Sarah Thomson
Published: 21 January 2019
A Transformational Conservative? Constructing Ronald Reagan’s Political Legacy, 1984-93.
University of Edinburgh
A Transformational Conservative? Constructing Ronald Reagan’s Political Legacy, 1984-93.
Few US presidents reshaped the political landscape as dramatically as Ronald Reagan. My project will provide the first comprehensive analysis of the active construction of Reagan’s political legacy. By exploring the efforts of aides dedicated to Reagan’s conservative agenda, who sought to implant their idealised image of Reagan on the nation’s historical consciousness, this study will shed new light on the Reagan presidency, and on Reagan’s status as a ‘transformational’ president.
In doing so it will contribute to debates about the creation of US presidential legacies in particular, and political legacy-building more broadly. Defining the parameters of this project as 1984-1993 means it remains methodologically rooted in archival material, particularly the significant volume of documents recently opened at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Exploring how Reagan’s image was consciously constructed thus underscores the extent to which political legacies are manipulated to suit the aspirations of those constructing them.
First published: 21 January 2019