Reagan’s Home Movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzMYNONhfs4

When we saw this clip on Rachel last night, it was amusingly presented as a “video briefing” that the CIA presented to Saint Ronnie, who supposedly preferred this kind of thing to his one-page memos.

But when we go to the NBC background story, the spin is quite different:

CIA Historian Nick Dujmovic suggests the president’s reported reliance on videos were part of the myth of the “insubstantial president,” suggesting that there were only a small number of videos produced (each of which took a month to put together). Dujmovic adds that the idea did not come from Reagan or the White House but from the CIA, which in the summer of 1981 suggested some videos already in production might be “helpful for Reagan.”

Well, darn. Still, this video — which Reagan did watch in 1982 — is amusing in itself, if only for the fabulous Fifties retro presentation. And the reason we can present it here is even more amusing: It’s from the CIA’s YouTube channel.

nojo
7:00 am • Thursday • November 10, 2011
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4 Comments

ManchuCandidate

7:42 am • Thursday • November 10, 2011

When I was a wee lad and uber space nut, I would have killed for something like this on the Soviet Space Program.

I can only imagine the dialogue between the briefer and Ronnie…

“Well, where’s their big triangle spaceship?”
“What?!? Um, Mr President?”
“You know that big triangle spaceship that Lucas borrowed for Star Wars.”
“Huh?”
“Well… Star Wars.”
Barely audible sigh.

Serolf Divad

7:43 am • Thursday • November 10, 2011

Someone needs to put together a video presentation for Rick Perry listing the three Federal agencies he’d eliminate, then make him watch it over and over and over again.

IanJ

1:44 pm • Thursday • November 10, 2011

@Serolf Divad: I hate to burst your bubble, but I think they already did.

karen marie has her eyes tight shut

3:12 pm • Thursday • November 10, 2011

Hahaha — the narrator said “high secrecy”!