Book Review – Reagan by Lou Cannon
Preliminary Information
The book is titled Reagan. Lou Cannon is the author. There are 464 pages in the book, and it was published in 1982.
Subject Matter/Topic
Reagan is a biography of former president Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. The book discusses in detail all the events of his life, from his birth to his election to presidency.
Point of View
Cannon writes in the third person, largely objective narrator. He is writing not from the point of view of a Reagan supporter or and employee of his administration, but from the perspective of an objective reporter. Cannon was the White House corespondent for The Washington Post. Most of the book Cannon merely tells the facts of Reagan’s life without throwing in any of his own thoughts. While Reagan mostly deals with the positive aspects of Reagan’s life, Cannon doesn’t shy away from talking about the negative parts of his life, such as his firing from his radio announcing job. Cannon also discusses Reagan’s many failures as an actor, while at the same time mentioning his successes too. Cannon writes about his political defeats, such as his failure to win nomination for president in 1976, while also writing about his many political victories, such as being elected governor of California, and President of the United States. Overall, Cannon writes with a detached, objective point of view. He balances all of the positives and negatives of Reagan’s life, giving equal time to each.
Summary
Reagan is an in-depth biography of Ronald Reagan. This definitive biography explores every aspect of Reagan’s life, and all of his successes and failures. The overriding theme in the book is that of Reagan’s determination and never give up attitude.
Cannon begins the book by discussing Reagan’s humble beginnings. He was born in the front bedroom of a five-bedroom flat above the general store where his father worked, near Tampico, Illinois. He spent his childhood in a succession of small Indiana towns. His family was very poor, but not quite living in poverty. They came close to being crushed by the Depression. His father, Jack Reagan, was an Irish-Catholic, but only their first son, Ronald’s brother Neil, was baptized a Catholic. Jack was a hard-worker, but struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. His mother Nelle was a very moral and dignified woman. She encouraged her children to get a good education so they could have a better life.
His father John was a shoe salesman who had a taste for alcohol (Bosch). He had one older brother named Neil. His mother Nelle nicknamed him Dutch as a child. Reagan’s family moved around a lot when he was young before finally choosing to settle in the town where he was born. They moved to Dixon, Illinois when he was a teenager. Reagan got his first job as a lifeguard and worked as one for six years. He attended Eureka College where he studied economics, but did not get very good grades (Bosch). Reagan moved to Iowa after college and became a radio announcer. A few years later, he ended up doing a screen test for Warner Brothers and received a contract. Reagan married a fellow actress Jane Wyman in 1940. They had a daughter and adopted a son together, but divorced in 1948. He was in the Army from 1937-1945. Reagan became president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947 where he met Nancy Davis, another actress and his future wife (Bosch). They married in 1952 and had two children together. The speech he gave for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was his first step into the political spotlight. In 1966, he ran for and won the California governorship and was reelected for a second term (Bosch). Ronald Reagan beat out President Jimmy Carter in the 1980
In this fifth book in their series Killing, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard begin with the death of “the former leader of the free world, the man who defeated Soviet communism and ended the Cold War.” A fine tribute, but as the story of Reagan’s life unfolds, told through
Reagan touches the people of the United States because he expresses grief and sorrow in his speech. After the disaster, Reagan uses tone effectively to commemorate the deaths of the crew. “They had a special grace” or “your loved ones were loving and brave”(3) are examples of how Reagan sympathizes with the mourning families. This tone not only allows the families to grieve their losses, it also provides them with the opportunity to feel proud about their children’s accomplishments. Furthermore, Reagan uses tone to carry the people’s afflictions after the Challenger crash and change it into confidence. The people of the United States look at this crash as a failure, but Reagan turns it around when he says, “what happened today does nothing to diminish it”(6) and “we will continue to follow them” (5). Reagan’s use of tone allows him to inspire the United States to keep moving forward after the flop. This hope is what makes Reagan’s speech so successful. Tone and rhetorical appeals guide the speech but Reagan’s use of rhetorical devices is what makes the speech so successful.
Works Cited "American President Ronald Wilson Reagan: Impact and Legacy." Miller Center. University of Virginia, n.d. -. Web. The Web.
One of the most important aspects of Reagan’s time in office was his domestic policy. He knew to have a successful presidency and create a strong, the people of the United States needed to be cared for. His first goal was to turn the economy around from the stagflation it encounter in the Carter era. Stagflation is very similar to inflation. The main difference is that inflation is the result of a quick economic growth while causes the value of money to decrease with now economic growth. To accomplish the turn around, Reagan introduce his economic policy which became known as Reaganomics. Reaganomics was based in supply side economics. This economic theory says that lowering taxes through tax cuts increases revenue by allowing more money
Ronald Reagan was one of the most liked Presidents. When being elected for his second term, he won by a landslide—winning all the states minus Minnesota and Washington D.C. Reagan addresses the people of the United States of America. He wants the American people to reflect on his presidency, and as all presidents do in their farewell addresses, he wants to say goodbye to the nation that he's led for the past eight years. Ronald Reagan uses repetition, parallel structure, and allusion to reflect on his presidency and to say farewell to the American people.
Ronald Wilson Reagan served two terms as the 40th president of the United States of America. Reagan was known for having a strong faith in the goodness of people. In college he was known as, “the jack of all trades” for excelling in everything he did (“Life Before the Presidency”). President Reagan’s beliefs gave him lots of respect from citizens around the world. One of his main beliefs was that peace comes with strength. I believe that Ronald Reagan was a great president because of his leadership qualities, domestic policies, and foreign policies.
Contextual analysis is made up of three basic components; intended audience, setting and most importantly purpose. Authors often times consider and work each contextual piece into the construction of their given argument. An argument is not powerful if audience preference is not a main concern, if the setting isn’t taken into consideration, or if the purpose is not relevant to the current situation. On January 28th, 1986 the shuttle challenger exploded 73 seconds into its take off. President Ronald Reagan wrote a critical speech to address the tragedy that had struck our nation that day. It is highly evident in his address that kept audience, setting, and purpose in mind. He comforts a worried public using calm tone and simple yet effective diction to convince the American nation that it’s necessary to go on and continue the space program and ultimately the scientific revolution.
...s of economic and political initiatives that became known as "the Reagan revolution." His accomplishments of winning the Cold War without firing a shot, recovering the American economy known as Reaganomics and his “Star Wars” predicament, his two terms during presidency did not go unseen. He restored the traditional spirit of can-do optimism to the American people, making him a President that cannot be forgotten.
Lasky, Victor. (1979). Jimmy Carter the Man & the Myth. New York: Richard Marek Publishers
Introduction Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911- ),the 40th president of the United States (1981-1989), enforced the policies that reversed a general direction of movement toward greater government involvement in economic and social regulation. Reagan as the younger of two sons, was born in Tampico, Illinois and spent most of his childhood in Dixon, Illinois. After studying at Eureka College,a small Disciples of Christ college near Peoria, Illinois, he majored in economics, and became the president of the student body, a member of the football team, and captain of the swimming team. He had special drawings toward acting, but after the graduation in 1932 the only job available related to show business was as a local radio sportscaster. In 1936 he became a sportscaster for station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. A year latter, Reagan went to Hollywood and began an acting career that spanned more than 25 years. He played in more than 50 films, including "Knute Rockne"-All American (1940), "King's Row" (1942), and "Bedtime for Bonzo" (1951). Early political career Reagan's first political activities were associated with his responsibilities as a union leader. As union president, Reagan tried to remove suspected Communists from the movie industry. When the U.S. House Committee. Began an investigation in 1947 on the influence of Communists in the film industry, Reagan took a strong anti-Communist stand testifying before the committee. Reagan emerged on the national political scene in 1964 when he made fervent television speech supports for the Republican presidential candidate, United States Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Although the election was lost, Reagan's speech brought in money and admiration from Republicans around the country. After the speech a group of Republicans in California persuaded Reagan to run for governor of California in 1966. Reagan appealed to traditional Republican voters. He defeated Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Sr., Democrat, by almost a million votes. The election of 1980 Reagan spent years making political friends at party fund-raising dinners around the country. In the election of 1980 for the president, the candidates were Carter and Reagan. The contrast between the television personalities of two candidates was very important to people. Carter’s nervous manner had never been popular to people, while Reagan’s charm and happy face was a call for return to patriotism, which appealed to the public. Many voters believed that Reagan was forceful leader who could get their lives in shape and who could restore prosperity at home.
... years in office. Even when President Reagan, didn’t make wise decisions, he took full blame for them, which made the American population trust him and gain more popularity. With his many major accomplishments in helping the American people, and putting them first, really helped in his favor. Reagan has built up the US military to what it is now because he believed that we needed to “restore America's ability to defend itself and fulfill its responsibilities as a trustee of freedom and peace in the world” (Wild Thing, January 21, 2006). President Reagan is man that has a heart and soul with America, and will fight for our freedoms and rights for as long as his lives. In 1994, President Reagan got Alzheimer’s disease, left public life, and died on June 5, 2004 from pneumonia. Reagan is still looked up to and is considered one of the greatest Presidents of all time.
Ronald Reagan was a very popular person before, during, and after his time of presidency. He went from a mere radio announcer, to the head of the United States of America. Ronald had defeated most of the world’s problems with Communism, improved the economy, and handled terrorist threats like a pro. Ronald quickly took America’s heart with his honorable deeds and doings. He was very famous by the time he became deceased. (Ronald Reagan Facts.)
President Reagan, at the time in the beginnings of his second term, had successfully maintained overall a high approval rating with the American people. He had won their trust and respect by being quite relatable to the average citizen (Cannon). He had planned that evening to give his State of the Union address, but instead postponed it. The tragedy that had unfolded just hours earlier demanded his complete attention (Eidenmuller 29).
Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York NY: Penguin Books Inc., 1977.