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Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History
The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of His Conversion to Conservatism
In October 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a televised speech in support of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. "The Speech," as it has come to be known, helped launch Ronald Reagan as a leading force in the American conservative movement. However, less than twenty years earlier, Reagan was a prominent Hollywood liberal, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, and a fervent supporter of FDR and Harry Truman. While many agree that Reagan's anticommunism grew out of his experiences with the Hollywood communists of the late 1940s, the origins of his conservative ideology have remained obscure.Based on a newly discovered collection of private papers as well as interviews and corporate documents, The Education of Ronald Reagan offers new insights into Reagan's ideological development and his political ascendancy. Thomas W. Evans links the eight years (1954-1962) in which Reagan worked for General Electric--acting as host of its television program, GE Theater , and traveling the country as the company's public-relations envoy-to his conversion to conservatism.In particular, Evans reveals the profound influence of GE executive Lemuel Boulware, who would become Reagan's political and ideological mentor. Boulware, known for his tough stance against union officials and his innovative corporate strategies to win over workers, championed the core tenets of modern American conservatism-free-market fundamentalism, anticommunism, lower taxes, and limited government. Building on the ideas and influence of Boulware, Reagan would soon begin his rise as a national political figure and an icon of the American conservative movement.
320 pages, ebook
First published December 5, 2006
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September 10, 2020Excellent unknown story about how Reagan became who he became and the amazing set of skills and almost photographic memory for everything he read. He was also an excellent writer and wrote thousands of speeches and radio programs. As a lifelong Democrat and president of the Screen Actors Guild, he became an expert negotiator and was mentored by some excellent men who taught him lifelong rules for success. This book will have you stopping occasionally to marvel at all the things Reagan did to succeed as a spokesman for General Electric, win the governorship of California, and finally become the President of the US. He was able to beat all comers, including an out of control union, and the USSR. A terrific true story.
April 24, 2018
This book is so very enlightening. I have read other good books pertaining to President Reagan that I thoroughly enjoyed for different reasons. I thought the title of the book may overstate the contents of the text but Thomas Evans delivers in explaining how the GE years "educated" Ronald Reagan. I learn a lot and am so glad to have read this one ... I have admired and looked up to Reagan and his presidency as a truly stand out world leader. Although his dis-tractors often try to portray him as a common actor delivering lines playing a role or perhaps a marionette with his strings being directed by sinister handlers it takes so little effort to discover this notions share no part of reality. This book clearly explains where many of Ronald Reagan's most strongly held principles originated and even many of the specific individuals that helped him on his journey. Of these individuals who mentored (for lack of a better word) Reagan was a General Electric’s vice president of labor and community relations from 1956 to 1961; Lemuel Boulware. This book is nearly about as much about Lemuel Boulware as it is about Ronald Reagan. Boulware is introduced about page 65 and continues his impact thru to the last page… This isn’t exactly light reading but it is completely readable for most anyone. I can broadly recommend this one to those of you who have any general interest in the evolution of a great American President.
January 1, 2020
I was rushing to finish this book in 2019 and then, right at the end, realized that I was not going to make it. When I realized that I was not going to make it, a sense of calm came over me, and I settled in nicely to reading "The Speech" that Ronald Reagan gave in Los Angeles on October 27th, 1964.
It is an extremely convincing and moving speech.
Lem Boulware's speech is equally convincing and moving.
Perhaps my own reading objective for the year will be to come up with viewpoints all my own. For years I have been permitting others to think for me. For example, how could the WSJ run a Review Section cover lauding the possibilities of Universal Basic Income (UBI) when the current issue of the Hoover Digest includes commentary against it?
I mean, if we're a center right country, why can't we get our center right country on the same page?
Of course, I think "conspiracy:" conservatives win the same way an artillery forward observer destroys enemy troops in the open: by calling for fire around them, to their front and rear and left and right, and then "firing for effect" right on them.
Bill Kristol stopped publishing "The Weekly Standard" because it was no longer necessary, so the grunt work of churning out red meat for the Republicans fell to Lowery at National Review.
What is new here? There is something new. It's a new year and a new decade, for sure.
Life's big questions are all management questions. I am stealing that from Dean Emeritus R. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia Business School.
I took Entrepreneurial Finance. A key component of the start up are the people. There were a few key components; I think getting the capital to start up the business is another one.
In many ways, we have made so much progress since 1964. Part of the reason is people: the big time labor leaders died around the same time, in the late 1960s and 1970s. Part of the reason this book was so distressing was because for those of us reading it now, I never could have imagined living in a world so circumscribed by trade unionism.
How do we categorize the fight? Just like Ronald Reagan did in his speech, I am afraid. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have joined forces, this time with Russia the junior partner, economically, but perhaps not technologically. These autocrats are not going to go away quietly. I hear that the Russians have incorporated "glide" nuclear missiles that can evade US anti-missile defenses and have deployed these new nuclear weapons in their arsenal.
All we have to fear is fear itself.
I read what I wrote and find myself lacking: Andrew Cuomo and New York State are the epicenter of far left of center socialist/communist progressivism in the United States today, and I have been living quite unsuccessfully in the epicenter of the epicenter of ultra-left wing socialist/communist progressivism, in New York State, namely New York City. AOC's district is a socialist/communist MTA Subway ride away from my apartment.
Bernie Sanders supporters routinely come to the "Farmers' Market" on Saturday's on 211th Street. I don't want to go to Vermont. I don't want to go to the Catskills because they are full of corruption and the folks that work there don't even realize Andrew Cuomo and the democrats are stealing these folks lives and futures away.
And General Electric is a shadow of its former self.
We need balance. That is what I provide. And if you insist on killing your neighbor for economic/political advantage, you are going to be left behind.
It is an extremely convincing and moving speech.
Lem Boulware's speech is equally convincing and moving.
Perhaps my own reading objective for the year will be to come up with viewpoints all my own. For years I have been permitting others to think for me. For example, how could the WSJ run a Review Section cover lauding the possibilities of Universal Basic Income (UBI) when the current issue of the Hoover Digest includes commentary against it?
I mean, if we're a center right country, why can't we get our center right country on the same page?
Of course, I think "conspiracy:" conservatives win the same way an artillery forward observer destroys enemy troops in the open: by calling for fire around them, to their front and rear and left and right, and then "firing for effect" right on them.
Bill Kristol stopped publishing "The Weekly Standard" because it was no longer necessary, so the grunt work of churning out red meat for the Republicans fell to Lowery at National Review.
What is new here? There is something new. It's a new year and a new decade, for sure.
Life's big questions are all management questions. I am stealing that from Dean Emeritus R. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia Business School.
I took Entrepreneurial Finance. A key component of the start up are the people. There were a few key components; I think getting the capital to start up the business is another one.
In many ways, we have made so much progress since 1964. Part of the reason is people: the big time labor leaders died around the same time, in the late 1960s and 1970s. Part of the reason this book was so distressing was because for those of us reading it now, I never could have imagined living in a world so circumscribed by trade unionism.
How do we categorize the fight? Just like Ronald Reagan did in his speech, I am afraid. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have joined forces, this time with Russia the junior partner, economically, but perhaps not technologically. These autocrats are not going to go away quietly. I hear that the Russians have incorporated "glide" nuclear missiles that can evade US anti-missile defenses and have deployed these new nuclear weapons in their arsenal.
All we have to fear is fear itself.
I read what I wrote and find myself lacking: Andrew Cuomo and New York State are the epicenter of far left of center socialist/communist progressivism in the United States today, and I have been living quite unsuccessfully in the epicenter of the epicenter of ultra-left wing socialist/communist progressivism, in New York State, namely New York City. AOC's district is a socialist/communist MTA Subway ride away from my apartment.
Bernie Sanders supporters routinely come to the "Farmers' Market" on Saturday's on 211th Street. I don't want to go to Vermont. I don't want to go to the Catskills because they are full of corruption and the folks that work there don't even realize Andrew Cuomo and the democrats are stealing these folks lives and futures away.
And General Electric is a shadow of its former self.
We need balance. That is what I provide. And if you insist on killing your neighbor for economic/political advantage, you are going to be left behind.
July 8, 2022
1981 wurde Ronald Reagan zum 33. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten gewählt. Thomas W. Evans erzählt, wie aus dem ehemaligen Schauspieler zuerst der Gouverneur von Kalifornien und dann einer der mächtigsten Männer der Welt wurde.
Meine Meinung
Auch wenn ich noch sehr jung war, als Reagan gewählt wurde, kann ich mich an die Reaktionen in meinem Umfeld erinnern. Ein Schauspieler, ein Cowboy. Wie kann "so jemand" Präsident werden? Kann man ihn überhaupt ernst nehmen? Und wie hat er es überhaupt so weit geschafft?
Thomas W. Evans gibt die Antwort: mit viel Arbeit und Prinzipien. Zugegeben, manche dieser Prinzipien wirken auf den ersten Blick eher schlicht. Aber sie waren dass, was Ronald Reagan beim jahrelangen Zuhören der Menschen, die er getroffen hat, gelernt hat: die Menschen wollten Antworten auf die Fragen auf die täglichen Dinge, die sie bewegen. Damit können sie etwas anfangen. In seiner Rolle als Repräsentant von General Electrics hat Reagan mit unzähligen Arbeitern nicht nur gesprochen, sondern er hat auch zugehört. Vieles davon hat er mitgenommen und wo es ging, auch Änderungen bewirkt. Sicherlich waren das oft Kleinigkeiten, aber es hat den Menschen das Gefühl gegeben, dass man ihnen wirklich zuhörte. Aber je weiter der Weg nach oben ging, desto weniger Erfolg hatten solche Gespräche, weil die Veränderungen eben nicht nur einen Betrieb, sondern ein Land betroffen hätten.
Anfangs hat mir The education of Ronald Reagan... gut gefallen. In dem Teil ging es wirklich um ihn und wie sich seine Ansichten und sein Auftreten geändert haben. Später ging es gefühlt nur noch um General Electrics und dessen Vizepräsident Lemuel Boulware. Sicherlich ein wichtiger Teil der "Erziehung", aber für mich hat es einen zu großen Teil eingenommen.
Meine Meinung
Auch wenn ich noch sehr jung war, als Reagan gewählt wurde, kann ich mich an die Reaktionen in meinem Umfeld erinnern. Ein Schauspieler, ein Cowboy. Wie kann "so jemand" Präsident werden? Kann man ihn überhaupt ernst nehmen? Und wie hat er es überhaupt so weit geschafft?
Thomas W. Evans gibt die Antwort: mit viel Arbeit und Prinzipien. Zugegeben, manche dieser Prinzipien wirken auf den ersten Blick eher schlicht. Aber sie waren dass, was Ronald Reagan beim jahrelangen Zuhören der Menschen, die er getroffen hat, gelernt hat: die Menschen wollten Antworten auf die Fragen auf die täglichen Dinge, die sie bewegen. Damit können sie etwas anfangen. In seiner Rolle als Repräsentant von General Electrics hat Reagan mit unzähligen Arbeitern nicht nur gesprochen, sondern er hat auch zugehört. Vieles davon hat er mitgenommen und wo es ging, auch Änderungen bewirkt. Sicherlich waren das oft Kleinigkeiten, aber es hat den Menschen das Gefühl gegeben, dass man ihnen wirklich zuhörte. Aber je weiter der Weg nach oben ging, desto weniger Erfolg hatten solche Gespräche, weil die Veränderungen eben nicht nur einen Betrieb, sondern ein Land betroffen hätten.
Anfangs hat mir The education of Ronald Reagan... gut gefallen. In dem Teil ging es wirklich um ihn und wie sich seine Ansichten und sein Auftreten geändert haben. Später ging es gefühlt nur noch um General Electrics und dessen Vizepräsident Lemuel Boulware. Sicherlich ein wichtiger Teil der "Erziehung", aber für mich hat es einen zu großen Teil eingenommen.
January 9, 2011
Fascinating insight into the evolution of one of modern-day conservatism's lions, Ronald Reagan. Does a good job of dispelling the notions that he was a bimbo, providing a nuanced portrait of how he went from a 1940s New Deal liberal to the barking right-winger he became in the 1960s and beyond. I would have liked a bit more detail on exactly how his conversion took place -- a lot of the evidence is circumstantial, and doesn't quite convey what specifically led him to be as rabidly anti-government as he became. But the speeches at the end of the book -- including his famous "A Time For Choosing" speech, delivered at the 1964 Goldwater Republican National Convention but in fact honed during his years at General Electric -- definitely provide insight into the angry conservatism we now associate with Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney and Dennis Hastert. The anger, the near-psychotic hatred of anything government, the obsession with an "Other" (be it Communism or terrorism)... it's all there in this "origin story" of the latter-day right wing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2009
Recommended by Newt Gingrich at the Washington DC conference I attended. It was a good book describing how Ronald Reagan really started his political career. He's always been known for his excellent speaking abilities and it was interesting reading about how this developed throughout his years at GE.
April 5, 2008
This book is more a history about General Electric and its battles with unionized workers in the late 1940's and 50's. Included in the narrative is how Ronald Reagan gained an invaluable education in big business, employee relations and collective bargaining.
February 9, 2012
Amazing story not only of Reagan in his time at GE, but of what may have been the last time when a company launched a comprehensive economic education program aimed simply at linking the concept of sound fiscal policies and paycheques.
February 22, 2016
Good resource on Reagan's transformation to conservative through his travelling "sermons" for General Electric.
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