Word: reaganism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...people at the time of his election. I think in the case of Theodore Roosevelt, the new young president (he was the youngest we've ever had, by the way) embodied the intoxicating feeling at the turn of the century that America had at last become a world power. Reagan, at the moment of his accession, embodied a general national desire to put aside all the self-doubt and gloom of the 1970s and recover the optimism and patriotism of the 1950s. So to put it very simply, our presidents should represent the best of us. And when they represent...
...Well, it's interesting because I was a child running around with my mother working at the White House for Reagan when I was little, so I have a very a childlike, but very strong, idea of his physical presence as what a President should...
...Physical presence--yes, exactly. There is a very important phenomenon called the Physicality of Power...The physical--the body--should not be underestimated...when you're trying to explain the mesmerism of something that's past. And it's not necessarily a question of physical beauty either, although Reagan certainly was beautiful...
...Thought that he was gorgeous? He was. Theodore Roosevelt, on the other hand, was not gorgeous, he was very ugly. But somehow his physical apparatus was overwhelmingly tactile. When Theodore Roosevelt walked into a room and when Reagan walked into a room, you could see people luxuriating in their physical aura. A lot of Hitler's power had to do with his strange beak, the fat curved back, awkward gestures and that hyptonisingly strange face. Never underestimate the power of the body in politics...
...What was your relationship with Reagan like before and after the book...