Ranking presidents of the past 50 years

Ann Althouse: Ronald Reagan was the most influential president of the past half century. No doubt about that.

Reagan statue

The British are erecting a statue in tribute to Ronald Reagan.

[Mary Jo] Jacobi, who has met every US president since Lyndon Johnson, said Reagan stands apart from subsequent presidents as he was able to articulate and execute a clear vision for the United States.

"He connected with the common person in the United States and in many parts of the world, and I think that that's a rare gift, we haven't seen it since. Bill Clinton was very good at empathy, President Obama was very good at articulating a vague notion of hope and change, but not a clear vision of what that hope and change would look like or feel like and that was the difference with Ronald Reagan," she explained.

Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

In one of the 1980 presidential debates with Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan posed the question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" The answer was of course No. The economy is not that different today. Somebody needs to use this question against Obama.

The day Reagan was shot

The WSJ has a minute by minute account of the day Reagan was shot.

From Cal to Ron

Via Ann Althouse: The Gallup Poll reports that Americans rate Ronald Reagan as the greatest president. I think he was the greatest president since Calvin Coolidge.

Edmund Morris notes five myths about Ronald Reagan. But he is the author of Dutch, a biography of Reagan that, in my opinion, contains an irritating fictional device.

Happy Ronald Reagan Day

Today is officially Ronald Reagan Day in Arkansas. It's the first one.

Alan Snyder has a few good words about Ronald Reagan and Calvin Coolidge. I'm one of the few (former) college history professors who ever said a good word about them in an actual class.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) wants to put Ronald Reagan's likeness on the $50 bill. He would replace U.S. Grant, another Republican, if approved.

David Paul Kuhn: Reagan's philosophy is making a comeback. Or did his philosophy ever leave?

Tear down this wall!

Anthony Dolan, a Reagan speech writer, recalls Reagan's Berlin Wall speech. How I miss Reagan!