Episode 80 — Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator, Markets & the Cold War Endgame

pplpod Episode 80 follows Ronald Reagan’s long arc—from Midwestern radio voice and Hollywood leading man to California governor and two-term president who reset the political and economic conversation. We trace the 1980 mandate, Reaganomics (tax cuts, deregulation, anti-inflation stance with Volcker), and the fights that defined the domestic ledger: the PATCO showdown, recession to recovery, Social Security rescue, rising deficits, culture-war flashpoints, and criticism over the early AIDS response. Abroad, we map a Cold War strategy that mixed hard power with negotiation—defense buildup and SDI, Lebanon and Grenada, the Reykjavik near-miss, and the inflection of U.S.–Soviet relations that produced the INF Treaty and set the stage for the Berlin Wall’s fall. Threaded through: the assassination attempt and image of resolve, a sunny rhetorical craft that shaped modern conservatism, and the shadow of Iran–Contra. Communication, coalition, contradictions—how Reagan turned story and stance into lasting political weather.