| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %%As always, be cool and observe the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment: lots of people have strong opinions on him, his legacy and his economic policies. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ronald_reagan_official_portrait.jpg]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:300: ''"[[UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev Mr. Gorbachev]], tear down [[UsefulNotes/BerlinWall this wall]]!"'']] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ->'''Doc Brown:''' Then tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?\ |
| 10 | '''Marty [=McFly=]:''' Ronald Reagan.\ |
| 11 | '''Doc:''' Ronald Reagan? ''The actor?!'' Then who's ''Vice'' President, Creator/JerryLewis? |
| 12 | -->-- ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, serving from [[TheEighties 1981 to 1989]] between UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush. He was the sixteenth Republican president and the first to serve two full terms since prior Republican president UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower.[[note]]UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy was assassinated partway through his term, UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson served the remainder of that term plus one full term before declining to seek reelection (which was constitutionally permitted due to Kennedy having already served nearly three quarters of his term before his death), UsefulNotes/RichardNixon served one full term before resigning partway through his second, UsefulNotes/GeraldFord served out the remainder of that term before losing reelection to Carter, and finally, Carter served only one term before losing reelection to Reagan himself.[[/note]] Reagan is well known for restructuring the USA's political economy to allow the wealthy to keep more of the money they had earned (under the theory that high taxation stymied economic growth) and working together with UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev to end the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. He also was the last president to be in office during a war in which the United States officially declared itself to be neutral: UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar, fought between the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom and UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} (though he nonetheless expressed support for and provided aid to the UK). |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Yes, he's the first actor to become president. This fact arguably popularized the [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent "celebrity president"]] trope that took off in popular media throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most of it out of mockery (later getting a major second wind after the respective elections of two other American celebrities, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger and UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, as governor of UsefulNotes/{{California}} and president of the United States). However, many of the jokes about that don't work very well, since, when his political career commenced in 1966, he was only "the former actor who's running for governor of California". In 1975–1976 and 1979–1980, he was known as "the former two-term Republican governor of California who's running for president." People today will more likely know Reagan for his presidency in UsefulNotes/TheEighties; that said, his former acting career was and still is a big point of notoriety, even though Reagan was a B-lister during his acting career. It wouldn't be until Trump's electoral win in 2016 that an ''actual'' media celebrity would get into the Oval Office. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | More simply, the entire leadership of the USA's Republican Party '''{{hero worship|per}}s''' him, while the centrist and right wings of the Democratic Party approve of his economic policies although not much of his overall domestic agenda (his presidency was the last where the heavily Democratic GI generation who grew up during the [[TheGreatDepression Depression]]/New Deal era was a significant portion of the Congress and electorate), while the progressive wing of the Democratic Party (like Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) say that while the fractures which threaten to tear American society apart did not ''begin'' under Reagan, the wealth gap and corrosive influence of wealth upon politics began to worsen exponentially during his presidency. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[PeripheryDemographic Many Democrats do think fondly of him]], and are known as "Blue Dogs" or "Reagan Democrats". Supporters praise him for getting the USA out of the "Stagflation" crisis of the 1970s that was triggered by the 1973 oil crisis and worsened by [[{{UsefulNotes/Economics}} a gross misinterpretation of Keynesian economics (politicians ignored expert advice and increased government spending when they should have been cutting it)]], making the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks USA's military]] a close second to [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn the USSR]]'s in conventional armaments, a close second to the Soviets in nuclear weapon numbers (40,000 to 30,000) but with a far superior 'first'/'decapitation' strike capability, negotiating an end to the Cold War, cutting government support for single parents and the unemployed, and his economic policies which heavily favored the expansion of the financial sector and an increase in the nominal/paper value of the country's GDP ("Reaganomics" as it was called) by creating the savings and loan bubble which burst in 1986–1989. |
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| 22 | Detractors cite the increased dependence upon and vulnerability of the economy to an increasingly unstable financial sector, the growing impoverishment of the poor, the growing wealth of the ultra-rich via the extraction of wealth from the poor, the inarguably ineffective and temporally doomed-to-fail "War on Drugs" which again disproportionately affected the poor, the ''191 percent'' increase in the national debt, his union-busting (specifically his [[{{Pun}} handling]] of the PATCO air traffic controllers' strike), the bizarrely slow response to the AIDS epidemic, his support for Islamic fundamentalist militants (to counter Communism) such as al-Qaeda's predecessors, the mujahedeen, in UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}}, and his nearly triggering the virtual extinction of our species during ''Able Archer 83''.[[note]]Although that last was bad timing -- UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev had instituted a program to prove that the US was planning a nuclear sneak attack, and his successor UsefulNotes/YuriAndropov continued it. Andropov, having found sufficient "evidence" by that point that the "strike" was imminent, and addled by sickness, decided that the Able Archer exercise was just the front for the feared surprise attack and came close to ordering a "preemptive" strike. That being said, Reagan didn't do himself or us any favors with his belligerent rhetoric earlier in 1983, including delivering the "evil empire" speech in March of 1983 and his boosting of the "Star Wars" system which threatened an upending of mutually-assured destruction, both of which certainly poked Andropov's paranoia. Also not helping was a series of deliberate "psyop" flights, where US Air Force bombers went as close to the limit of Soviet airspace as they dared to provoke a response from the Soviet Air Force, and reconnaissance flights that breached Soviet airspace meant to uncover SAM and radar sites. This last radar site contributed to Soviet paranoia that resulted in the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on August 31, 1983, after the doomed 747 accidentally strayed over the Kamchatka Peninsula. This event strained tensions between the US and USSR even further, adding more fuel to Andropov's suspicions of a sneak attack.[[/note]] Critics of Reagan also tend to argue that the economic recovery that happened during his tenure was actually the delayed results of ''Carter's'' policies, with Reagan simply receiving the credit because the benefits started to appear during his presidency. The severity of the economic recessions that occurred after Reagan's second term ended is also frequently attributed by critics to his laissez-faire approach to economic policy, with Bush Sr., UsefulNotes/BillClinton, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush Bush Jr.]], and even UsefulNotes/BarackObama after him also being criticized for not reining in or exacerbating the issues that this approach had. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | The universally acknowledged problem of his administration was massive and institutional corruption. While not necessarily from the man himself, his "hands-off" style of leadership led to his officials committing federal offenses without check. Various scandals from his administration led to the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 officials, the most for ''any'' US president. The most infamous one was the "Iran–Contra" affair, where military officials sold weapons to the Islamist UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}ian government in exchange for the release of hostages in UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}}, plus money to fund the Contras, an anti-Communist guerilla group in UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}} that was revealed to have committed human rights violations. All of that despite explicit congressional bans on any funding going to the Contras and an embargo against Iran that is still in place today. Though the political fallout from Iran–Contra was not particularly long-lived, especially after UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush controversially pardoned half a dozen of those implicated, two associated events left a mark on American popular culture: Lt. Col. Oliver North of the National Security Council shredding so many documents that the paper shredder broke down, and the coincidental release of an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame titled ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' (though nowadays the latter is generally remembered as its own entity, with any ties to the Iran–Contra Affair being forgotten about, in part due to the game's original player base having been children at the time with no real interest in what was going on with the government). In 2019, a phone conversation from 1973 between Reagan (while he was California Governor) and President UsefulNotes/RichardNixon surfaced, where Reagan described African delegates at the [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations UN]] as "monkeys" who barely looked comfortable wearing shoes, an indication that Reagan in private held racist views towards non-white people. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Outside of the US, he is seen as a doofus in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} due to his former career as a B-movie actor, as a saint in much of the former Eastern Bloc for his -- supposed or real -- role in bringing down the USSR, and as a villain in Nicaragua and some other parts of Central America due to his role in Iran–Contra. |
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| 28 | If you see someone in a film or TV show talking about how great Reagan was, then it's a surefire indication that the character is a US-Republican party member or someone with [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies classical-liberal or neo-liberal leanings]]. Conversely, if you see someone in a film or TV show disparaging Reagan, expect the character to be a social-liberal or socialist or anarchist or Marxist. For British media, substitute UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher for Reagan to precisely the same effect, as the two had faith in very similar socioeconomic belief systems -- the pro-free-market, anti-government [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies ideology of Neoliberalism]] -- and presided over their respective countries during roughly the same time period (1979–1990). Reagan's other use in popular culture, one that stirs up a ''lot'' fewer hornets' nests, is to evoke the 1980s, so expect him to be cited in anything set in a PopularHistory version of that decade or any political satires or topical shows from that era, even if it's from [[UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter 1980]] or [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush 1989]]. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Reagan was the first president since UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe not to fall victim to the "Curse of Zero" (sometimes called the Curse of [[UsefulNotes/WilliamHenryHarrison Tippecanoe]]), in which virtually every president who won an election held in a year ending in zero had died in office.[[note]]UsefulNotes/WilliamHenryHarrison (1840), UsefulNotes/WarrenGHarding (1920) and UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt (1940) all passed away due to illness, while UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln (1860), UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield (1880), UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley (1900) and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy (1960) were all assassinated.[[/note]] He did come close to meeting an untimely end in office, however, as barely three months into his first term, he was shot and severely injured by John Hinckley, and only survived due to prompt medical care. Reagan remains the only sitting president to be injured but not killed in an assassination attempt,[[note]]UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt survived an assassination attempt in 1912, albeit some three years after he left the White House.[[/note]] and his brush with death is credited with having boosted his approval ratings from "pretty damn good" to "astronomical," and helped him score [[LandslideElection arguably the most decisive victory]] in a seriously contested presidential election when he was re-elected in 1984, with only 3,761 voters in UsefulNotes/{{Minnesota}} (the home state of his opponent UsefulNotes/WalterMondale) coming between him and victory in ''every single state''. Ironically, the only reason he almost died from the attack was because of the protections meant to keep him safe in the first place: the bullet ricocheted off of his bulletproof limo and hit him in his lung. Had it been an ordinary car, he would've escaped unharmed. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Fun fact: Reagan was once a member of the Democratic Party and voted for UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt four times. He also was very, very addicted to jellybeans. He started eating them [[AddictionDisplacement when he quit smoking]], and he seriously had jellybean cup-holders placed on government planes. When he won in 1980, he wanted a jellybean flag of red, white, and blue to be created to celebrate the occasion. There were no blue-colored jellybeans at the time, so the Jelly Belly company created the blueberry flavor specifically for the ceremony. It ended up becoming one of their most popular flavors. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | In August 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The disease would ultimately cause his death ten years later, on June 5, 2004. His beloved wife, Nancy Reagan, would live for 12 more years before dying of heart failure on March 6, 2016: they had been married for 52 years when he passed. At the time of his death, Reagan was the longest-lived president in American history (a record that UsefulNotes/GeraldFord and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush went on to beat and which UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter now holds). |
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| 36 | %% |
| 37 | %% |
| 38 | %%As always, be cool and observe the Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment: lots of people have strong opinions on him, his legacy and his economic policies. |
| 39 | %% |
| 40 | %% |
| 41 | Compare UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, another celebrity turned Republican president. |
| 42 | ---- |
| 43 | !!Reagan's Movie Career: |
| 44 | |
| 45 | Yes, [=Creator/RonaldReagan=] redirected here to Useful Notes. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | There is a story that Ronald Reagan was playing TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit with his staff aboard Air Force One, and received the question "Who said 'I am the Creator/ErrolFlynn of [[BMovie B-movies]]?'" Reagan correctly answered "I did." In any case, the Errol Flynn line is accurate, and reflected Reagan's dissatisfaction over his movie career, which rarely provided the good parts that Reagan wanted, as he typically ended up playing the archetypical "[[TheLancer the hero's best friend/sidekick]]" character. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | Ronald Reagan made his film debut in a picture called ''Love Is on the Air'' in 1937. His first big break was a supporting part in the Creator/BetteDavis prestige drama ''Film/DarkVictory'' (1939), but that part unfortunately failed to lift him out of the B-movie ghetto. In 1940, he played real-life American Football Player George "The Gipper" Gipp in the movie ''Knute Rockne, All American'' (about a Notre Dame football coach), which featured the line, "WinOneForTheGipper." "The Gipper" became one of Reagan's nicknames. He was ineligible for combat duty in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII due to extreme nearsightedness, so Reagan spent much of the war making Army training films. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | Another film Reagan famously played in was the comedy movie ''Bedtime for Bonzo'', in which he costarred with a chimpanzee in a standard "[[LoopholeAbuse Ain't No Rule]]" story. Reagan always displayed a sense of humor about this movie; he's famously said to have once signed a promo photo of himself and Bonzo with the inscription "I'm the one with the wristwatch."[[note]]During his presidency, when Creator/ClintEastwood was running for mayor of Carmel, California, Reagan jokingly telephoned Eastwood and quipped "What's an actor who once appeared with a monkey in a movie doing in politics?", referring to Eastwood's role in ''Film/EveryWhichWayButLoose'' and indulging in some SelfDeprecation at the same time.[[/note]] He viewed ''That Hagen Girl'', a 1947 melodrama co-starring Creator/ShirleyTemple, as his real OldShame. It's even rumored that Reagan tried to suppress or destroy copies of that film. There's also a common story that he was originally slated to star in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', which derives from a claim made by the Creator/WarnerBros publicity office while promoting his film ''Kings Row''. Like many similar claims made by the Warner Bros. publicity office during the period (and to be fair, those of just about every other studio), it has no basis in fact. |
| 52 | |
| 53 | His most famous role was probably in the 1942 film ''Film/KingsRow'', which contains the famous line: "Where's the rest of me?" (his character had [[AnArmAndALeg lost both of his legs]]). ''Where's the Rest of Me?'' was the title of his 1965 autobiography. He had a memorable PlayingAgainstType role as a brutal and abusive crime lord turned CorruptCorporateExecutive in his last film, ''Film/{{The Killers|1964}}'' (1964). Cinephiles and film historians actually consider that role his best performance since he held his own against strong performers like Creator/JohnCassavetes, Creator/LeeMarvin and Angie Dickinson (who he slaps around in a notorious scene). |
| 54 | |
| 55 | ---- |
| 56 | !!Ronald Reagan films on TV Tropes: |
| 57 | |
| 58 | * ''Film/DarkVictory'' (1939) |
| 59 | * ''Film/KnuteRockneAllAmerican'' (1940) |
| 60 | * ''Film/BeyondTheLineOfDuty'' (1942) -- short film narrated by Reagan |
| 61 | * ''Film/KingsRow'' (1942) |
| 62 | * ''Film/DesperateJourney'' (1942) |
| 63 | * ''Film/ThisIsTheArmy'' (1943) |
| 64 | * ''Film/SoYouWantToBeInPictures'' (1947) (cameo) |
| 65 | * ''Film/StallionRoad'' (1947) |
| 66 | * ''Film/TheVoiceOfTheTurtle'' (1947) |
| 67 | * ''Film/ThatHagenGirl'' (1948) |
| 68 | * ''Film/TheHastyHeart'' (1949) |
| 69 | * ''Film/JohnLovesMary'' (1949) |
| 70 | * ''Film/{{Louisa}}'' (1950) |
| 71 | * ''Film/{{Storm Warning|1950}}'' (1950) |
| 72 | * ''Film/TheWinningTeam'' (1952) |
| 73 | * ''Film/{{The Killers|1964}}'' (1964) |
| 74 | * ''Film/HollywoodOnTrial'' (1976) (documentary, AsHimself) |
| 75 | ---- |
| 76 | !!Reagan in fiction: |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 79 | |
| 80 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 81 | * In the ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' series, Ronald Reagan demanded a [[HumongousMecha giant robot]] force to go with the Star Wars project, hence the presence of [[AMechByAnyOtherName Arm Slaves]]. |
| 82 | * In ''Manga/JapanInc'', a manga about economics written in TheEighties by Creator/ShotaroIshinomori, hence more realistic than other examples. |
| 83 | [[/folder]] |
| 84 | |
| 85 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 86 | * In ''ComicBook/DeadlyClass'', main protagonist Marcus blames Reagan for his parent's death, as his slashing of federal mental health funding led to numerous mental patients being unleashed onto the streets, including the one who crushed Marcus' parents by landing on them when jumping to her death. As such, Marcus intends to use the assassin training he's gaining at King's Dominion to kill Reagan in revenge one day. |
| 87 | * ''Franchise/TheDCU'' |
| 88 | ** Reagan appears in ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' as a disturbingly shrunken and senile wretch who's stayed in office 20 years longer than is legal. |
| 89 | ** '''ComicBook/BoosterGold'': In , wannabe superhero Michael Jon "Booster" Carter, calling himself Goldstar, traveled back in time to 1986 and managed to save Reagan from an assassination attempt. When Ronnie asked him his name, he responded "Boost ... er, Gold...," and was forever more known as . Also, in the CrisisCrossover ''Legends'', [[http://www.superdickery.com/president-reagan-bad-ass/ Reagan apparently faces down a group of armed gunmen breaking into the Oval Office]]. "You have five seconds to surrender yourselves!" (Gunfire to Reagan's chest ... with no effect beside ClothingDamage.) "Now you have two seconds!" It's revealed to be a disguised Martian Manhunter acting as a decoy. |
| 90 | ** ''Deadman'': In the 1980s Action Comics ran a storyline in which at one point Deadman and the Devil drop in at a Washington soiree, possess Reagan and Gorbachev, respectively, then switch to Mrs. Gorbachev and Mrs. Reagan, respectively. [[http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4735401341_490b2a2b3a_b.jpg And then]] [[http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4736048912_eefddf6eb1_b.jpg they fight.]] |
| 91 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': In an AlternateHistory where UsefulNotes/RichardNixon is still president), editors at a right-wing newspaper mock the idea of a "cowboy actor" like Creator/RobertRedford running for president; the film dispenses with subtlety and has them mocking the idea of Reagan ''himself'' running, despite the fact that he would be eight years ''older'' on taking office and probably beginning to show signs of Alzheimer's, not to mention losing some of the original irony. The film dialogue rewords it as just "a cowboy running for President", turning it into a dig at [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush someone a little more recent.]] |
| 92 | * ''ComicBook/EdTheHappyClown'' features the Ronald Reagan of an alternate universe getting his head stuck to the title character's penis. Surprisingly, Chester Brown stated that this wasn't intended to be a TakeThat, as being both apolitical and Canadian, he had little idea of the specifics of Reagan's politics besides knowing that he was vaguely right-wing and that the American right wing was opposed to pornography and obscenity, both of which Brown had been accused of creating. Instead, he mostly picked Reagan so people would recognize the name (the drawn Reagan doesn't look much like the real man either): Brown had originally meant to caricature Ed Broadbent, a left-wing Canadian politician he disliked, but eventually decided the first target was too obscure even for Canadians to appreciate. |
| 93 | * ''ComicBook/GiveMeLiberty'' has President Rexall, a Reagan {{Expy}} who ends up as a BrainInAJar and goes on to serve three terms. |
| 94 | * ''Franchsie/MarvelUniverse'': |
| 95 | ** ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': Issue #344 had [[Characters/MarvelComicsHydra The Viper]] using a serum she got from Slithers (a minor ''ComicBook/XMan'' villain) turning Ronald and Nancy into BrainwashedAndCrazy serpent-men with the rest of Washington, DC in an earlier stage of the transformation. The Captain (as he was known at the time because of a dispute with the government) didn't manage to stop the plot before throwing down with the suddenly scaly Commander-In-Chief who was clad only in his underwear. Reagan even used old glory as a weapon during the fight. While Cap was preoccupied with the president, Viper was able to make a VillainExitStageLeft but she was not able to get very far before she was stopped and defeated by Cobra (who is usually an enemy of ComicBook/TheMightyThor). He said it was payback for Cap helping Sidewinder retake control of the Serpent Society and had nothing to do with his political affiliation. |
| 96 | ** The first Marvel NOW arc of ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' features all the deceased presidents returning as zombies to destroy the world. Reagan, for his part in this, hijacks a military satellite to try and enact his failed Star Wars program in person, only for Deadpool to crash the satellite and re-kill him in the process. Also, during the fight, he cuts Reagan open, and all his [[TrademarkFavoriteFood jellybeans]] spill out. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/JonSableFreelance'': The very first issue featured a clever forceful Reagan blackmailing Sable into helping with presidential security against an assassin who happened to be an old enemy of Sable's. |
| 98 | -->'''Reagan:''' Do you know me?\ |
| 99 | '''Sable:''' I know who you ''look'' like. Got any ID?\ |
| 100 | '''Reagan:''' [''Holding up American Express card''] Will ''this'' do? |
| 101 | * ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': Reagan shows up in several albums written in TheEighties ("El Cacao Espacial", "La Perra de las Galaxias" and "Los Ángeles 84"), or it's mentioned (''¡Este trasto está más cascado que el Reagan!'' (''This junk is more broken than Reagan!'')) in "El cochecito leré" |
| 102 | * Reagan is the main character of the political parodied comic '''''[[http://www.comics.org/series/16342/ Reagan's Raiders]]''''', which shows Reagan leading a team of commandos. |
| 103 | * ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'': A story in 1987 involved Johnny and Durham Red rescuing Reagan from alien [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters freedom fighters]] from the future who were threatening to kill him in order to create a TimeStorm if all humans did not leave their planet. It's clear that Alan Grant was not fond of Reagan. |
| 104 | -->'''Alien 1:''' So this is he--the Reagan? [[PunyEarthlings A puny specimen]], even for a human. Just like [[HumansAreBastards the defilers]] to worship such a one! Do you suppose [[HumansAreUgly ugliness is a virtue to them]]?\ |
| 105 | '''Alien 2:''' [[HumansAreMorons Or stupidity]]? Have you ever seen eyes so vacant? |
| 106 | * In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', neo-fascist dictator Adam ''Susan'' is intended as a reference to Ronald ''Reagan'' (and to Margaret Thatcher as well). |
| 107 | * During his presidency, he often appeared in the UndergroundComics of the time, where [[SarcasmMode surprisingly,]] he was universally depicted in an extremely negative light. He was typically drawn with a giant pompadour and hideously wrinkled face, and was depicted as a senile idiot at best and a racist, homophobic tyrant at worst. |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 111 | * ''Fanfic/AForceOfFour'': Reagan makes several cameo appearances in this ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'' fanfiction -- set in the 1985 -- where he's treated in a fairly neutral manner. |
| 112 | * ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'': In this ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' fanfic, Ronald Reagan makes a cameo appearance during the Darkseid War when Mikhail Gorbachev calls him to inquiry what is going on across the pond and why isn't Franchise/{{Superman}} fixing it. |
| 113 | * ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'': Another ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' fanfic set in 1986, Reagan and Gorbachev discuss what should be done regarding ComicBook/LexLuthor's latest world-endangering scheme before concurring that unfortunately they have no option but to rely on the super-heroic community. After the Luthor's threat is over for good, both Reagan and Gorbachev compete to see which is able to pay a better homage to Superman, but the Man of Steel declines politely. |
| 114 | [[/folder]] |
| 115 | |
| 116 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 117 | * ''Film/{{Airplane}}'': Reagan the ''actor'' is briefly mentioned when the first passenger to come down with the food poisoning mentions she hasn't felt this awful "[[TakeThat since we saw that Ronald Reagan movie]]!" However, this was almost certainly a dig at Reagan the ''politician''. The scene was filmed in August 1979 but Reagan had challenged then-incumbent President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord in the Republican primaries three years earlier and Reagan at least ''running'' for president in 1980 -- if not winning outright as Jimmy Carter was deeply unpopular in 1979 -- was considered a foregone conclusion. By the time the film premiered in 1980, Reagan was the presumptive Republican nominee and would be elected president that November. (The film also contains a dig at Reagan's old rival Gerald Ford.) |
| 118 | * ''Film/AmericanPsycho'': He briefly appears on television in the background when one of Patrick Bateman's friends discusses his demeanor, claiming that Reagan only uses the "nice old guy" image to appear harmless. |
| 119 | * ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' |
| 120 | ** The page's quote is from ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', with Doc Brown laughing when Marty mentioned it to him in 1955. When Reagan watched the film himself, [[ActuallyPrettyFunny he got so amused]] that he told the projectionist to stop the film and replay the scene. In addition, in his 1986 State of the Union address, he would use the closing line "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads," which writer Bob Gale believes cemented BTTF's place in pop culture. |
| 121 | ** In ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII Part II]]'', the Cafe '80s nostalgia restaurant is shown, a bit of a [[TheThemeParkVersion Theme Park Version]] of the decade. Reagan was shown on a ''Series/MaxHeadroom''-like display offering Marty a drink, vying with an animated Ayatollah Khomeni for his attention. This may be a ShoutOut to ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'''s "Ron Headrest", a similar ''Headroom'' parody. |
| 122 | ** The filmmakers wanted Reagan to play the mayor of 1885 Hill Valley in ''[[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII Part III]]''. Reagan ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen wanted]]'' to play the mayor, but his aides turned down the offer. The second film features a newspaper from 1985-A with a line stating that UsefulNotes/RichardNixon is seeking a ''fifth'' term. When the timeline is restored, it instead says that Reagan is seeking a second term. One alternative script had Biff giving the almanac to his 1967 self instead of the 1955 one. One of the few things Doc teaches Marty about 1967 is the fact that Reagan was the Governor of California back then. |
| 123 | * ''Film/BornInEastLA'': Reagan is mentioned several times. When the immigration officer asks Rudy who's the president, he answers Creator/JohnWayne by mistake, which is "proof" enough that he's an illegal despite his protests and his ability to clearly speak English. |
| 124 | -->'''Rudy:''' ''I'M AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, YOU IDIOTS! THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS RONALD "DICKHEAD" REAGAN!'' |
| 125 | * ''Film/CapitalismALoveStory'': Moore accuses Reagan and his co-thinkers of creating an economic system that favored the rich, causing economic inequality and industrial decline. (See another Creator/MichaelMoore's movie, ''Film/RogerAndMe'', below.) |
| 126 | * ''Film/InLikeFlint'': An indirect ShoutOut in this spy comedy from 1967 (early in Reagan's political career) has the president replaced by a double. Flint, hearing the whole evil plan, incredulously mutters "An actor as president?" |
| 127 | * ''Film/TheMatrix'': Reagan gets a ShoutOut / TakeThat when [[FaceHeelTurn the traitor]], whose name is Reagan, says he wants to be "reborn" in the Matrix as an actor and completely forget his past. |
| 128 | * ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'': Creator/RobinWilliams does an impression of Reagan in the film. |
| 129 | -->"Nancy and I are still looking for the other half of my head." |
| 130 | * ''Film/RogerAndMe'': President Reagan AsHimself is seen inviting some autoworkers out for a pizza, and encouraging them to look for work elsewhere. The cash register at that restaurant was later stolen during the event. (See another Creator/MichaelMoore's movie, ''Film/CapitalismALoveStory'', above.) |
| 131 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': Rumor has it that George Lucas named "Nute Gunray" of ''Franchise/StarWars Episode I: Film/ThePhantomMenace'' after ''Newt'' Gingrich and Ronald ''Reagan'', which would make it a TakeThat. Alternatively, "Nute" may have come from '''''Knute''' Rockne: All American'', the film which gave Reagan his nickname "The Gipper." Supposedly, Lucas was upset about the SDI's nickname, even though it was Reagan's critics who dubbed it "Star Wars" not the President. |
| 132 | * ''Film/TheTripper'': The killer is a psychotic, hippie-hating Reagan-fanatic who dresses and acts like him. |
| 133 | * ''Film/TheButler'': Creator/AlanRickman plays as Reagan in Lee Daniels' film. |
| 134 | * ''Film/TradingPlaces'': Randolph Duke has a portrait of then-president Reagan on his desk, while his brother Mortimer has a portrait of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon on his desk. |
| 135 | * ''Film/WonderWoman1984'': The President of the United States is never named, but he greatly resembles Reagan in appearance (mottled rosey complexion, dyed brown pompadour) and has a similar speaking style. Reagan was President during the actual year 1984, of course, and the arms race which the character is preoccupied was in full swing at the time. |
| 136 | * The upcoming biopic ''Reagan'' will focus on the man himself as played by Creator/DennisQuaid. |
| 137 | [[/folder]] |
| 138 | |
| 139 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 140 | * An old German joke makes a play on his name "Als der Reagan kam wurde der Kohl immer fetter."[[note]]Loosely, "When the rain comes, the cabbage gets fatter."[[/note]] (Kohl meaning cabbage and Reagan sounding similar to "Regen", which means rain. Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, was well known for his rotundness which only got worse during the eighties.) |
| 141 | [[/folder]] |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 144 | * ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOfMonsters'': In the opening story, ''My Little Brother Is a Monster'', protagonist Jason Burger privately nicknames his new little brother "Bonzo" after the chimpanzee in ''Bedtime for Bonzo''. When Coville rewrote the story into a full-length book, ''Always October'', this was left out. |
| 145 | * ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'': The story ''A Colder War'', by Creator/CharlesStross, has Reagan accidentally causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, by jokingly saying "We'll starting bombing in fifteen minutes!" during a speech in UsefulNotes/{{Finland}}. This leads to the Soviet Union, as well as the warring states of UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} and Iran, panicking and unleashing their horrifying {{Magitek}} weapons they got from studying Cthulhu and Soggoths, but still don't fully understand. The US quickly retaliate by launching their own horrifying weapons they don't fully understand either, which they got from studying leftovers from the Elder Things, and soon humanity is utterly doomed. |
| 146 | * ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': In Creator/StephenKing's long running series, one of the characters, Susannah is transported from the America of 1964 into a fantasy world. When she meets Eddie, who came from 1987, she doesn't believe that Reagan is the president by then and thinks he's just kidding. |
| 147 | * Creator/FrederikPohl: in his novel ''The Coming of the Quantum Cats'', an alternate Ronald Reagan exists in two of the universes. In one, he's a former actor viewed as a subversive by the government. In the other, he's the First Gentleman -- Nancy Reagan is president. |
| 148 | * ''Literature/TheKiteRunner'': Inasmuch as the novel is based around the events in Afghanistan from the 1970s up to the present day, Ronald Reagan's election is mentioned. Amir's father Baba is a huge supporter, going out and buying a poster of Reagan the day after the "Evil Empire" speech. |
| 149 | * Creator/MichaelMoorcock: ''A Nomad of the Timestreams'' features an appearance by an alternate-universe version of Reagan as a racist, buffoonish Boy Scout leader. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/APrayerForOwenMeany'': Reagan is frequently disparaged by the narrator of Creator/JohnIrving's novel. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/PresidentsVampire'': In this series, it's revealed that Reagan was ''much'' more severely wounded by Hinckley than was let on to the public, and that the government had to release [[MadScientist Johann Konrad]] from prison [[DealWithTheDevil in exchange]] for him saving the President's life. Even then, it's implied that the brush and whatever Konrad did to him caused his mental decline in his later years. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/TheSalmonOfDoubt'': In Creator/DouglasAdams' posthumous collection, a short story starring Zaphod ends with the revelation that Ronald Reagan [[{{Anvilicious}} is an escaped alien-engineered weapon of mass political destruction]], and that the aliens responsible will have to make the Earth [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt 'safe, perfectly safe']]. |
| 153 | * ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish''; "Know-Nothing Bozo the Non-Wonder Dog", so named "due to a remarkable similarity to the American President". The dog's owner and his friends would play a game with the dog where they would shout "Commies!" repeatedly and watch as the dog went berserk. |
| 154 | * ''Literature/Timeline191'': Reagan, referred to only as "Dutch," has a cameo in ''American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold'', the second part of the series by Creator/HarryTurtledove. Paralleling Reagan's real-life career at this time (the 1930's), "Dutch" is a sportscaster, working out of Des Moines, Iowa. He's pretty good, too: the character listening to him thinks he could make reading the phone book sound interesting. "If anyone was a great communicator, he was the man." |
| 155 | --->'''"Dutch"''' [''As a runner tears downfield'']: There he goes again! |
| 156 | * ''{{Literature/Unsong}}'': Reagan makes a deal with [[MessianicArchetype the Comet King]] to reunify the collapsing United States into the new Untied States. It turns out that he's actually [[spoiler: a Golem created by Gadiriel, the angel of celebrity, who wants to stop America from falling apart]]. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 160 | * In ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', Archie annoys Mike by telling him that he wrote in Richard Nixon in the 1976 election; in fact, Archie actually wrote in Reagan. (Later, he yells at Mike, "You're gonna get Ronald Reagan in 1980!", a prediction which proved accurate.) |
| 161 | * ''Series/TheAmericans'': Reagan does not appear but is frequently discussed by the titular Soviet sleeper agents, whose commanders believe he is a madman who will end up destroying the world (and discovering the plans for the Star Wars project don't allay these fears either). In the episode covering the time where he's shot, the Soviets misinterpret the events to cause them to think that a coup within the American government is imminent. |
| 162 | ** Read any account of how Able Archer '83 almost went nuclear, and you'll see rampant paranoia amongst the top Soviet leadership concerning Reagan and his intentions as being [[NightmareFuel horrifying]] TruthInTelevision. |
| 163 | * ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': John Casey is a big Reagan fan. He keeps a framed picture of Reagan (which actually belongs to actor Creator/AdamBaldwin) in his apartment. |
| 164 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': Despite the series not premiering until 2004, three months after Reagan's death, Detective Mac Taylor has a framed 8"x10" picture of the late former president in his office, and is teased by a co-worker about "that eight-hour documentary you're always watching." |
| 165 | * ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': Creator/BruceCampbell will have a cameo as Reagan in Season 2, which takes place in the Seventies (and not in Fargo). |
| 166 | * In ''Series/GhostsUS'', when main characters Sam and Jay visit their neighbors, The Farnsbys, in the season one finale, Sam sees the ghost of a housewife. The ghost, surprised that Sam can see and hear her, takes the time to ask, "Did the actor from Bedtime for Bonzo really become President in TheEighties?" |
| 167 | * Creator/JamesBrolin played Reagan in the controversial 2003 miniseries ''The Reagans''. |
| 168 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': One episode has Shawn need Lassiter to [[HitMeDammit punch him]]. Lassiter refuses, until Shawn says that Reagan was an awful president, leading to Lassiter immediately punching Shawn out. |
| 169 | * ''Series/TheRanch'': It's mentioned that Beau is such a big fan of Ronald Reagan that he voted for him as a write-in candidate in every election since Reagan left office. |
| 170 | * ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' |
| 171 | ** Reagan was one of the four ''X''-Presidents on the series' "TV Funhouse," and the comic books based on it, a group of superheroes who fought crime. |
| 172 | -->'''Reagan:''' Just say "no" to '''pissing me off!''' |
| 173 | *** Due to constant cast turnovers brought about by behind-the-scenes problems, Reagan was largely unscathed by ''Saturday Night Live''[='=]s political humor during his tenure. It was only until the very end of his presidency that ''SNL'' found its definitive Reagan in the form of Creator/PhilHartman. Sadly, by this point, they were only able to get one notable skit out of Hartman's Reagan, which famously portrayed Reagan as a shrewd, harsh tactician who simply [[ObfuscatingStupidity put up a façade]] of being a doddering CloudCuckoolander to get away with the Iran-Contra scandal. This sketch is usually the only one that you'll see on "best of Presidential spoofs" clip shows. See it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuujTYHCmgs here]]. |
| 174 | * ''Series/SpittingImage'': In this satirical puppet show, he was often portrayed as in a relationship with UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, and as a CloudCuckoolander always accompanied by the chimpanzee Bonzo. Along with Thatcher he was one of the acceptable targets that made the show enormously popular in the United Kingdom. |
| 175 | * ''Series/ThirtyRock'': Jack Donaghy reveres Reagan as the patron saint of capitalism. |
| 176 | ** In the first episode, a Soviet defector is kidnapped on US soil by a pair of undercover KGB agents. In response, President Reagan issues a top-secret Executive Order authorizing the FBI to be more aggressive in stopping KGB operations within the United States. |
| 177 | * ''Series/TheTonightShow'': Johnny Carson played Reagan in several skits on ''The Tonight Show'', including one where he led the Reagans against Queen Elizabeth's Windsor family on ''Series/FamilyFeud''. |
| 178 | * In ''Series/WetHotAmericanSummerFirstDayOfCamp'' he's played by a deliberately unconvincing Creator/MichaelShowalter as a CloudCuckoolander who scarfs down jellybeans and goes way too far in trying to invoke GetAHoldOfYourselfMan, but is still pretty reasonable in the end. |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 182 | * The vast majority of songs about Ronald Reagan came from pretty much every U.S. punk band from the 1980s (not even an exaggeration, most bands had at least one song about him; although exceptions to the anti-Reagan songwriting trend exist, they're hard to come by). Notable examples include: |
| 183 | ** "Reagan's In" by Wasted Youth |
| 184 | ** "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" and "Rambozo the Clown" by Music/DeadKennedys |
| 185 | ** "Reaganomics" by D.R.I. |
| 186 | ** "Fascist" by Music/{{Minutemen}} |
| 187 | ** "Fucked Up Ronnie" by D.O.A. |
| 188 | ** "I Shot the Devil" by Suicidal Tendencies |
| 189 | * |
| 190 | * Music/BlindGuardian: The German metal band's "Battalions of Fear" is about his policies. As you can probably guess by the title, it's not positive. |
| 191 | * Music/FrankZappa: He was a very vocal critic of Reagan's politics. This began very early, with the concentration camp for hippies on ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968) being called "Camp Reagan", an allusion to Reagan then being governor of California. In the only music video Zappa ever made, ''Music/YouAreWhatYouIs'' (1981), a lookalike of Reagan is depicted on the electric chair. Several anti-Reagan songs can be heard on ''Music/BroadwayTheHardWay'' (1988), namely "The Untouchables", "Dickie's Such an Asshole" (also targeting Nixon), "When the Lie's So Big", "Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk". On ''Make a Jazz Noise Here'' (1991) the track "Star Wars Won't Work" attacks Reagan's "Star Wars" defense project. The instrumental track "Reagan at Bitburg" on ''Music/CivilizationPhazeIII'' (1994) references Reagan's infamous controversial visit to Bitburg, West Germany in 1985 where he laid a laurel wreath on the grave of some SS soldiers. |
| 192 | * Music/{{Genesis|Band}}: Their video of "Music/LandOfConfusion" uses ''Series/SpittingImage'' and their puppets, including that of Reagan as a would-be superhero. Reagan is depicted as a senile old coot incapable of dealing with the problems he tries to solve (failing at ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction when he tries to put on a {{ComicBook/Superman}} suit) and suffering from dementia (when he tries to call a nurse, he pushes the "Nuke" button by mistake and sets off a nuclear weapon). |
| 193 | * Killer Mike has a song called "Reagan", the bulk of which deals with the CIA drug sales and how that combined with "Just Say No" and harsher drug sentences for juveniles to victimise black youth. The music video features animated clones of Reagan as the mooks of the US government, and eventually a super-sized Reaganbot. |
| 194 | * Music/LemonDemon: Their song "Reaganomics" satirizes the Reagan administration's policies. |
| 195 | * Music/MichaelJackson: Jackson appeared with Ron and Nancy in a Rose Garden photo op. Reagan honored Michael for allowing the "Just Say No" campaign to use the song "Beat It" in an ad. According to the Jackson biography, ''The Magic and the Madness'', the First Lady found Michael somewhat peculiar but attractive. To say that this was controversial would be ... an overstatement. |
| 196 | * Music/{{Minutemen}}: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAMFHT6BGO0 music video]] for "This Ain't No Picnic" included clips of Ronald Reagan from a war film. The clips were [[ManipulativeEditing edited]] to make it look like Ronald Reagan was shooting at and bombing The Minutemen from a fighter plane. |
| 197 | * Music/OwlCity: Part of Ronald Reagan's famous speech about the explosion of the ''Challenger'' space shuttle is used as an intro to the song "Galaxies", which is a tribute to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragedy. |
| 198 | * Music/PinkFloyd: |
| 199 | ** "The Fletcher Memorial Home" mentions Reagan as one of the many "incurable tyrants and kings" interred in the titular asylum, owed in part to his support for Britain during UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar (which the song's parent album, ''Music/TheFinalCut'', protested). |
| 200 | ** Former frontman Music/RogerWaters' 1992 solo song [[Music/AmusedToDeath "The Bravery of Being out of Range"]] is a scathing criticism of Reagan and his policies, arguing that his presidency directly contributed to the outbreak of UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar and the depersonalization of armed conflict. |
| 201 | * Music/TheRamones: "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg", a track criticizing Reagan for making an official visit to a German cemetery where a number of Nazi SS officers were buried. This track is especially notable because the band included lifelong Republican Johnny Ramone, who was absolutely ''infuriated'' with this song. |
| 202 | * Music/{{REM}}: Their album ''Music/{{Document}}'' is a full-on ConceptAlbum dedicated to protesting the Reagan administration, with "Exhuming [=McCarthy=]" in particular comparing the president to [[UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy the disgraced senator]]. The band's later song [[Music/AutomaticForThePeople "Ignoreland"]] further criticizes Reagan, his VP/successor UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, and the Conservative Revolution that the pair led. |
| 203 | * Rich Little did a fictitious appeal to minority voters as Reagan rapping and Nancy on Bass. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XECby_mT1w "Rappin' Ronnie."]] |
| 204 | * Music/{{Sting}}'s anti-nuclear war song [[Music/TheDreamOfTheBlueTurtles "Russians"]] criticizes Reagan's jingoistic stance against the Soviet Union, comparing and contrasting it with UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev's infamous "we will bury you" quote, with Sting noting that he doesn't subscribe to either viewpoint. |
| 205 | * Music/TheWorldInfernoFriendshipSociety: Their song "Secret Service Freedom Fighting USA" is often introduced during live shows as being titled "I shot President Ronald Reagan, AND I'M GONNA DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!" The song itself is supposedly based on an incident from the lead singer Jack Terricloth's teenage years in 1985, four years after Hinckley's assassination attempt, when (unaware that Reagan was making an appearance a few towns over) he shouted that during a prank call and was subsequently arrested. |
| 206 | |
| 207 | [[/folder]] |
| 208 | |
| 209 | [[folder:Newspaper Comics]] |
| 210 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Huey Freeman is convinced that Ronald Reagan is really TheAntichrist. This is based on actual conspiracy theories by some black militants, citing, among their reasons, the fact that his first, middle, and last names [[NumberOfTheBeast All had six letters]]. |
| 211 | * ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'': In a 1981 series of strips, Santa's elves [[WeirdTradeUnion go on strike]]; Reagan (who is never depicted but heard as a voice on a TV seen from the side) fires them all and replaces with scabs, breaking the union. Any resemblance to the 1981 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_traffic_controllers_strike air traffic controllers' strike]] is purely intentional. |
| 212 | [[/folder]] |
| 213 | |
| 214 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 215 | * ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'': In the musical, John Hinckley Jr. shoots Reagan as an act of love for Creator/JodieFoster. Reagan survives. Like the other assassination attempts, it's presented as a carnival game, with a buzzer sounding every time Hinckley fails to kill the President, and the proprietor mocking him with Reagan's various quips. |
| 216 | -->''BANG!''\ |
| 217 | '''Hinckley''': He died so our love could live!\ |
| 218 | ''ENNNT!''\ |
| 219 | ''''Reagan'''': Sorry, Nancy, looks like I forgot to duck.\ |
| 220 | ''BANG!''\ |
| 221 | ''ENNNT!''\ |
| 222 | ''''Reagan'''': I sure hope that's surgeon's a Republican.\ |
| 223 | ''BANG!''\ |
| 224 | ''ENNNT!''\ |
| 225 | ''''Reagan'''': Where'd that kid learn to shoot, the Russian army?\ |
| 226 | ''BANG!''\ |
| 227 | ''ENNNT!''\ |
| 228 | ''''Reagan'''': There you go again. ''[gunshot followed by buzzer]'' There you go again. ''[gunshot followed by buzzer]'' There you go again. |
| 229 | * The 1984 off-Broadway musical ''Rap Master Ronnie'', co-written by Elizabeth Swados and ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' creator Garry Trudeau, satirizes key Reagan administration events and individuals. A movie version was released in 1988. |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 233 | * ''[[VideoGame/BadDudes Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja]]'': Sometime in the eighties, Ronald Reagan was [[JamesBondage kidnapped]] by {{Ninja}}s. Fortunately, there were some dudes who were bad enough to rescue him, so they did, and then went out for a hamburger (specifically, you get to watch President Ronnie eat one in front of you. [[http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/bad.htm What the hell, Ronnie?]]). |
| 234 | * The heroes of the [[BlindIdiotTranslation Engrish-laden]] classic ''Battle Rangers'' also set out to save President Ronnie from a boomerang-tossing despot. |
| 235 | * "Senile Reagan in a Bikini" was the original cohost of the game show segment in ''Bushgame'', a politically-charged spinoff of the ''[[http://www.emogame.com Emogame]]'' series. Out of ... respect(?) after Reagan's death, the character became the more lucid "John Snow". |
| 236 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' |
| 237 | ** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'': Ronald Reagan appears in the cut scenes that precede some of the 1980s missions. |
| 238 | ** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'': Ronald Reagan appears in the introduction, ordering the protagonists to hunt down an elusive Soviet secret agent known only as Perseus. |
| 239 | * ''VideoGame/Wasteland3'': an AI copy of Reagan's brain is fanatically worshipped as a living god by a faction called "The Gippers" in the bombed-out postapocalyptic ruins of Denver, Colorado. The Gippers' priestesshood all take the name "Nancy" after his wife and proclaim themselves to be married to their god. [[spoiler:Morningstar, who knew Reagan, is furious about the whole thing, and points out that the man himself would ''hate'' being worshipped since he was a devout Christian.]] |
| 240 | * ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'' features Reagan as a [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman TV actor]] starring in Nazi propaganda pieces in [[DayOfTheJackboot Nazi-occupied America]]. [[spoiler:He dies when he accidentally pisses off Hitler by referring to him as "Mr. Hitler" instead of "Mein Führer".]] |
| 241 | [[/folder]] |
| 242 | |
| 243 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 244 | * ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'': also used the REAGAN SMASH joke mentioned below ... except this time Reagan turned into Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk and really did tear down the Berlin Wall. [[spoiler:And as it turns out, the reason Ronald Reagan can turn into The Hulk is because Axel brought a gamma bomb from the future and set it off at the set of Kings Row.]] |
| 245 | -->'''REAGAN RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE!''' |
| 246 | * ''EdgeTheDevilhunter'' features Reagan resurrected as a demon called The Gipper. The Gipper resembles a set of male genitalia on legs, with Reagan's head appearing in place of the tip of the penis. |
| 247 | * ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}': 'Ronald Reagan is a member of the cast, after the owner of the eponymous toy store heard one of his employees remark "Bring back anything from the '80s, and it's money in the bank" (just ''how'' he was "brought back" is [[RuleOfFunny never really addressed]] although ImportedAlienPhlebotinum capable of resurrecting the dead ''does'' exist in [[Webcomic/{{Walkyverse}} the strip's universe]]). "Ronnie" is played as a kindly old man, slightly absentminded, with an occasional tendency to burst into a PatrioticFervor and total inability to retain information about AIDS. He is also portrayed as remarkably accepting of homosexuality, despite his politics, a stance he explains by reminding people that he got his start in Hollywood and personally knew Rock Hudson. |
| 248 | * ''Webcomic/{{Subnormality}}'': The webcomic not only claims that Ronald Reagan [[CardCarryingVillain is evil]], but that he is an excellent [[VillainSong freestyle rapper]]. He's on a date with UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, who is also evil. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 252 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': One of the options in the "Choose-Your-Own-Ingredient" Halloween toon, "Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig", demonstrates Homestar's Reagan impression: |
| 253 | -->'''Homestar:''' Well ... well ... Nancy and I ... economics ... well ... rap music ... jellybeans ... well ... we ... probably had a ... pet ...\ |
| 254 | '''Bubs:''' That's the worst Ronald Reagan impression I've ever heard!\ |
| 255 | '''Homestar:''' [''Offended''] Ronald Reagan?! I was doing my [[Creator/KeanuReeves Keanu Reagan!]] |
| 256 | * ''Literature/FearLoathingAndGumboOnTheCampaignTrailSeventyTwo'': Reagan is the candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1976; he narrowly loses the election to Democratic candidate George Wallace. Reagan then runs for the Republican nomination again in 1980 but loses the primary election to Donald Rumsfeld. [[spoiler:He briefly gets his own talk show, but after becoming an opponent of Rumsfeld's policies, he flees into exile with UsefulNotes/RichardNixon to Britain.]] |
| 257 | * In ''Literature/KentuckyFriedPolitics'', Reagan runs for the Presidency in 1976 and loses to UsefulNotes/WalterMondale in a reversal of roles in OTL. |
| 258 | * ''Literature/NineteenEightyThreeDoomsday'': He's mentioned as having survived [[WorldWarIII Doomsday]] and managed to escape the crumbling US for Hawaii. But en route to Australia, his plane vanishes in the South Pacific, leaving George Bush Sr. as the head of the American exile community. |
| 259 | * WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick: Appeared briefly in a review with the [[Franchise/StarWars Imperial March]] playing over his picture. |
| 260 | * ''Website/TheOnion'': The world's greatest newspaper did a report on the GOP [[http://www.theonion.com/video/zombie-reagan-raised-from-grave-to-lead-gop,14385/ raising Ronald Reagan from the grave]] so that [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies Zombie Reagan]] can be the new face of the Republican Party. |
| 261 | * Website/SCPFoundation |
| 262 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-095 SCP-095]] is a pulp science fiction magazine titled ''The Atomic Adventures of Ronnie Ray-Gun'', where the main character strongly resembles Reagan. |
| 263 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1981 SCP-1981]], an anomalous VHS tape of Reagan's 1983 "Evil Empire" speech. Something happened to the tape so that every time it's played back its contents are different, with the contents always consisting of Reagan giving [[WordSaladHorror nonsensical (and creepy) anecdotes and parables]] while [[BodyHorror he's being mutilated by an invisible force]]. |
| 264 | *** In one of the stories involving the tape, "[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/dr-robinsons-statement Dr. Robinson's Statement]]", the former president used his remaining ties with the US Secret Services to convice the SCP Foundation to let him view it himself, becoming obsessed with a second-hand recording to the point he starts arranging the assassinations of future noteworthy people such as 33-year-old UsefulNotes/BarackObama, 15-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, and 4-year-old Creator/Taylor Swift. In an attempt to get him back to normal, his secret service agents steal some of the Foundation's [[LaserGuidedAmnesia amnestics]] and administer them to Reagan, but they accidental give him an overdose, causing his Alzheimer's. |
| 265 | * ''Literature/AWorldOfLaughterAWorldOfTears'': An AlternateHistory where a young Reagan hosts the Mickey Mouse Club TV show (which turns into a mouthpiece for political propaganda). |
| 266 | * If Reagan had ever found it necessary to [[HorsebackHeroism ride into battle on the back of a dinosaur]], [[FiringOneHanded firing a submachine gun]], while the dinosaur [[PatrioticFervor clutched a flagpole in one hand]]--well, then he would've done so. [[http://www.etsy.com/listing/103439513/ronald-reagan-riding-a-velociraptor-hq And it would've looked something like this.]] |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 270 | * In the "Rap-unzel" episode of the ''[[Series/{{ALF}} ALFTales]]'' cartoon, Reagan (in Melmaccian form) is the doddering, clueless royal father of Prince Gordon, and is finally convinced by him to set up a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission Federal Communications Commission]] to foil the Evil Witch's broadcasting monopoly. |
| 271 | * ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': |
| 272 | ** Stan Smith worships Reagan more than he does UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} (and he already does a lot of that). At one point, he asks Nancy Reagan what Ronald would have done in a difficult situation. Nancy performs a mocking seance and sends him on his way. |
| 273 | ** In "The Vacation Goo", he tries to convince his marauded family to listen to his ideas unless they guess what president he likes a lot. Steve immediately answers with, "Ronald Reagan." |
| 274 | ** The first ChristmasEpisode, "The Best Christmas Story Never Told", has Stan going back in time to the 1970s to try and kill Creator/JaneFonda for "ruining Christmas", but along the way he makes changes which snowball into Reagan losing the 1984 election to Walter Mondale,[[note]]He convinces Creator/MartinScorsese to give up drugs, Scorsese never makes ''Film/TaxiDriver'', John Hinckley Jr. never becomes obsessed with Creator/JodieFoster from watching it, and he never attempts to assassinate Reagan, who doesn't have the popularity he gained from surviving an assassination attempt that lead him to being re-elected.[[/note]] who handed control of the country over to the Soviet Union less than two months into his presidency. At the end of the episode, after going back in time and failing to set things exactly as they were before, Stan has to go back to 1981 and shoot Reagan himself. |
| 275 | ** "Stanny Slickers 2: The Legend of Ollie's Gold" has Stan sing a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpZbbOgjhPc song]] about Oliver North and Ronald Reagan's involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, in the style of ''WesternAnimation/SchoolhouseRock'' |
| 276 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': |
| 277 | ** In the first episode beginning segment "[[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode1 De-Zanitized]]," Reagan appears in Scratchansniff's flashback, taking place when he was an actor, and tells the doctor about his dream where he becomes president. Scratchansniff deems him incurable. May be HarsherInHindsight, as the episode came out in 1993, a year before he revealed his Alzheimer's. |
| 278 | ** [[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode75 Episode 75]] with "The Presidents Song" covered him along with his predecessors and two successors as of the time. |
| 279 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Reagan is depicted as being incredibly anti-Civil Rights by other characters to the point that the revolutionary extremist Huey states that "[[EveryoneIsSatanInHell Ronald Reagan is the devil,]]" going as far as to point out that his each of his three names has [[NumberOfTheBeast six letters as a tell-tale sign]]. [[BoomerangBigot Black-hating black man]] Ruckus however idolizes him for this ideal, who in his dreams stated that he spent his life attempting to make life miserable for black people. |
| 280 | * ''WesternAnimation/ChinaIl'': Reagan is a recurring troublemaker in the shows. First stealing a CIA time machine to go back and crap in Steve's mouth for mocking him on an '80s kid talent show. Then assisting Frank and Baby Cakes in finding UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson's crystal palace, which makes him President for Life. |
| 281 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 282 | ** Reagan is depicted in episode "Peter's Got Woods", saying his "Tear down this wall" line and then beating on a brick wall with his bare fists while repeatedly yelling "REAGAN SMASH!" It turns out it was the wall of a [=McDonald's=] and the workers inside comment that it is nothing to be concerned about, and that he tends to wear himself out quickly. He is then seen curling up like a child, muttering "Reagan sleepy..." |
| 283 | ** The episode "Family Gay" implied he and Gorbachev were gay lovers. |
| 284 | ** In "Quagmire's Baby", Peter buys an old ham radio from Quagmire at a garage sale. After fiddling with it, a voice comes out of the radio claiming to be Reagan's ghost. However, it's eventually revealed that the voice was actually Creator/RichLittle attempting to [[DiscoDan reach out to a younger audience]]. |
| 285 | * On ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Ford mentions that he made a mind control tie for Reagan's "masters", [[NoodleIncident but never clarifies what that means.]] |
| 286 | * Reagan is mentioned twice in ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob2021''. First in the series premiere [[Recap/InsideJobS1E1Unpresidented Unpresidented]], were resident MadDoctor Andre, while showing off his many drugs, says he "has the stuff that gave Ronald Reagan Alzheimer's". Then he is mentioned in the season one finale ''[[Recap/InsideJobS1E10InsideReagan Inside Reagan]]'', where Rand Ridley explains that [[EvilInc Cognito]] created a device that allowed them to rewrite Reagan's memories after he developed Alzheimer's. It's also worth noting that since the device's codename is the same nickname Rand calls his daughter by (i.e. Jellybean), the series' main character, Reagan Ridley, is very likely name after President Reagan. |
| 287 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': He is often referred to what with being one of Hank's two leading presidential heroes (the other being [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson LBJ]], who [[EverythingIsBigInTexas for obvious reasons]] serves as the only Democrat whom Hank holds in such high esteem). |
| 288 | -->'''Hank:''' [''After finding out that Bobby wrote a report about fictitious President [[Series/TheWestWing Jed Bartlet]]''] Now go do a report on a real president.\ |
| 289 | '''Bobby:''' But which president should I … [''Hank glares''] … Ronald Reagan. |
| 290 | ** "I ''miss'' voting for that man." |
| 291 | ** "Hey, now, if Ron Reagan dyed his hair -- and I'm not saying he did -- it was only to show his strength to the Communists." |
| 292 | ** [[FunWithAcronyms "Some Day Governor Reagan Will Run for President"]] |
| 293 | ** From "Get Your Freak Off": |
| 294 | --->'''Jan''': Chaperoning? Nice job, Ronald Reagan.\ |
| 295 | '''[=McB=]''': Hey, don't call me ''that''!\ |
| 296 | '''Hank''': [[InsultToRocks Yeah, don't call]] ''[[InsultToRocks him]]'' [[InsultToRocks that!]] |
| 297 | * ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'': Similar to a below ''Simpson'' example, the penultimate episode has Kevin mentioning that the location of the supermarket Super Pig in his home suburb has changed its name to Ronald Reagan Parkway rather than [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]] Parkway. |
| 298 | * In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', In one episode, in another attempt to bust her brothers for the daily project of theirs, Candace asks Mom to "Tear Down This Wall" with her car, the wall being the fence in between her and the backyard, afterwards "Hail to the Chief" begins playing briefly as a reference to Reagan. |
| 299 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': A selection of mentions and appearances throughout the series includes: |
| 300 | ** In a brief cutaway gag in "Lisa the Beauty Queen," Reagan is one of the heads seen stuck on a pole in the Chamber of Horrors section of the Springfield Wax Museum. |
| 301 | ** Members of the Springfield Republican Party mention that they have a mission to rename everything after Reagan. (For example, all schools named in UsefulNotes/MillardFillmore's honor will be transferred to Reagan's.) |
| 302 | ** Homer's "Rappin' Ronnie Reagan" tape. This is actually a ShoutOut to Rich Little's "Rappin' Ronnie", a fictitious appeal to minority voters with Ron rapping and Nancy on Bass. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XECby_mT1w Watch it here.]] |
| 303 | ** When seeing "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", The Be Sharps, sing at the Statue of Liberty's Centennial Anniversary, Reagan turns to wife Nancy and remarks, "Damn ceremonies. This is time I could be working, Mommie." |
| 304 | ** [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]]' voice is partly based on Mr. Reagan. |
| 305 | * ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends'': Several references to Ronald Reagan are made due to co-creator [[Characters/OneyPlays Zach Hadel]]'s fondness for doing an impression or other jokes about him. |
| 306 | ** In "[[Recap/SmilingFriendsS1E4ASillyHalloweenSpecial A Silly Halloween Special]]", the [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter critter]] Glep and his human wife [[ShoutOutThemeNaming Marge Simpson]] dress up as Ronald and Nancy Reagan. [[spoiler:Fittingly, in the future they become president and first lady.]] |
| 307 | ** In "[[Recap/SmilingFriendsS1E7FrowningFriends Frowning Friends]]", Mr. Boss has a meeting with his financial advisors; who consists of Reagan along with Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Mr. Peanut of the Planters Nut & Chocolate Company. Of course, Reagan is voiced by Hadel. |
| 308 | * ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': One episode featured Buster and Babs going to Washington to request aid against a {{Moral Guardian|s}} lady that sucked up Acme Acres' residents' "tooniness". The bunnies go to the Lincoln Memorial for guidance, and seem to hear UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln's voice coming from the statue, urging them not to give up. They walk off, inspired, not knowing that it's just Ronnie in his pajamas, talking to his teddy bear. |
| 309 | * Reagan (and his cabinet) as [[http://www.toonopedia.com/reagan.htm badass commando superhero(es)]]. |
| 310 | [[/folder]] |
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