The Reagan Paradox: The Conservative Icon and Today’s GOP

Long known as The Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan has been credited with leading an ideological renaissance of the Republican Party and has become an icon to many Republicans and party leaders. Now, ten years following his death, and twenty-five years following the end of his two terms in office, the man who was credited with so much, including Reaganomics, ending the Cold War, and The War on Drugs, has become the ideological standard-bearer for a party that bears little resemblance to the one that he helped to define. So much so, that in hindsight, many of his views and policies appear to be centrist in comparison.

This provides the perfect opportunity for The Editors of TIME magazine, in conjunction with many highly-regarded and well-respected writers and journalists familiar with Reagan, including Lou Cannon, Jon Meacham, Nick Clooney, Bob Spitz, and more with an introduction by Joe Scarborough, to examine the man, the politician, and the President, and the paradox of an ideological hero who no longer represents the party that he helped to define, or in fact, does he?