Revolutionary '80s

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Less than a year after Ronald Reagan's death, new books about the 40th president are pouring forth from publishers, examining Mr. Reagan's effect on history and culture.A consensus seems to be emerging among historians and biographers that Mr. Reagan's "inherent optimism," more than anything else, changed America in the 1980s.Mr. Reagan "invented the 1980s by singing an American song and resurrecting a faith in the American ideal," says Gil Troy, history professor at McGill University in Montreal. "He had a big-picture presidency, and by being so committed to the narrative of America, it created a cultural template and political framework."

Mr. Troy, author of "Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s," says the 1970s were not a happy decade for the nation. By the time the 1980 election rolled around, people were looking for hope -- and found it in Mr. Reagan's sunny outlook, which encouraged Americans to have faith in their country and their society.

John Ehrman, author of "The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan," disagrees about the Gipper's influence.

"The '80s would've happened had there been a Reagan or not," said Mr. Ehrman, a historian at George Washington University. "A lot that happened during the '80s started well before [the decade]. I make a big deal out of deregulation, and that started under [President] Ford and got going under [President] Carter. Reagan just knew not to mess with it -- he knew a good thing when he saw it. On the other hand, he did absolutely nothing to try to stop it or to criticize it. [He] was content to let it go."

Although he agreed that Mr. Reagan's optimism was influential, Mr. Ehrman says historians are divided over whether that influence was good.

"Some people put a negative spin and say ... it was empty cheerleading. Other people, who are pro-Reagan, say ... that he was reminding people what a great country this is," he says.

One reason for Mr. Reagan's success in the 1980s, Mr. Erhman says, was that the preceding decade was so disastrous.

"The '70s were a pretty gloomy time, but you get this guy who comes along and says that not only are things going to be OK, but that they will get better. He did what he said he was going to do. His was not empty optimism. It was optimism with a vision," Mr. Ehrman says.

"The '80s as invented by Reagan were a pretty nice contrast of the '70s as defined by [Presidents] Nixon and Carter," says Craig Shirley, author of "Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All."

"Outside of good music and gratuitous sex there wasn't much good about the '70s," Mr. Shirley says. "Vietnam, communism, stagflation, gas lines -- this is the mess that Reagan inherited. He cleaned it up and made Americans feel good about themselves in the best sense."

Mr. Reagan's ability to make people look to the future was created by his faith in himself and his mission, Mr. Shirley says.

"He was a man of great, deep faith. He really believed that he was God's instrument to do what he could do to help his fellow Americans and the people of the world," he says. "He thought and wrote and spoke at a higher plane than his contemporary politicians of the '60s, '70s and '80s, and ... people could tell. He addressed issues that other politicians only thought about. He never viewed himself as a politician, anyway; for him, the prize wasn't the White House; it was the opportunity to do great things and be great."

Much of the Reagan influence was found in his ability to remind America of its greatness, Mr. Ehrman says.

"He reminds people that the basics still hold, that the American economy is capable of delivering prosperity and all the doom and gloom of '70s is nonsense. He was influential in reminding people that democracy is the way of the future," he says.

Both Mr. Ehrman and Mr. Shirley's views of Mr. Reagan's influence on American culture are tempered by their belief that much of what happened in the '80s -- everything from consumerism to rock music trends -- would have happened whoever had been president.

But Mr. Troy's premise is different. He argues that because Mr. Reagan told Americans that the future was looking up, society created the consumer boom that characterized the 1980s.

"Every president is optimistic," Mr. Troy says, "and he had that God-given personality trait. But it wasn't just about that; it was about how it was contextualized and how he was able to use that as a leadership model. There were some presidents who defined the culture. Reagan played out in the culture as well."