Ronald Reagan On TV: GoingViral Before The Internet

Ronald Reagan’s easy-going charisma was formidable. It was also easy — too easy — to ridicule him. Reducing the 40th President to a cartoon character often backfired in his opponents’ faces. Never a Republican, I nevertheless watched almost every speech and televised press conference that he made during the Eighties. Forget about his movie career, as most people did. On the small screen Ronald Reagan registered as mesmerizing. Addressing his fellow Americans or volleying with reporters, he was a natural. His gleam and grandfatherly chuckle were seductive — even if you disagreed with him.

Frankly I was repulsed by the content of his talks, diametrically opposed to pretty much all of his policies, and frightened by his literally apocalyptic anti-Soviet rhetoric. Yet somehow The Gipper riveted me every time. He projected utter sincerity, though many of his folksy anecdotes were ungrounded in reality: often outright falsehoods or more generously, illustrations of firmly held fantasies. He radiated warmth, though in real life his children described him as cold and distant.

I don’t think of Ronald Reagan as a monster or tyrant. He was almost supernaturally gifted, unlike most people, and also a flawed human being, as are we all. In recent years, Ronald Reagan has been recast as a pliable plaster saint who fits into any mold current Republicans need to slot him into. Perhaps he was a better actor than anyone ever realized.

During Reagan’s rule, before the rise of the Internet, media was not as instantly accessible as it is today. It wasn’t inescapable. You had to make an effort just to pay attention, which also meant the news was easier to ignore. The difference between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump is the difference between attracting viewers on appointment television and going viral on social media.