Ronald Reagan and Romantic Myth: ‘From the Swamp to the Stars’

Abstract

Ronald Reagan became an icon for many Americans because his presidency preceded the collapse of the Soviet Union and initiated a period in which the USA became, prior to the rise of China, the world’s only superpower; he therefore became associated with political success, and national well-being. During a moderately successful career as an actor in which he appeared in 52 films, he developed an interest in politics as President of the Screen Actors Guild. After serving two terms as Governor of California, he enjoyed two successful presidencies, surviving an assassination attempt during the first of these; he fought a long battle against Alzheimer’s after becoming President at the age of 74.His policies of reducing government spending at home, while supporting anti-Communist movements abroad, contributed to the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, an event that is taken to symbolise the fundamental realignment of international power relations that gave the USA - at least for a period — an exclusive claim to being the global superpower.