Send us a text

Ronald Reagan. The smiling cowboy president who told Americans he would make their country great again, long before that slogan returned to stalk the halls of power. But behind that easy grin was a far more complex figure, and in this episode I step into the darker rooms of his legacy.

Reagan sold a dream of American renewal, but for many it came wrapped in fear, austerity, and a widening gulf between those who had plenty and those who were quietly abandoned. His tax cuts rewired the American economy, his rhetoric reheated the Cold War, and his administration walked the tightrope between bold gambles and disastrous judgement. Then came Iran Contra, a scandal so murky it still feels like a political fever dream, a tangle of secret deals, shadow wars, and a president who seemed to drift further away from the controls.

With President Trump again sharpening that familiar make America great again slogan, it felt like the right moment to look back at the first man who used it, and to ask what it really left behind.

This is Reagan stripped of the Hollywood lighting. The charm, the contradictions, the damage, and the ghosts that still walk American politics today. Step in, if you dare.

Support the show

For books written and published by Keith Hocton

www.entrepotpublishing.com