The Age of Reagan? Three Questions for Future Research

This article looks at how the historiography of the Reagan era has evolved through three separate periods and argues that Ronald Reagan's impact on American life and politics, while significant, has been exaggerated. Historians and political scientists tend to look at the period since 1980-often called the Age of Reagan-through a narrow, Reagan-centered perspective that is based on surprisingly little research on his presidency. The lack of writing on Bill Clinton and the two Bushes has worsened the distortion, diminishing our understanding of the importance and independence of the presidencies that followed Reagan's. This essay offers three research questions looking at areas that have not been addressed adequately (or at all), but whose answers might shed light on the post-Reagan period, open new lines of inquiry, and bring Clinton and the Bushes out of Reagan's shadow.