Ronald Reagan in Hollywood

Ronald Reagan in Hollywood explores the relationship between the motion picture industry and American politics through the prism of Reagan's film career at Warner Brothers. During the Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War era, the film industry served as a "grand, world-wide propaganda base," using movies to influence attitudes about patriotism, national defense, communism, the welfare state, race, sex, and civil liberties. Ronald Reagan thrived in this environment. During his years in Hollywood from 1937 to 1952, he formed many of the ideas that were later carried into his presidency. Not merely a star, Reagan also became an articulate industry spokesperson and skilled propagandist, playing an important role in "the battle of the world today to capture the minds" of humanity in the struggle against communism. By the time he left Warner Brothers in 1952, Reagan had abandoned his New Deal liberalism and had become a militant anticommunist. Based on hundreds of interviews (including some with President Reagan), formerly secret FBI files, and archival materials, Ronald Reagan in Hollywood provides an incisive analysis of Reagan's important formative years.