Ronald Reagan lived in the public eye for more than 50 years as an actor and politician. He appeared in 53 Hollywood movies, from Love Is in the Air (1937) to The Killers (1964). Never highly touted as an actor, his most acclaimed movie was Kings Row (1942), while his favorite role was as George Gipp in Knute Rockne—All American (1940). He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and again in 1959, where he led the fight against communist infiltration in the film industry and brokered residual rights for actors.

Reagan made his debut on television on December 7, 1950, as a detective on the CBS Airflyte Theater adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel. After a dozen appearances over the next four years on various shows, Reagan’s big television break came when Taft Schreiber of MCA acquainted him with General Electric Theater. Reagan hosted this popular Sunday evening show from 1954 to 1962, starring in 34 episodes himself. Reagan was one of the first movie stars to see the potential of television, and, as host, he introduced such Hollywood notables as Joan Crawford, Alan Ladd, and Fred Astaire in their television debuts. He also became a goodwill ambassador for General Electric (GE), plugging GE products, meeting GE executives, and speaking to GE employees all over the United States. These activities proved fine training for his future political career as he honed his speaking skills, fashioned his viewpoints, and gained exposure to middle America.

In 1965, Reagan began a two-season stint as host of Death Valley Days, which he had to relinquish when he announced his candidacy for governor of California, in January 1966. During his terms as governor (1966–74), Reagan made frequent televised appearances on Report to the People.

The hinge between Reagan’s acting and political careers swung on a nationally televised speech, “A Time for Choosing,” on October 27, 1964. This speech for Barry Goldwater, which David Broder hailed as “the most successful political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with his ‘Cross of Gold’ speech,” brought in over $1 million for the Republican candidate and marked the beginning of Reagan’s reign as the leading conservative for the next 25 years.

By 1980, the year Reagan was elected president for the first of his two terms, more people received their political information from television than from any other source. Reagan’s experience as an actor in film and on television gave him an enormous advantage as politics moved fully into its television era. His mastery of the television medium earned for him the title “the great communicator.” He perfected the art of “going public,” appealing to the American public on television to put pressure on Congress to support his policies. The rhetoric of this “prime-time president” suited television perfectly. Whether delivering a State of the Union address, eulogizing the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, or speaking directly to the nation about his strategic defense initiative, he captured the audience’s attention by appealing to shared values, creating a vision of a better future, telling stories of heroes, evoking memories of a mythic past, exuding a spirit of can-do optimism, and converting complex issues into simple language that people could understand and enjoy.

Reagan understood that television is more like the oral tradition committed to narrative communication than like the literate tradition committed to linear, factual communication. As Robert E. Denton puts it, in video politics “how something is said is more important than what is said.” Reagan surmounted his numerous gaffes and factual inaccuracies until the Iran-Contra affair, when it became apparent that his style could not extricate him from the suspicion that he knew more than he was telling the American public.

Reagan’s administration also greatly expanded the Office of Communication to coordinate White House public relations, stage important announcements, control press conferences, and create visual productions such as That’s America, shown at the 1984 Republican convention. Image management and manipulation increased in importance because of television. Reagan’s aides perfected a new political art form, the visual press release, whereby Reagan could take credit for new housing starts while visiting a construction site in Fort Worth, Texas, or announce a new welfare initiative during a visit to a nursing home.

Ronald Reagan was an average television actor but a peerless television politician. Both Reagan and his staff set the standard by which future administrations will be judged. As Robert Schmuhl argues in Statecraft and Stagecraft, Reagan represented not only the rhetorical presidency, but the theatrical presidency as well.