This F*cking Guy: Ronald Reagan

In our 43rd episode of This F*cking Guy, Erin and Alyssa dive deep into the past of the Jelly Bean Jack*ss, Ronald Reagan. From his B-list acting days, to "fighting" WWII from Culver City, to being an FBI rat, to his unforgivable  handling of the AIDS crisis, to mucking up foreign affairs for decades to come, this may be one of our most deluded guys yet.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.

Sources:

Ronald Reagan: Informant (Salon)

Peeping Ron (Book Forum) 

Ronald Reagan’s shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness (Salon)

Ronald Reagan’s wartime lies: The president had quite a Brian Williams problem (Salon)

The Mendacity Index (Washington Monthly)

On a wing and a prayer (Alec Nevala-Lee)

Tear Down This Myth (Google Books) 

Reagan & Co. (The Washington Post) 

California: Credibility in Sacramento (Time) 

The Lion King: An Exchange (NY Books)

Reagan Expresses Horror at Claim That the Holocaust is a Hoax (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) 

The Myth of Ronald Reagan and the Nazi Death Camps (National Review)

The Stupidity of Ronald Reagan (Slate)

Paying Lip Service (The Village Voice)

The Road to Reagandom (Slate)

How Ronald Reagan's Time at General Electric Pushed Him to Conservatism (Lit Hub)

Ronald Reagan’s Millions (Rolling Stone)

How Prop 14 Shaped California's Racial Covenants (PBS Socal)

Here's the Rest of Him (Claremont Review of Books) 

Alla Nazimova (AFI Catalog Spotlight)

The Global HIV/AIDS Timeline (KFF)

History of the HIV Epidemic (Gilead)

When AIDS Was Funny Casts a Harsh Light on the Reagan Administration’s Indifference to HIV (HIV Plus Mag)

Short film “When AIDS Was Funny,” Reagan Press Secretary laughs off an epidemic (Q Notes Carolinas)

‘When AIDS Was Funny’: Short film reveals shortfalls of Reagan response to AIDS (MSNOW)

HIV/AIDS Timeline (history.com)

HIV/AIDS Historical Timeline (Philadelphia Center)

Snapshots of an Epidemic: An HIV/AIDS Timeline (amfAR)

The Iran-Contra Affair (Bill of Rights Institute) 

The Iran-Contra Affair (PBS American Experience) 

1983 Beirut barracks bombing: ‘The BLT Building is gone!’ (Marine Corps Times) 

H-Gram 080: Paved with Good Intentions—The U.S. Navy in the 1983 Lebanon Crisis (Naval History and Heritage Command)

When Reagan Cut and Run (Foreign Policy) 

40 Years Later, El Mozote Massacre Victims Vow to 'Keep Demanding Justice' (Common Dreams) 

The Massacre at El Mozote (Human Rights Watch)

Judgment Day’s Coming for U.S.-Backed Troops Who Slaughtered Men, Women, and So Many Children at El Mozote (Daily Beast) 

Pakistan’s Nuclear Program Posed “Acute Dilemma” for U.S. Policy (National Security Archive) 

New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program (National Security Archive) 

New Documents Spotlight Reagan-era Tensions over Pakistani Nuclear Program (Wilson Center)

The Pakistan Aid Dilemma (Center for American Progress) 

Fact Check: It's Rumored that Ronald Reagan Had Alzheimer's Disease While Still in Office. Here's What the Evidence Says (Snopes)

Did Reagan Decline? (Sage Journal)

Hoover Makes Available the Newly Processed Papers of Nancy’s Reagan’s White House Astrologer (Hoover Institution)

How Nancy Reagan's Secret Phone-In Astrologer Became a Powerful White House Adviser — and Helped Oust the Chief of Staff (People)

Nancy Reagan: Controversial Moments During Her Life in the Public Eye (People)

Why Ronald Reagan Became the Great Deregulator (JSTOR Daily)

Looking Back On When President Reagan Fired The Air Traffic Controllers (NPR)

Reagan’s Legacy (SFAF)

The Other Time a U.S. President Withheld WHO Funds (John Hopkins)

How newly discovered audio is reviving debate over Reagan's legacy on race (PBS News)

It’s Time to End the Racist and Unjustified Sentencing Disparity Between Crack and Powder Cocaine (Civil Rights)

Reagan's National Drug Strategy (University of Michigan)

The Fairness Doctrine: How We Lost It and Why We Need It Back (SISYPHUS)

Portraits in Oversight: The Iran-Contra Affair (Levin Center)

Ronald Reagan Made Central America a Killing Field (Jacobin)

Guatemalan Slaughter Was Part of Reagan’s Hard Line (The New York Times)

Remembering US-backed state terror in El Salvador (Al Jazeera)

Ronald Reagan’s shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness (Salon)

The Key to Welfare Reform (The Atlantic)