Why was Ronald Reagan a Better Actor as President Than He was as Movie Star?

It may be the ultimate political irony in American history that much of Ronald Reagan's success as a President was acting as if everything was going along just fine, and that the only thing in the world Americans had to fear was communist aggression. It wasn't true, of course; in fact, many Americans had to fear more from Reagan's economic policies than anything the Soviet Union ever did. The irony, of course, is that as an actual Hollywood movie star, Ronald Reagan never was considered a particularly great talent.

Looking back on the Reagan Presidency one senses how everything was orchestrated for effect, as though Reagan were playing the part of a President rather than actually being the leader of the free world. Today, of course, none of that ceremonial and symbolic and, ultimately, shallow window dressing seems new; every President since Reagan has become a little more George Clooney and a little less George Washington. Americans today are for the most part savvy enough to realize that every word that comes out of Pres. Bush's mouth and every image around which those words are framed has been cleverly calculated for effect rather than substance. But when Ronald Reagan took office, there was still enough respect for the Presidency that most Americans never dreamed the White House would be run like a movie production with their leader as its star.