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American Political Communication Culture: Ronald Reagan’s Reform Politics and Communication Skills

This article focuses on Ronald Reagan’s communication skills during his first several months as president in order to understand American political communication culture. When Reagan finished his second term of the president, he enjoyed a 70 percent approval rating, which was higher than any other president in modem American history. Despite his high popularity, his actual record was not impressive. He failed to achieve his two core campaign pledges-cutting back on government spending and reducing the federal deficit. The government spending during his terms conversely expanded, resulting in an unprecedented amount of the federal deficit. Why was Reagan so popular? The key to Reagan’s popularity was his communication skills. Reagan, who had been a radio sports announcer and a movie actor before choosing to be a politician, knew how to perform before the television camera. He liked to use easy expressions and concrete examples rather than obscure conceptual expressions. He knew how to talk to a big audience as if he were talking to a small group of people in a living room. He outperformed his opponents during the presidential elections in 1980 and 1984. He talked to the people directly through the television camera from the White House, whenever he confronted the Congressional opposition. The people were persuaded and supported Reagan rather than the Congress. However Reagan’s persuasion was not solely based on his communication skills. More important was his consistency in his ideological stand. He started to argue about the conservative philosophy beginning in 1964 when he campaigned for the Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. He insisted that America needed to reform the established welfare policies, shifting to a traditional liberal economic principle. He emphasized both the reduction of government spending and the reduction of taxes as well as the deregulation of economy. He never changed his ideological stand since 1964. He repeated his argument throughout his political career. He campaigned repeatedly under the same ideas in 1966 and 1970 for the California governorship and for the president in 1980 and 1984. His campaign theme was always the same. Through his consistent argument, he could build trust in the minds of Americans. That was the real key to the birth of the legend of the so-called Great Communicator - Ronald Reagan. Reagan shows what is the core value of political communication that Americans most highly evaluate.