The Reagan Revolution

[Bolo Boffin]

1. A couple of good books to check out:

Both from Rick Perlstein.

The first is "Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus."

The second is like a sequel, "Nixonland: The Rise of A President and the Fracturing of America."

But the short answer is that Reagan made it OK to be a conservative again after Nixon. He did it by trotting out his Goldwater impersonation one more time while Carter was pinned to the wall by Iran and (I hate to say it, but it's true) Ted Kennedy. And by maintaining the strict posture that every president since Truman had held against the Soviets, Reagan and we watched as the USSR declined, finally self-destructing in Bush 41's term. So for conservatives, it was like utter validation. Because they held true, Reagan was able to destroy the evil empire. That's how I think Reagan became such an icon.