Note: The views presented here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Department of State or the United States Government.
This compact book packs a powerful punch. Toby Glenn Bates has convincingly demonstrated that Ronald Reagan deliberately and consistently evoked memories of the past in order to influence present political culture. Bates also argues that many Americans' “acceptance of Reagan's terminology often blurred the boundary between history and memory.” They also “celebrated Reagan for his creation of a more palatable version of events” given the decades of war and severe economic dislocation they had recently experienced (70).
Bates examines three episodes where Reagan deliberately used rhetoric to influence his audience. The first is a controversial visit to Neshoba County, Mississippi during the 1980 campaign; the second, his embrace of Vietnam veterans; and the last, how he changed peoples' views of the Iran–Contra scandal.
Ever since Reagan's appearance in Neshoba, he has been criticized for playing to old segregationist fears thanks to his emphasis on states' rights and his criticism of the federal government. Actually, Bates demonstrates that this speech not only reflected, but repeated, his decades-long critique of big government. The racism criticism also did not tar him because the citizens of Neshoba and of the United States in 1980 were far more concerned about economics than about racial issues. Reagan also smartly spoke to the National Urban League shortly thereafter and emphasized he wanted to create jobs for all Americans, including blacks.
On 18 August 1980, just two weeks after the Neshoba visit, Reagan spoke to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Chicago. Reagan reiterated a point that he had made for years: that the war in Vietnam had been “a noble cause” and that the soldiers who had fought and sacrificed during the war should be treated as heroes, not pariahs or victims. After his election, and as time passed, Reagan began to praise Vietnam veterans as the latest in a long line of American military heroes who had fought in the two world wars and Korea. He awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to a Vietnam veteran, supported the erection of the Vietnam War Memorial, and in 1985 proclaimed Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day. This led to celebrations throughout the country honoring Vietnam veterans.
The most entertaining part of this book comes when Bates examines how American popular culture, especially Hollywood and comic books, embraced this new depiction. In the 1970s, as Bates shows, for the most part, television and movies portrayed Vietnam veterans as deranged men suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, or criminals, or both. Television shows such as The A-Team, Miami Vice, Riptide, and the like offered well-adjusted (if hardly perfect) Vietnam veterans who played good guys. Meanwhile, movies such as First Blood and Rambo offered a complex hero who had been mistreated by civilians and authority figures. Sylvester Stallone, the actor who played Rambo, praised Reagan for fostering an environment that made the movies possible. Comic books such as The 'Nam also portrayed Vietnam veterans positively. Bates also argues that, ironically, the movie Platoon and other “serious” examinations of the war such as the television show China Beach, which seemed to reflect the 1970s view, succeeded thanks to Reagan's reinterpretation of the Vietnam experience.
Lastly, Bates examines Reagan's attempt to rehabilitate his image after the Iran–Contra scandal. Interestingly, Bates contends that Reagan tried, but failed, to consistently deny wrongdoing, since the American people recalled his long record of support for the Nicaraguan Contras. Things changed, however, after the Tower Commission Report vindicated Reagan's professions of innocence. The President apologized, took responsibility for the fiasco, and then repeatedly professed his contrition in the spring of 1987. While the media did not like his stance, the American people accepted his explanation and moved on.
The Reagan Rhetoric also demonstrates how Reagan's rhetoric in the 1980s shaped Americans' collective memory after his death in 2004. Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Washington, DC and chose to honor his memory, despite the efforts of media members to resurrect Iran–Contra and other black marks on Reagan's presidency.
This is an important, well-written, and engaging work that offers a refreshing take on how a President can use rhetoric to shape and yet reflect his audience's concerns.
