Reagan's War Stories

With his folksy presence and memorable one-liners, Ronald Reagan won renown as the Great Communicator. But he was also a consummate fabulist. Historian Benjamin Griffin details how Reagan intuitively understood a narrative’s emotional pull, and how that understanding helped and hurt his administration.

Narratives

A natural storyteller, Reagan used narratives to convey his anticommunism, patriotism and small-government vision. He stored many of his favorite stories and jokes on index cards.