ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan was an event-making president. Reagan won the presidency in 1980 because of public unhappiness with Jimmy Carter. Reagan was skillful at times, in working with Congress, and Soviet leaders. Ronald Reagan was very comfortable playing a role, whether as an actor, governor, or president, and he played that role with sincerity, as a good actor. Reagan made his general goals clear to his subordinates and expected them to work out policies accordingly. The idea of a Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) had been in Reagan's mind since he had visited the underground North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) base in Colorado. Reagan should focus on his economic plan, put foreign policy on the back burner for a time, and avoid Carter's mistake of sending too many initiatives to Congress in the first year. The media exaggerated the effects of his rhetorical skill because that is what the media, especially television, likes to cover.
