Reagan''s War Stories: A Cold War Presidency

Reagan's War Storiesexamines the relationship betweenRonald Reagan, the public and popular culture. From an overview of Reagan's youth and the pulp fiction he consumed, we get a sense of the future president's good/evil outlook. Carrying that over into Reagan's reading and choices as president, Griffin situates narrative at the center of Reagan's political formation and leadership providing a compelling account of both Reagan's life, his presidency, and a lens into non-traditional strategy formulation.

AuthorBen Griffintells three stories about an American president who ushered in the end of the Cold War. A survey of Reagan's youth and the fiction he consumed and created as an announcer and actor, reveals how the future president'sworldviewdeveloped. A look at the rise of fiction and popular culture rife with pro-Americanism in the 1980s details a uniquely symbiotic relationship between the chief executive and popular culture in framing the Cold War as a struggle with an Evil Empire in the Soviet Union.Finally, Griffin outlines how presidential personality and readingpreferences shaped President Reagan'spursuit of the Star Wars initiative and belief in the transformative combination of freedom and technology.

Griffin demonstrates thatnovelsbyTom Clancy, LouisL'Amour, andscience fictioninfluencedReagan'sview of 1980s geopolitics. His identification with fictionledRonaldReagan toviewEuropeanCold Warissueswith more empathybut harmedthe president'spolicymakingwhen the narrowness ofhis reading led himto apply a white-hat/black-hat framework that did not match the reality of conflict in Latin America.

Reagan treated fictional portrayals seriously, believing they shaped public views and offered valid ways to think through geo-political issues. Seeking to shape the reading habits of the public, hisadministration sought to highlight authors who shared his worldview like Tom Clancy, LouisL'Amour, and Allen Druryover other popular writers likeRobert Ludlum and John LeCarre who portrayed the Cold War in less stark moral terms.The administration's favored popularauthors in turn intentionally incorporated Reagan-era policies into their worktoadvocate for them through fiction, thus reaching abroader audience thanviaofficial government releases and speeches.

Showinghow Reaganusednarrative asbotha consumer andacommunicator, Griffin notesthat Reagan identified with certainstoriesand they shaped him as a political leader and later and influenced his approach to complex issues.Whenhandled deftly, incorporatingfiction created a common language across the administration andprovided a way toconveymessagesto the masses in a memorable fashion. See more