Once More Unto the Breach with Teddy White
Before Ronald Reagan’s election as president in 1980, American politics had fallen into a rut. Elections had been between two clear known quantities who generally agreed on the state of the world and what the United States needed to do. Differences centered on process, not goals.
Reagan was different. While fellow Republicans saw some use for government, his view was far more negative. After decades of expanding jurisdictional reach, Reagan wanted not only to cut taxes but slash the bureaucracy that made Big Government big.
For many liberals, the arrival of Reagan in 1980 came like a slow-motion nightmare. With an incumbent president seemingly powerless under the grip of inflation and an embassy full of American hostages in Iran, Reagan’s ascendency had the makings of an existential crisis.