The Reagans

My Senior year in high school PBS aired it's American Experience special on Reagan. It a fairly nuanced, maybe even somewhat sympathetic documentary. This, however, is not. I don't think anyone can deny this is a critique of the Reagan's almost exclusively from a Left Wing point of view. That being said, it's not bad. It's fairly interesting, but as a mentioned just know going in it's not a puff piece.

Watch it yourself ignore the scores of 1 by right wingers, bringing the score down.

"The Reagans" (2020 release; 4 episodes of about 55 min. each) takes a new look at the legacy of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. As Episode 1 "The Hollywood Myth Machine" opens, Reagan is in the White House taping a TV commercial for his 1984 re-election campaign. Ronald Reagan Jr. comments "My father was a strange fellow to be president of this country." We then go back in time to "1937" when Reagan, then 26 yrs. old is signed by Jack Warner to a studio contract. With the help of Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, it is the beginning of a how "the story became the reality", as the Reagans' daughter Patti Davis puts it. At this point we are less than 15 min. into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: please do not confuse this documentary mini-series with the same titled (and controversial) CBS mini-series from 2003. It is equally important to note that this series is not just about Ronald Reagan, but it is just as much about Nancy Reagan. Episode 1 is fascinating for a number of reasons, none more so to understand how Ronald Reagan, who grew up a Democrat, eventually evolved into a Republican, and not just any Republican, but a Barry Goldwater-type conservative at that. Reagan changed from being a union guy to an all-out pro-business/anti-union guy because it was politically convenient. Episode 1 also examines how Nancy became the rock in Reagan's life that would propel him to the presidency. Episode 1 concludes with Reagan's stunning victory in the 1968 California governor's race. Can't wait to see the remaining 3 episodes. By the way, I immigrated to this country, arriving from Belgium in Washington DC for graduate studies in 1983, yes smack in the middle of the Reagan two term presidency. I was welcomed by this country with arms wide open, and I've lived in the US ever since. Fast forward to 2016 when this country elected a blatant racist and xenophobe to the White House. Thankfully now fired by the American people.

"The Reagans" premiered this weekend on Showtime, and Episode 1 is now available on SHO On Demand and other streaming services. New episodes air Sunday evenings at 8 pm Eastern. If you have any interest in politics or in the history of this country, I'd readily suggest you check out "The Reagans" documentary mini-series, and draw your own conclusion.

I'm not a Reagan-fan by any mean, I watched the documentary from a liberal minded European view. But I'm also a historian and value a balanced effort and fact-based telling of things. Because Reagan is such a mythical being it's good to be critical of that myth and most of the criticism in this documentary is based on reality.

Still, you cannot just push the narrative, you have to base it on facts and numbers which are not shown to us in the documentary. If you talk about economy or poverty, show the numbers! There are good moments in this mini-series but it's frustrating and too one-sided to be considered a great documentary.

I thought this was a very well made, interesting, and informative documentary. I think it's important to look deeper at powerful public figures, especially those who are revered as much as Reagan. It's disappointing to me to see so many people angry about this, calling it left wing propaganda and defamation. It's not. If you can't watch a well made documentary and make your own conclusions without getting defensive and irrational, well that just concerns me a bit. I learned a lot from this show, but I didn't come out of watching it thinking Reagan was some kind of a monster. I still think Reagan was a good man and a highly successful president. That doesn't mean, however, that we should ignore his shortcomings or deny the dangers of his success.