All language subtitles for The Reagans s01e03 The Great Undoing.eng

[horse blustering]

[indistinct chatter]

[chatter continues]

[man] What time is it?

Depends.

[man] Okay. Bring him on.

dramatic music plays

[Ronald] Good morning.

[man] Typical California
weather.

Yes,
since this is the first day

of this kind of weather of fog
since we've been here,

I shall refrain from saying
that you're all responsible.

[laughter]

Western dramatic music plays

[Ronald]
That is the tax program.

They are signed,
and now all we have to do

is implement them.

This is the budget deal,

and this is the tax program,

but I think they represent
and mark an end to

the excessive growth
in government bureaucracy

and government spending,
government taxing.

[dog panting]

And we're getting...

No, no, the bill's passed.
You can't do anything about it.

[dog whines]

[panting]

Victory.

[woman] Will you still be able
to balance the budget in '84?

[Ronald] Well,
this has always been our goal.

Millie won't hurt you.

[laughter]

[Ronald] Lassie.

Oh, Lassie--Millie.

[laughter]

[Lear] When Ronald Reagan
was running for the presidency,

I hired Robert Scheer to travel
with him, side-by-side.

suspenseful music plays

Robert Scheer was
the toughest journalist I knew

in terms
of an investigative journalist.

Reagan was answering everything
with a kind of simplicity.

You came to a place
where his likeability

was more important
than his lack of an answer.

If you reduce
the extravagant size

and cost
to the federal government,

you're going to have the money
to do the things,

to build the defense
that we need

because you're going to have
a far more prosperous nation.

[Scheer]
He was pretty comfortable

with his understanding
of politics at that point.

He knew what he believed,
and Reagan was, uh,

a consummate salesman.

The biggest obstacle
to efficient service

to the poor and the needy
is Washington.

[Scheer] Everybody else
wants to talk about the polls.

They wanna talk about
who's winning, who's losing.

Nobody wants to talk about
whether it's good

for the country, what they do,
what the issues are,

and, uh, why do these people
like Ronald Reagan?

I mean, personally I think
he's okay, but why do they want

Ronald Reagan
to be their president?

I think it's a fascinating
thing to look into, you know?

Today, I wanna talk
about the decline

in the American standard
of living.

[Will] In 1980,
the country was depressed,

was in a bad mood,
it had had a long bad patch.

[Reporter]
Today, for the first time,

President Carter admitted
we are in a recession,

and he said it's going to cause
pain and disruption

for a lot of Americans
before it's over.

I would like Mr. Carter
to explain to me,

why the inflation is as high
as it is,

why unemployment is what it is.

[Stahl] So many people
were out of work,

we had just had gas lines.

The economy
was really suffering,

It was a very dark time.

[Alter] Reagan saw that
as an opportunity to run

as an upbeat, sunny candidate,

he was able to fuse optimism
and patriotism.

[crowd cheering]

At the period of time
that he was running,

his message, his belief system
was resonating.

No problem that we face today
can compare with a need

to restore the health
of the American economy

and the strength
of the American dollar.

[Baker] The principles
and values he embraced

were conservative
Republican principles--

lower taxes, stronger defense,
freedom of the individual,

small government.

[Norquist] To call yourself
a Reagan Republican

is to say,
"We're gonna rein in spending

and limit the size and scope
of government."

"So you wanna abolish
government?"

No, I don't wanna abolish
government.

I wanna make it so small,
you could drag it

in the bathroom
and drown it in the bathtub,

that small,
small as a bathtub, okay?

Very small.

[Ronald] And the leadership
that I envision

would be to take the lead
in getting government off

the backs of the people
of the United States

and turning you loose to do
what you can do so well.

Small government message
was always code

for more money in your pocket.

That was a strong message.

[Shearer] It seemed like
a painless economic policy--

cut government
and get out of the way,

and everybody will get
wealthy together

but it was a cover for privilege
and corporate power.

[crowd chanting]

militaristic music plays

[Cronkite] Good morning.

Ronald Reagan is just about
to become the 40th President

of these United States.

[sirens wailing]

[man] The motorcade
is beginning to roll

toward Capitol Hill, Walter.

[man] I think what struck
both of us--

the contrast and the crowd.

[man] Just four years ago,
Jimmy Carter tried to run

a populist,
a people's inauguration,

today, the emphasis was upon
a different approach.

They made no excuse
of the fact that the rich folks

were here and the--
and the wealthy Republicans.

They were having a good time.
This was their day in the--

in the sun.

You could look out
across that crowd

and see
very, very few minorities.

[trumpets playing
triumphant music]

[Lopez] For Ronald Reagan,

the point of power
was to convince Americans

to turn against government,

to build popular support
for policies

that ultimately helped
corporations and the very rich.

[band playing Hail to the Chief]

[cannon firing]

[Lopez] One way to do that
was to describe government

as a threat to all of us.

In this present crisis,
government is not the solution

to our problem.

Government is the problem.

[Shearer] That was
an incredibly influential

bit of political propaganda.

Government is the problem.

Because on the face of it,
it's absolutely not true.

It's a myth,

but it's a convenient myth
for the powerful.

[Wiley] This rhetoric
about small government

represented a concerted
strategic effort

by the wealthy to expand
their wealth and their power

and their privilege

and convince
the American public

that it was good for them.

[man] Ladies and gentlemen,

the President
of the United States

and Mrs. Reagan.

[Kelley]
They had in Ronald Reagan

the perfect vehicle
to take their gospel forward.

But he wasn't just
a Manchurian Candidate.

He believed it.

[cheers and applause]

[Alter] Reagan's presidency
marked a turning point

in American politics.

It represented a massive shift
of economic power

in the country.

A toast.

[applause]

serious music plays

[Brinkley] Have you thought
about the fact

that the last president
who tried really seriously

to change the course
of the American economy

in a substantial way
was Franklin Roosevelt in 1933?

No one has tried since then?

Well, without saying anything
about those who followed,

it is true, and isn't it
somewhat comparative today

that he came in at a kind

of watershed time
when the people said

"We cannot continue
on this path.

We have to try something"?

And he was willing, uh, to try.

[birds chirping]

calm orchestral music plays

[man]
The atmosphere has changed.

Sure, there's still a good deal
of unemployment around,

but now many who are working
have the five-day week,

and more important,

the feeling
of imminent disaster,

the fear of economic collapse
is gone.

[FDR] I pledge myself

to a New Deal
for the American people.

[crowd cheering]

[Alter] To help the country
in the Great Depression,

President Roosevelt proposed
a new social contract--

a New Deal between the people
and the government.

[Lopez] FDR understood
that the economy is outside

of the control
of any one individual,

so we need government
to actively intervene

in the marketplace
to help all of us.

[Wiley] It was investments
in things like

unemployment insurance,
Social Security,

mortgage lending backed
by the federal government,

the creation of labor unions--

those are the things
that created the middle class.

[Johnson]
Prior to The Great Depression,

most Americans were poor.

The only middle class
in America were people

who had businesses,
who owned shops.

It was literally the New Deal
that gave America

the opportunity
to build a middle class.

[Shearer]
Ronald Reagan's family

was supported
and helped by New Deal programs,

as were millions of Americans.

[man] I have the sense
that not everything

that has happened
since the New Deal is bad,

and I can't believe
that you think everything is--

you can't believe
that unemployment...

-No.
-...Insurance and...

No. But what I have to say is
that some of those things

would be done better
at the private sector.

Some could be done better
at the local sector.

But what's good
that they've done?

Come on.

[Scheer] The whole point
of that interview

is he's denying
his own family's experience,

that government intervention
certainly was essential,

and he became a hypocrite.

We spread across
this land building farms

and towns and cities
and we did it

without any federal land
planning program

or urban renewal.

[Lopez]
One of the foundational myths

of the United States
is always the frontier...

[horse blusters]

the rugged individual
who took care of himself,

and what it said was real men
don't need government.

They'll stand on their own
two feet,

and if they fail...

they'll have the virtue
to die quietly

without complaining.

But the frontier
was never that way.

The frontier
was a collective enterprise.

[motor sputters]

[buzzing]

[Cannon] What is missing
from the picture

is what the government did,

particularly the building
of the railroad,

which is what opens the West,
but also telegraph lines,

and all sorts of infrastructure
that no individuals,

no matter how brave or rugged,

could've constructed
on their own.

Both of these, look,
both of them

dead up there where--
where it counts.

[Alter] All the things
that government did

were just sort of kissed off
by Reagan.

[man] What gives this
administration its cache

are Ronald Reagan's beliefs,
which grew and matured

in America
which no longer exists

or exists only in his mind,

that hard work
and self-reliance, for instance,

will inevitably produce
personal success,

satisfaction, and wealth.

Reagan was committed
to promoting the message

that we're all on our own,

whether you succeed
or whether you fail.

[Wiley]
That was so incredibly cruel,

and it drives
Reagan's narrative of

"We pulled ourselves up
by our bootstraps.

Wow come
you don't have any boots?"

[man] United States.

[camera shutters clicking]

How do you do?

[Stahl] The first time
I actually saw him in person

was right in front
of the press corps

and we all kind of melted.

We were all little puddles
on the floor.

He also had
more wrinkles up close

than the camera picked up.

The camera loved this man.

And a little bit
of frailty to him.

He wasn't as hardy
and healthy

as he seemed on television,

but when he went on television,
he was the actor,

and he was playing
a vigorous president.

[indistinct chatter]

dramatic music plays

[Parvin] Mrs. Reagan
was not as comfortable

as President Reagan,

and she didn't convey
the same personality

that he did.

So she had some things
in that regard

that she needed to overcome.

I wait,
and I think I have to wait.

[Stahl] I once took a trip
with the President

and on the plane coming home,
Nancy Reagan--

she was telling jokes
and being a little sarcastic.

And she was hilarious.
Hilarious.

So I said, "I have to have
an interview with her,

and the public has to see this."

And they gave me an interview,
eventually.

And no, what she gave me
was the public presentation.

She seemed stiff.

She seemed as if she didn't
have a real personality.

She was an actor, too,
but not--

she couldn't reach down
the way the President could.

[man] That's great.

[man] Just looking right
at me like that.

Oh, sure.

[camera shutter clicks]

serious music playing

[man] I'm gonna stick
with just a drink.

-Bran and flakes?
-Not all bran.

Bran and flakes,
if you got it on the bananas.

Suspenseful music plays

[Baker] Priority one
for the Reagan administration

after the inauguration in 1981

was the economic situation,

and we decided we were gonna be
very tough about that.

-Morning.
-Good morning.

Good morning, all.

Everyone looks
very bright and happy.

Okay.

The agenda is mainly concerned
with the economic program,

though try not to smile
too much.

[laughter]

I have to say that I am not one
to shrink from a tough task,

but I must also say
that the goals that you gave us

are extraordinarily difficult
to reconcile,

but I'm pleased to report today
that we're almost there.

When President Reagan
was elected,

his centerpiece economic promise
was a large tax cut.

[Lopez]
Reagan had a story to tell.

He said, "We have to cut taxes
for the very rich

and wealthy corporations.

Trust me, that money
is gonna trickle down

to all the rest of you,"

the idea being
that the very rich

from all that they would save
would invest more,

would spend more,

and then everybody
would be better off.

This was an idea that had been
debunked for decades.

He's promising
to cut taxes by 30%

and balance the budget
and increase defense spending

and stop inflation
all at the same time.

[Shearer] When George Bush
ran for president in 1980,

he referred to Reaganomics
as black magic.

What I call
a voodoo economic policy--

But of course,
he couldn't say that

once he became Vice President.

[woman] The President has been
lobbying Congress by telephone.

-Hello?
-But with each day,

his opponents are gaining time
to effect the outcome.

I don't see a compromise
out there.

But are we still working
for a compromise? Yes.

[woman] Mr. President!

President Reagan!

-Mr. Reagan!
[gunshot]

ominous music playing

[man] Lyn Nofziger told
reporters at the hospital

the president was not wounded.

He was wounded. Oh, God!

-He was--the President was hit?
-[man] He's stable.

He is in stable condition,
all this information...

[man] How do you feel?
How do you feel?

Great.

[man] Reagan
was unquestionably helped

in his drive
for his fundamental

domestic policy of tax cuts
by the fact that he got shot.

[man] It was in the early months
of his first term.

[Khachigian] Just about a month
after his assassination attempt,

he gave his speech

before the joint session
of the Congress.

The intention
was in this speech

was to take advantage
of the situation

and write the speech
in such a way as to,

sort of, manipulate the Congress
to get them

to do our bidding.

-I have a letter with me.
[papers rustle]

Letter came from Peter Sweeney.
He's in the second grade,

and he said,
"I hope you'll get well quick,

or you might have to make
a speech in your pajamas."

[laughter]

[applause]

[Ron Jr.] How do you thwart
somebody who has just reacted

so courageously to being shot
and nearly killed,

you know, become this, sort of
figure in the public's eye?

You know, if he wants a tax cut,
we'll do the tax cut, okay.

White House officials
can see their growing worry

that the President's
economic package

is being perceived
as too rough on the poor.

[Shearer]
The 1981 Reagan tax cut

was the most significant
redistribution of income

since the 1930s
in the Depression.

[Johnson] Almost immediately
after the tax cuts,

the government
was running out of money,

and even
his own economic advisors

understood that
that tax cut had gone too far.

[man] Federal Reserve Chairman
Volcker warned

the Reagan administration
and Congress that efforts

to revive the economy
would falter

unless the budget deficit
is reduced.

[Stahl] People around him--

they said you have to start
raising taxes again,

but because he had set
this goal,

he really balked at it.

Eventually, he did.
He raised taxes many times.

But if you tell a Republican
that he raised taxes today,

'cause this has happened to me,
they'll say, "You're a liar."

He somehow made us forget that.

It was proof
that he was a great actor,

that he could make us
forget that.

[applause]

[band playing Hail to the Chief]

[Stahl] There was a great deal

of opulence
around the Reagans.

In terms of their values,
they seemed

to be quite different
from the average Americans.

They'd come from not just
Hollywood but Beverly Hills.

There was a display of wealth.

It wasn't just
that they had money.

They had to display it.

And Nancy Reagan
projected that.

[cheers and applause]
-Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks.

[Kelley]
She came to the White House,

and it was like
Sacramento again.

"This is a dump.

I can't live here.

The dishes are terrible.

[ laughs ] Everything is awful."

dramatic music plays

[Tumulty] She sets about
to redecorate the White House--

something that Jackie Kennedy
had done in the Camelot era

and had been acclaimed for,
but this isn't Camelot.

Mrs. Kennedy
went after historical aspects

and made the White House
a museum.

[man]
Can you make these changes,

uh, according to your own
personal tastes and desires?

Well, no, I, uh,
have a committee,

which has museum experts

and government people
and private citizens on it.

And then everything we do
is subject to approval

by the Fine Arts Committee.

[Kelley] With Nancy,
most of the money went

into the second and third floors
in the White House,

which are not public rooms.

This was interpreted
as making the White House

better for herself.

[woman] The country is headed
into the worst recession

since The Great Depression,

and as
the Reagan administration

is cutting social programs,

as people are really struggling
in their own lives,

they see the First Lady
redecorating,

renovating the White House.

It was really tone-deaf.

Some people say
if the poor family

on food stamps
has to tighten its belt,

wouldn't it be a good example
for the Reagans

to tighten their belt?

We've tightened our belts
in many ways.

How?

Well, we're not making
any money here. [laughs]

[jet engine whirring]

[man] 5 Golf, Yankee,
standby 120.

Course runway 22 out
at Foxtrot,

right in ground point on.

[Wiley] Reagan understood

that part
of supporting corporate power

was going
after the labor movement.

[chanting] The workers united
will never be defeated.

[man] Air traffic controllers
defied court orders

grounding half the nation's
commercial airline flights.

[Wiley] If it weren't
for the union movement,

we wouldn't have
the 40-hour work week.

We wouldn't have benefits
on the job like healthcare.

[Alter] When he was running
for President,

Reagan could make it seem
like he shared

the interest
and especially the values

of union members
and blue collar workers.

And so he was able to say,
"I'm one of you."

I happen to be
the only president

of a union
ever to be a candidate

for President
of the United States.

[cheers and applause]

[Lopez] Reagan turns
against the idea of unions

as he shifts his alliance
to corporations,

to capital, to big employers,
to big money.

The union representing
those who man America's

air traffic control facilities
called a strike.

They are in violation
of the law,

and if they do not report
for work within 48 hours,

they have forfeited their jobs
and will be terminated.

End of statement.

[Baker] He fired 'em.
It's what they deserved,

and it was a wonderful thing
that he did

politically and substantively.

After that, he looked powerful.

[Stahl] In terms of his image,
he looked very strong,

but it was unbelievable
because they were--

they were the people
who kept the planes in the air.

And it just devastated
the union movement.

That is when the union started
to go into decline.

[Shearer] It was a clear signal
that Reagan

was not gonna support
any pro-labor legislation.

He was gonna change
the equation.

He was gonna support
the rise of corporate power.

[Stahl] Once the workers
lost power,

they lost power to hold on

to real economic gains
for themselves.

I can't believe the government
is doing this to us,

I don't think we're getting
a fair deal out of it,

but, uh, we're gonna stick
with it till the end.

If they won't make
his working conditions better,

maybe it's for the best.

dramatic music plays

[camera shutters clicking]

[indistinct chatter]

[Ronald] Hi.

Everybody on and ready here?

Yeah? Hmm...

Well, we've been a long time.

We've been decades coming
to the point where we are.

And you're not going
to cure this overnight.

And of course,
the budget cuts in government,

uh, are going to be felt
as they begin

to take place
in the 1982 budget year

that begins October 1st.

[Stahl] When the budget
was seen by everybody,

people realized,
he was cutting social programs.

He was cutting programs
for poor people.

We were in recession,
and it seemed out of sync

with what was going on
in the country.

It was shocking.

[Bill] The President
and Congress have chosen

not to offend the rich,
the powerful,

and the organized.

It is easier
to take on the weak.

Social programs were cut
almost $30 billion this year.

The burden falls most heavily
on the poor,

and some of the truly needy
are truly hurting.

These programs
are a life support system.

For many,
we are pulling the plug.

[woman] I'd like to, um,
apply for food stamps.

[man] President Reagan
cut Medicaid,

cut aid to families
with dependent children,

student lunches,
the food stamp program,

and other New Deal programs

that the most vulnerable
were benefitting from.

[Wiley] He cut things like
the ability for a single mom

to amass savings
over a thousand dollars.

So you actually saw women
spending savings

because they had no choice

but to try to preserve
their welfare checks.

It had the exact opposite effect
that it was supposed to have.

And it was deeply cruel to them

because it kept them
on welfare.

[woman] And this is supposed
to be the land of opportunity.

It's not anymore. It's not
the land of opportunity.

It's the land for the rich,
and the poor can go to hell.

I keep remembering
what Milton Friedman once said,

"If you start paying
people to be poor,

there is going to be
a lot of poor people."

[Lopez] It's a story
that says to folks,

"You should hate government

because it's government
that is theoretically

reaching into your pockets

to take
your hard-earned dollars,

and giving it away

to these underserving people
of color.

So all of those social programs,
defund them,

because government's on the side
of these underserving people.

[woman]
Showing his sense of humor,

the president brought a knife

to this important
budget cutting session.

[Wiley] I'll never forget,

he did
this masterful performance.

He opens up the newspaper,
and he starts reading want ads.

I made it a point to count
the pages of help wanted ads.

In this time
of great unemployment,

there were 24 full pages
of classified ads of employers

looking for employees.

And it was a great manipulation
that told the American public,

if they are not working,
they just don't wanna work.

[applause]

At the same time,
Reagan is choking

and gutting programs

that were trying
to expand opportunity.

The Reagan administration
this afternoon

unveiled its controversial
new china policy,

4,372 pieces of new china

arrived in time
for tonight's formal dinner

for President Mubarak.

[Mubarak] Let me first
congratulate Mrs. Reagan

for the new china,

which is very elegant
and very beautiful.

[Tumulty]
Nancy Reagan decides to buy

a $1,000 a place setting china.

This is announced
on the very same day

that the Reagan administration

announces that for the purposes
of the School Lunch Program,

they are going to classify
ketchup as a vegetable.

Somebody got overambitious
in the bureaucracy

with their ketchup
for a vegetable,

and we had to pull back
on some regulations

that were suggested.

The timing couldn't
have been worse.

[reporter] $1 billion dollars
may be cut nationwide

from School Lunch Programs
in 1982.

I accepted the donation
because the White House

needed china very, very badly.

[Tumulty] The china purchase
becomes a real metaphor

for a lot of things
that bother people

about the Reagan administration
and its policies.

[reporter] There are more
and more homeless people

in America--perhaps two million
and growing.

[Wiley] Advocates had called
for better forms

of housing and services,

and support for people
who are poorest

among us in this country,

including and especially
for people who are mentally ill.

[Scheer] Reagan disparaged
mental health facilities.

He thought, you know, well,
these people will find work,

or they'll take pills.

He was against helping them.

[Alter] The homeless crisis
we see today

accelerated on Reagan's watch.

The people who are sleeping
on the grates,

the homeless who are homeless,
you might say, by choice.

[Johnson] Reagan would tell
the American public

that many of the ways
that people in America

were suffering was because
they chose to suffer

and the problem
was a moral failure,

not a structural one.

[Wiley]
Reagan was deeply invested

in being the good guy.

That was an image
he actively cultivated.

So he wanted to disconnect

the very real human pain

that was now visible on streets
with the policies

that were central
to his presidency.

We believe that there was
a mandate last fall.

And that mandate was
for cutting spending,

not raising taxes.

I think you've been brilliant,

but I also think
you've been cruel,

and I think
you've been inhumane,

and I think you are causing
a perversion of justice

for the poor
and middle class Americans.

[Stahl] It kind of hit
the country with a jolt,

and he would make these cuts,

and they seemed callous,

and yet there he was,
sunny, smiling.

And so
it just didn't compute that

that man could make these cuts.

[sirens wailing]

[woman] This was one
presidential trip

that had not been announced.

The Reagans had
a dinner engagement

with the President's second
grade pen pal, Rudy Hines.

[Ron Jr.] My father had
a hard time feeling empathy

for groups of people.

You could think
about welfare recipients,

for instance, as just
this sort of amorphous mass

of lazy people
who don't wanna work.

And therefore, he could be,
you know, tough on them.

But when it came
to an individual,

he was actually
rather big-hearted.

[Alter] He was personally
compassionate,

but he didn't understand

that personal compassion
isn't meaningful

without public compassion
if you're president.

[Stahl] I had the impression
he was not educating himself

on what was really happening
to people around the country.

Among those filing claims
recently was this man.

[Ron Jr.] Laid off until
October 25th.

As far as I know, everybody's
collecting unemployment.

I am, too.

I used to get into arguments
sometimes with my father,

and you would think, well,

I'm gonna now introduce him
to a new set of facts.

He would listen,
somewhat reluctantly,

to what I would think are,
you know,

incontrovertible facts.

And then,
you would get to that point

where he would
throw up his hands and say,

"Well, all I know is..."

and he'd sort of push away
like this with his hands,

which was really,
keep that reality away from me.

I do not want that near me now.

It's--It's upsetting
my whole picture of America,

myself, whatever it might be.

And you'd say,
"Well, that's the point.

All you know is this,

but this turns out
to be incomplete, at best.

So what about
all this other stuff?"

"Well, all I know is..."

[man] Mrs. Reagan,
are you looking forward

to the wedding?
-Yes, I certainly am.

[narrator]
The wedding guests assembled,

not just the famous

like Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher

and Mrs. Nancy Reagan,
wife of the American President,

but personal
and family friends as well.

[Stahl] We were going
through those difficult times,

and there was Nancy
showing off diamonds.

She was wearing clothes
that designers were lending

and then ended up giving her.

[Kelley] We're talking
millions of dollars as gifts.

Nancy got to wear the clothes
and look good,

and they got exposure
and publicity.

It was
a wonderful relationship,

except for one little thing.
It was against the law.

She never reported these things
as a gift.

[man] Mrs. Reagan's
Press Secretary today admitted

the First Lady does borrow
designer fashions

without reporting them.

[Tumulty]
Taking free designer clothes

is something that doesn't
raise eyebrows in Hollywood.

She discovers this can get you

in a lot of trouble
in Washington.

laughter]

[man] Within months,
she had grown sensitive

about even mentioning
her clothes.

Are we still on?

[Tumulty] The White House
Counsel would send somebody,

at least once a year,
to the family quarters,

just to be on the lookout
for gifts

that they don't know about.

The White House
quietly announces

that she will no longer be
taking these free clothes.

Ultimately, it is revealed that
that's a promise she broke.

dramatic music plays

[Kelley] Nancy Reagan
had a sense of entitlement,

and she was criticized
as this imperious queen.

[Nancy] There is now a picture
postcard of me as a queen.

Now, that's silly
because I'd never wear a crown.

It messes up your hair.

[laughter]

[Tumulty]
At the end of that first year,

she finds herself
the most unpopular

First Lady in the polls
in modern history.

I guess what you
really want for Christmas

is for the press
to take a fresh look at you.

That would be nice.
[chuckles]

[indistinct conversations]

[applause]

[Ronald] And I'm delighted
to be here with Heritage.

I remember the days when
a conservative intellectual

was considered
a contradiction in terms.

[laughter]

[Alter] The Kitchen Cabinet
and the other business leaders

who loved Reagan--

they didn't love him
because they liked his movies.

They loved him
because he was the front man

for their ideas.

[Lopez] Government is
a threat to the very wealthy.

It taxes them.
It regulates them.

It creates alternative sources
of power.

So they're trying
to support politicians

who promote a set
of economic policies

that actually
hands government over

to the control of corporations.

I'd like to get rid
of several thousand

of what I think
are unnecessary regulations

that have caused your problems.
[applause]

[Scheer] What he was told
at every business meeting

he'd ever gone to
when he was with GE

or anywhere else,

is the government--they require
all these regulations.

It costs us so much money,
and we can't do our work.

We'd hear this all the time,
and he would soak it up.

You know,
aren't you really talking

about coddling big business?

No. Not coddling at all.

As a matter of fact,
our government has

a hostile adversary relationship
with business.

[Alter]
Reagan ended up appointing

a lot of third-rate people

to important positions
who often didn't believe

in the mission
of their department.

[man]
Interior Secretary James Watt

has already tried
to clear the way

for more mining and development
of federal land,

has proposed cutbacks
in national parks,

and is ordered a speed up
in the controversial program

to encourage offshore oil
and gas drilling.

[Alter] It wasn't just foxes
guarding the chicken coop.

It was that they would dismantle
the chicken coop.

[man] Here are just a few

of the regulations
under review--

rules on contents of pesticide,

rules on handling
chemical waste.

[man] A rule to install airbags
was killed by President Reagan.

A rule that would have
required special elevators

and subway stations
to help handicap people

get on and off trains
was rescinded.

[Johnson]
Deregulation at its core

is about allowing
the rich and powerful

to expand their power.

It also means
that there is no one monitoring

the behavior
of these economic actors.

We're going to turn
the bull loose.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd chanting indistinctly]

[bell dinging]

[cheers and applause]

[Nancy] Did all of you
start first on pot?

[man] How many started on pot?
Hands up.

[Nancy]
I'm very much interested in,

and concerned about,

the whole drug problem
in the country now.

[Tumulty] There was always
this belief with Nancy Reagan

that things
could always be rewritten,

could be spun.

[crowd chanting]

[man]
Those close to the First Lady

hope she can leave
unfavorable press accounts

of her high style
of life behind,

as she continues
to become involved.

[man] Do you think
you're more self-confident?

Yes, because I think maybe
more people like me.

[chuckles]

If someone offers you drugs,
what will you do?

[crowd] Just say no!

She believed that you could
knock your drug problem.

"Just say no."

Just chew your food 43 times,

and you'll never weigh
more than 90 pounds.

The discipline,
the control of this woman.

[Wiley] Just like Ronald Reagan
wrapping himself

in the fatherly mantle,

she was wrapping herself
in the mother-y gauze

of loving advice.

Let's practice saying,
"Just say no."

[Wiley]
Just stay off those drugs.

We will ignore all the things
that are creating a problem

and make it clear

that if you are still doing it,
it's 'cause you chose to.

If you're a casual drug user,
you're an accomplice to murder.

[Johnson] When she said,
"Say no to drugs,"

you know who
she was not pictured with?

The yuppies
who are doing lines of coke

off the back of prostitutes
throughout the 1980s.

And yet, crack cocaine,

which was
"poor people's cocaine"

and other forms of drugs,
were considered to be the enemy.

Those various centers
that you've gone to,

it's been pointed out.

Your husband
is asking that funds be cut

from those very centers.

You know,
we've gotten into a terrible--

I think into a terrible,
um, habit.

Somebody will say,
"We have a problem,"

whatever it may be,
and the immediate response is,

"Well, can't the government do
something about that?"

Instead of,

"Can't I do something
about that?"

[Johnson]
The Reagan administration

decided that the only way
that you could deal

with drug addicts
was not to address unemployment,

not to address violence,

lack of opportunity,
or better healthcare.

It was simply throwing people
in jail.

The report out tonight
shows the United States

has a larger percentage
of its citizens

in prison
than any other country.

And the Americans
most likely to be in prison?

They're Black.

The war on drugs
was really a war

on Black and brown people
in this country.

We were taking
precious dollars,

and instead of creating
communities of hope,

we created communities
of criminalization.

[man] Most experts
believe we're worse off now

than when Reagan took office,

this despite $21 1/2 billion

and despite Mrs. Reagan's
highly publicized

but sadly ineffective
anti-drug campaign.

When it comes to drugs
and alcohol,

just say no.

God bless you and good night.

Reagan was cutting programs
on the social side

and increasing
the budget enormously

on the Pentagon side
of things on defense.

[marching band playing]

[Alter] Reagan had
campaigned on building

a stronger military.

So the ideology
kind of crowded out

a clear-eyed analysis
of what was actually needed

to protect the country.

[Ronald] We must immediately
start a rebuilding

of our defensive capability

to the point that no nation
on this Earth

would dare lift a hand
against us.

[cheers and applause]

[Adelman] Reagan's view was

we need to spend on defense
to protect America.

The Soviets
wanna match us on that,

that will spend them
into oblivion.

And that wasn't what
the CIA was saying.

What the CIA was saying was,
since the end of the '70s,

Soviet spending
was pretty steady line

regardless
of the United States budget.

But Reagan's view
was different from that.

I don't know if he knew
what the CIA estimates were.

He probably didn't.

[Johnson]
Our greatest military adversary

was basically broke.

The Soviet Union
was collapsing upon itself

because of
grotesque incompetence

and mismanagement
of their economy.

So our spending
was just expanding

the military
industrial complex.

[man] Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger

has been rebuilding
America's military,

with a philosophy
of peace through strength,

strength through money.

[Shearer]
Peace through strength--

it was a convenient
and brilliant cover,

use government spending
for the military,

then you could starve
the rest of the government.

-Hi, Bobby. How are you?
-A pleasure.

What's someone gonna do
with landing gear

in the backyard?
-I had a friend

who sold $100 million
or roughly close to it.

[Alter] Defense contractors
and the Defense Department

all reinforced each other
to spend taxpayer money.

All of Reagan's fiscal prudence

and efficiency
went out the window.

[man] The senior official
recently said

that military contractors
could cut up

to 50% from their cost.

But this is not a system likely
to enforce such discipline.

[Wiley] Reagan kept talking
about limited government,

but then,
essentially created government

of military might and power,

not a government
of investing in people.

Let friend and foe alike
know that America has the muscle

to back up its words,

and ships like this
and men like you

are that muscle.

[loud cheers and applause]

[indistinct chatter]

Now, I imagine you have a few
things on your mind

that you would like
to talk about, Gary.

Mr. President,
the polls continue to show

that between 60
and 70% of the people

still consider you
to be a rich man's president

with no idea of what the people
who aren't wealthy

are going through out there.

How does that make you feel?

dramatic music plays

I just--my feeling,

and it's very deep
within me, is this.

No, the rich don't need my help.

And I'm not doing things
to help the rich.

I'm doing things
that I think are fair

to all the people.

[Ron Jr.] It was one of those
things where facts and evidence

didn't seem to carry the day.

He liked the idea
that if you let people,

meaning rich people,
hang on to more of their money,

that somehow this will benefit
all of society, you know?

[scoffs] No, it doesn't.
[laughs] We know that.

But, you know,
you'd run into that,

"All I know is..."

[Ronald] What I want
to see above all is,

that this country
remains a country

where someone
can always get rich.

That's the thing that we have
and that must be preserved.

Now, I don't know

how much, uh, more I can do,
um, on this subject.

I thought I had another line
there for a minute

that I was gonna, uh,
gonna use,

but maybe it's just as well
that I don't use it.

[Alter]
The beginning of the end

for the American middle class
was in the 1980s.

The economic idea that
Ronald Reagan believed in

turned out to not be true.

No argument available
on the other side

because enough time has passed

that history has rendered
a verdict.

How come no one calls it
Reaganomics anymore?

[laughter and applause]

I never did call it that.

That was their name when they
thought it wouldn't work.

I just called it common sense.

[Stahl] Even from
within the White House,

people like
the budget director, Stockman,

began to say,
"This idea is faulty."

[man] David Stockman
found that the complexities

of tax policy worked
simply beyond the president.

So he ignored the facts
and wandered in circles.

[Cannon] Stockman said,
"Ronald Reagan doesn't know

what he's doing."

It was an eye-opener
into the cynicism

of the budget policies
of the Reagan administration.

There is plenty of blame
to go around,

starting with me.

And there are plenty
of serious problems

lurking in the future

that simply aren't being
addressed in the present time.

[Johnson]
The economy did improve,

but it improved for people
who already had money.

That did nothing to lift anyone
out of poverty.

And that is the part of
the Reagan revolution

economically that people
conveniently ignore

in order to maintain the myth
of the Reagan presidency.

[Lopez] We have high levels
of equal wealth distribution

running through the 1970s.

And then, under Ronald Reagan,
you see the curve of wealth

inequality
begin to go skyward,

as the one percent
and the one-tenth percent

begin to take more and more

and more
of the country's wealth.

[Brown] At a time
when we need national unity,

more than ever before,
we are experiencing

a growing division

because of this transfer
of wealth

from the working poor
to the working rich

and the non-working rich.

[Lopez] Ronald Reagan
initiates the process

by which government
will take wealth

from working families,
from the middle class,

and siphon it upwards.

He does so through tax policy,
by cutting government programs

that helped the middle class
by busting unions.

And now, we have
the highest levels

of wealth inequality
we've seen in a century.

[applause]

dramatic music plays

[man] And action.

The kind of future
our young people will have

is something you never forget
when you live here.

[Khachigian]
In the re-election campaign,

I was writing commercials
more than speeches.

The message in 1984
was encapsulated

in that theme, "It's Morning
Again in America."

[engine revving, birds chirping]

The idea of being
the economy had come back,

the national defense
had come back.

[bicycle bell rings]
-[man] Good morning, Jim.

[Khachigian] And the spirit
of America had returned.

[man] Under the leadership
of President Reagan,

our country is prouder
and stronger and better.

[Will] Ronald Reagan
understood that

the things happen
when people are confident.

[Baker] He was always
extoling the virtues

of this shining city
on the hill,

the virtues of this
wonderful country we live in.

[Johnson] That
"Morning in America" campaign

is a pop culture fantasy
of a strong nation

that had recovered
after years of turmoil.

It is a nation
that got its swag back

led by an old-fashioned cowboy
and his dutiful wife.

[Shearer]
One of Reagan's geniuses

was to convince people to vote
against their own self-interest,

the notion that if you
supported Reaganomics,

you would have a better life
when it wasn't true,

but he convinced people
to do it.

[Johnson]
Reagan realized something

a lot of politicians
were always afraid to admit.

A lot of Americans
are just selfish,

and the best way
to destroy a program

is not just to tell people
that it's inefficient.

It's to tell them that they have
to share it with somebody,

especially if that means

Black and brown people
in America.

[Wiley] Reagan knew
exactly how to package

the myth of the American dream
that was painted white

and where everyone
could advance.

The wonderful part
about our country

is that you can work hard
and better yourself...

which is what Ronnie did.

[Wiley] The Reagans erased

their own experience
of the world,

their own relationships,

the power and the privilege
that they had been given.

Ultimately, Reagan was about
serving his own ideology

and not about paying attention

to the needs
of the American people.

[indistinct chatter]

[Ronald] The best view
of big government

is in a rearview mirror
as we leave it behind.

[Lopez] Today,
there is this belief

that, of course,
the United States

is committed to a vision

in which government does
as little as possible.

It's all part of the mythology
of Reagan.

[crowd] Four more years!

[Shearer] I think that's one
of the worst things,

was this cynicism
about government,

because America
was supposed to be found

on the idea
of a democratic government.

And if you get cynical
about government,

then you're gonna get cynical
about democracy.

[crowd chanting]
USA! USA! USA! USA!

[Lear] Everything Reagan was,

so affable, so likeable,
so neighborly,

was antithetical
to the polarity

he'd pushed through,
which amounted

to greed is good...

[ laughs ] or greed is great,

or screw everybody
but the one percent.

[woman]
Clad in blue jeans, tennis shoes

and a raid jacket
with her name on it,

Nancy Reagan first watched
undercover police

make street buys
from inside a motor home

and followed as they busted
14 occupants of this home.

[Nancy] What a waste.
What a wasted life.

[man] Would you describe
what you saw inside?

[Nancy] I saw a lot
of people on the floor,

and, uh, floors
that were unfurnished,

small little house.

You wish that--

you wish that somehow
you could have--

somebody could have gotten
a hold of them sooner.

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