Misremembering Reagan: A Decade of Cultural Dissent

Authors

  • William M. Knoblauch Finlandia University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v52i2.6499

Keywords:

Presidential legacies, Collective memory, Ronlad Reagan, Popular culture

Abstract

Presidential legacies are constructed, and for the Republican Party perhaps no figure has benefitted from mythology, hagiography, and misremembrances than Ronald Wilson Reagan. Popularly, America’s 40th President is frequently remembered as residing over a massive economic upswing, restoring faith in the American military, and ushering in the end of the Cold War—combining to construct an image of a beloved, even visionary leader. Looking back at popular culture from the 1980s, however, paints a very different picture. From Reagan’s relationship with the press, his shortcomings acknowledging struggles in the African American community, to his near-legacy shattering handling of the Iran Contra crisis, 1980s popular culture helps to remind us that Reagan was not so nearly beloved as today’s pundits would have us believe.

Author Biography

William M. Knoblauch, Finlandia University

William Knoblauch is currently an Associate Professor of History at Finlandia University (Hancock, MI, USA). He is author of Nuclear Freeze in a Cold War: The Reagan Administration, Cultural Activism, and the End of the Arms Race (University of Massachusetts Press, 2016) and co-editor of The Routledge History of World Peace since 1750 (2018).

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Published

2020-11-01

How to Cite

Knoblauch, W. M. (2020). Misremembering Reagan: A Decade of Cultural Dissent. American Studies in Scandinavia, 52(2), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v52i2.6499

Issue

Vol. 52 No. 2 (2020): Special Issue: Presidential studies - From history to political science and back

Section

Articles