Age of Reagan Conference

The “Age of Reagan” has come into fashion as a thematic framing of the late 20th and early 21st century. Even scholars with divergent views of the 40th president agree that President Reagan defined a new era by ushering in dramatic changes to American society and its relationship with the world. Those transformations are primed for further study given that many of the challenges facing the United States today echo those of the 1980s. Internationally, Reagan’s administration also contended with the rise of an East Asian economic rival and Russian military aggression, looming environmental issues, and the need to reset American foreign policy in the wake of withdrawal from “forever” wars. Domestically, the Reagan administration faced severe inflation and recession, drug addiction and disease crises, battles over immigration reform, fights over the judiciary, and uncertain technological futures.

RRPFI invites panel and paper submissions considering these and other aspects of the Age of Reagan. This conference will dedicate one day each to domestic themes and foreign affairs, the latter with a special focus on the Strategic Defense Initiative. A third day will be reserved for oral history interview opportunities with veterans of the Reagan administration, museum tours, networking activities, and a discussion of the changing archival landscape. We particularly encourage the participation of scholars who intend to research in the archives of the Reagan Library, especially graduate students and early career scholars. We also encourage the participation of scholars who intend to make use of newly available or soon to be available records related to the Age of Reagan, such as the George P. Shultz papers at the Hoover Institution or the Richard Wirthlin polling files held by the Roper Center.