Reagan's War Stories
A review of

Reagan's War Stories

A Cold War Presidency

Benjamin Griffin • Naval Institute • 2022

Reagan’s Deceptive Simplicity

by David Meyer

Historian Benjamin Griffin deconstructs Ronald Reagan’s genius for turning complex political and social issues into simple good-guys-versus-bad-guys narratives – and the good guys always win.

With his folksy presence and memorable one-liners, Ronald Reagan won renown as the Great Communicator. But he was also a consummate fabulist. Historian Benjamin Griffin details how Reagan intuitively understood a narrative’s emotional pull, and how that understanding helped and hurt his administration.

Narratives

A natural storyteller, Reagan used narratives to convey his anticommunism, patriotism and small-government vision. He stored many of his favorite stories and jokes on index cards. 

Comment on this review