The conservative tide all started with one man in the White House. The people of the 80's were looking for a president who could bring down inflation, lower the taxes, and address issues such as abortion, busing, and gun control. They found that in a retired actor who had lots of charisma and conservative views. Before Reagan was president he had served as a California governor in 1966 and was reelected in 1977. There he was elected to put California on the "conservative path", which he accomplished by cutting back on some of the welfare services to lower income tax." (Boyarsky 4,9) As he ran for president in 1980 his campaign pledge was to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism."(Internet source 1) Ronald Reagan brought a large change to the country and world during his administration by taking care of the economics, reducing government control, and sticking to his Conservative philosophies, as well as helping to bring an end to the Cold War.

             The public seemed to like Reagan for his charm. Closely related to the way Franklin D. Roosevelt used his fire-side chats, Reagan, "modernized the chat: in his first few months in office he filmed fifteen-minute and two minute films and handed them out to television stations around the state of California." (Boyarsky 19) Reagan knew how use media to get his point across, and that is how after losing 5 straight primaries to Ford, he came back with a single television speech that aided him in winning the North Carolina primary. No other president or electee had ever had such an effect as Reagan did using the television. .

             Reagan's conservative ideas were seen in his right-wing speeches that he gave about "gradual surrender of freedom of things like farm subsidizing, bureaucratic form-filling, and rural electrification." He was also attacking the New Deal. (Wills 285) Even as a college kid Reagan loved to give speeches, in which he would always end with a strong morality plea , urging his audience not to drink, smoke or cheat.