The Education of Ronald Reagan: The General Electric Years and the Untold Story of His Conversion to Conservatism » (1st Edition)

Thomas W. Evans, a lawyer and avocational politician, has supervised a successful New Hampshire presidential primary and established a national citizens' campaign organization. A former adjunct professor of education and administration at Columbia University's Teachers College, Evans was chair of the Reagan administration's national symposium on partnerships in education and counsel to the Points of Light Foundation under George H.W. Bush.

Based on a newly discovered collection of private papers as well as interviews and corporate documents, Thomas W. Evans links the eight years (1954-1962) in which Reagan worked for General Electric-acting as host of its television program, GE Theater, and traveling the country as the company's public-relations envoy-to his conversion to conservatism. Evans particularly focuses on the profound influence of GE executive Lemuel Boulware, who would become Reagan's political and ideological mentor. Known for his innovative corporate strategies to win over workers and his tough stance against the "excesses" of union officials, Boulware championed the core tenets of modern American conservatism-free-market fundamentalism, anticommunism, lower taxes, and limited government. Building on the ideas and influence of Boulware, Reagan would soon begin his rise as a national political figure and an icon of the American conservative movement.

Background
A New Dealer to the Core     3
Politics: War by Different Means     24
A Postgraduate Course in Political Science
Boulwarism     37
The Plant Tour     57
Schools, Classes, and Trains     69
An Apprenticeship for Public Life
The Campaign     83
Allies     98
The Speech     111
Two Unions     126
The Art of Negotiation     139
Encouraging an Increasing Majority of Citizens
The Campaign Continues     157
The Presidential Bug     185
A President's Vision     199
Appendix
Speeches of Reuther, Boulware, and Reagan
Walter P. Reuther, Labor and the Community     224
Lemuel Boulware, Salvation Is Not Free     229
Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing ("The Speech")     238
Notes     251
References     277
Acknowledgments     285
Index     287