Ronald Reagan was a New Deal Democrat, a Hollywood union president, and a GE corporate spokesman before he became the most consequential conservative president of the twentieth century. His evolution from FDR supporter to anti-government crusader tracks the entire transformation of American conservatism, and the political coalition he built in 1980 dominated American politics for forty years.

This episode traces Reagan from his small-town Illinois childhood through the acting career, the GE years that radicalized him, the California governorship, and the presidency that ended the Cold War and launched the era of tax cuts, deregulation, and culture war.

• Reagan's New Deal Democratic origins and the GE corporate tours that turned him into a conservative
• The California governorship and the 1976 challenge to Ford that previewe ...