a special mention. All in all, Reagan is up there with Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy when it comes to the great speech-making Presidents.
* RousseauWasRight: "I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life."
* RussianHumor: Reagan was a huge fan, and regaled his surroundings with his favorites whenever he thought he could get away with it.
* TheSouthpaw: And yet he was [[RunningGag so significantly to the right of most of his predecessors]]...
* TakeAThirdOption: Much of his presidency amounted to taking positions or pursuing paths that previous Presidents and their advisers did not think would work. Turns out a number of them did, especially his meetings with Gorbachev. Go figure.
* WhatTheHellHero: Even the staunchly anticommunist MargaretThatcher was angry about the U.S. invasion of Grenada (apparently she had been reassured by Reagan just days before that the invasion was not going to happen). Grenada was part of the British Commonwealth, so invading it without at least informing her was at best rude and at worst outright betrayal. She also thought it would be unpopular and damage the USA in the eyes of the rest of the world (which it did -- the UN voted in a landslide to condemn it, and America would likely have faced Security Council sanction were it not for its veto), and, most importantly for her, it made what was an already difficult Parliamentary in Britain situation worse: the already unpopular move to site nuclear cruise missiles in the UK was made even more so, and Thatcher faced one of the toughest battles of her career: ramming the Bill that let the USAF deploy Pershings through Parliament.
** For the first seven years of his presidency, he did nothing to combat the AIDS epidemic, which infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of US citizens. His wife and his son kept warning him that AIDS could affect him personally if he still did nothing. It wasn't until his friend and idol, Rock Hudson, died of AIDS that Reagan even began to acknowledge it.
** GeraldFord's response to Reagan challenging him for the Republican nomination in 1976. Ford took Reagan's challenge as an insult and believed it would divide the party, thus undermining his reelection bid and allowing the Democrats to win the presidency; [[JimmyCarter He was right]]. From the 1976 presidential election Ford developed a strong dislike of Reagan and the two would never reconcile.
** Even many of his fans admit that he could have been ''much'' tougher on [[TheApartheidEra apartheid era]] South Africa. His harshest critics claimed that, since South Africa got a lot of money from American companies and investors, Reagan cared more about American money than about the human rights of millions of Africans in South Africa. Congress even had to pass over his veto an act which imposed sanctions on the country.
** A lot of people felt this about the Iran-Contra affair. His administration illegally sold arms to Iran - a country the US recognizes as an enemy - so they'll help ensure the release of American hostages in Lebanon, The administration used the proceeds to buy weapons for a Nicaraguan rebel group Congress has barred the White House from arming due to the numerous war crimes committed by the Contras. Whether Reagan knew (or remembered), many people were outraged that, even if he didn't know, he should've, because this was not only illegal, it was very nearly an impeachable offense (Oliver North took the fall instead, which spared Reagan any impeachment proceedings).
** Recent government leaks, sanctioned by the CIA itself, revealed that the Reagan administration helped Iraq carry out ''gas attacks'' against Iran during the war between those countries. When the CIA told him of this, Reagan said "An Iran victory is unacceptable," which is incredibly ironic given the paragraph immediately above this one.
** When he began campaigning for the presidency, he made a speech about states' rights... in an area where civil rights workers were lynched. Historically speaking, states' rights was one such an excuse that slave owners made to rationalize their capability of being, well, slave owners.
* WideEyedIdealist: Especially in his speeches, his idealism about freedom [[{{Eagleland}} and the American way of life]] shows though (see the slogans "it's morning in America", "this Wall will fall" etc). As his actions on Grenada, Iran, Libya, and Nicaragua show, he was capable of being much more hardheaded in private.
* WorthyOpponent: Despite being the leaders of opposing superpowers, Reagan and Gorbachev had a great deal of respect for each other.

*** Less an excuse and more like a corruption of a relatively solid concept. Up until the Civil War the federal government rarely got involved in affairs that could be confined to the boundaries of a state. After the war the federal government started getting involved in almost everything. Compare the list of federal cabinet-level departments with that of any state and you'll see a good deal of overlap.

There is a story that Ronald Reagan was playing TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit with his staff aboard Air Force One, and received the question "Who said 'I am the Creator/ErrolFlynn of [[BMovie B-movies]]?'". Reagan correctly answered "I did." In any case, the Errol Flynn quote is accurate, and reflected Reagan's dissatisfaction over his movie career. Reagan appeared in quite a number of movies between 1937 and 1964, but nothing especially famous. Because he was extremely nearsighted, he could not go overseas and so spent WorldWarII making training films.

Reagan's first big break was a supporting part in the Creator/BetteDavis prestige drama ''Film/DarkVictory'' (1939), but that part unfortunately failed to lift him out of the B-movie ghetto. In 1940, he played real-life American Football Player George "The Gipper" Gipp in the movie ''Knute Rockne, All American'' (about a Notre Dame football coach), which featured the line, "Win one for the Gipper." "The Gipper" became one of Reagan's nicknames. Another film Reagan (in)famously played in was ''Bedtime for Bonzo'', in which he [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys costarred with a chimpanzee]] in a standard AintNoRule story, and eventually became his NeverLiveItDown film. (Actually, Reagan always displayed a sense of humor about this movie; he's famously said to have once signed a promo photo of himself and Bonzo with the inscription "I'm the one with the wristwatch.") He viewed ''That Hagen Girl'', a 1947 melodrama co-starring ShirleyTemple, as his real OldShame. It's even rumored that Reagan tried to suppress or destroy copies of that film.

*** Less an excuse and more like a corruption of a relatively solid concept. Up until the Civil War the federal government rarely got involved in affairs that could be confined to the boundaries of a state. After the war the federal government started getting involved in almost everything. Compare the list of federal cabinet-level departments with that of any state and you'll see a good deal of overlap.