Would Reagan have been as successful politically had he remained a Democrat?

[MiddleRoad]

It is worthwhile to note that for most of Reagan’s life he was a die hard Democrat. He came out in strong, ardent support for Truman in the contested election of 1948. He supported “The Pink Lady” Helen Douglas over Richard Nixon in the 1950s.

He was for half his life a very left wing Democrat, FDR being for many years his idol. He switched parties in 1961 at age 50.

But had he remained a Democrat, can you see him climbing the political ladder as he did in real life as a Republican, given his charisma and oratorical skills?

[MATTROSE94]

Maybe Ronald Reagan would run as a Democrat and win in 1976 in place of Jimmy Carter or win in 1980 if Gerald Ford won in 1976.

[Agonized-Statism]

Not at all. Not because he couldn't make it work with the base somehow- look no further than Bill Clinton and the DLC Democrats, although it took until the 1990s for labor to get weak enough for that- but because the Democrats were a sinking ship by the time he wanted to run for president. He came at just the right time and with just the right message to benefit from a strong trend in the South, West, and suburbs, a symbolic rejection of New Deal liberalism that only got stronger throughout the 1970s. As a Democrat, he wouldn't have enjoyed a similar realignment at any point in his career and would have faced backlash from factions in the party.

very left wing

Lmfao

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

He changed because Kennedy got killed just like Gov Connelly became an R and Charleston Heston became a R during Nixon Rs became powerful, now they are a weak party

[E-Dawg]

He changed because Kennedy got killed

He voted for Eisenhower twice and for Nixon in 1960, so wrong.

[Fuzzy Bear]

He changed because Kennedy got killed

He voted for Eisenhower twice and for Nixon in 1960, so wrong.

Reagan's conversion came from his marriage to Nancy Davis (his 2nd marriage) and the influence of his father-in-law, who was the father Reagan never had.  (Reagan's father was an alcoholic and his relationship with him was somewhat complicated.)  Dr. Loyal Davis was the most responsible for Reagan's political conversion.  He also had a gig for General Electric in the 1950s where he gave speeches about communism vs. Ameicanism which was salesmanship for free market capitalism.  By 1960 he was not a liberal Democrat anymore, although he didn't switch parties until either 1963 or 1964.

[The Mikado]

Highly recommend Perlstein's The Invisible Bridge for anyone who hasn't read it. It has a mini-biography of Ronald Reagan buried in the middle of a much larger book, essentially.

Per Perlstein, Reagan's turn to the GOP basically happens as a direct result of him becoming head of SAG. Unlike most unions, SAG was basically de facto management and was on the same side as the old studio bosses. Reagan, actor who always resented the fact that Jack Warner and the other old studio bosses were unwilling to make him a leading man and his wife far outshone him, was a Democrat. Reagan, head of SAG and making a fortune on the business side of Hollywood and testifying to HUAC as to which of his members were Communists, started seeing things from the other side of the table. Then he got a big contract from General Electric and soon became the biggest booster for corporate America in the country and never looked back.

[Mr. Smith]

Yes.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

In today's standards he would be a D because he supported Comprehensive immigration reform but he solely passed a 1.5 T dollar tax cut buck back then Inflation was low and he put Sandra OConnor and Kennedy on Crt and Scalia and Rehnquist but D initiative is now immigration reform

[All Along The Watchtower]

Highly recommend Perlstein's The Invisible Bridge for anyone who hasn't read it. It has a mini-biography of Ronald Reagan buried in the middle of a much larger book, essentially.

Per Perlstein, Reagan's turn to the GOP basically happens as a direct result of him becoming head of SAG. Unlike most unions, SAG was basically de facto management and was on the same side as the old studio bosses. Reagan, actor who always resented the fact that Jack Warner and the other old studio bosses were unwilling to make him a leading man and his wife far outshone him, was a Democrat. Reagan, head of SAG and making a fortune on the business side of Hollywood and testifying to HUAC as to which of his members were Communists, started seeing things from the other side of the table. Then he got a big contract from General Electric and soon became the biggest booster for corporate America in the country and never looked back.

He was also mad about the IRS hounding him for taxes that he had had deferred while he was serving in the military's film unit during WWII. I believe Perlstein mentions this as well.

And for what it's worth, AFAIK Reagan didn't rat anyone out while testifying to HUAC---he didn't have to, because he had already privately named a lot of people in Hollywood as Communists to the FBI as a Confidential Informant. Publicly he took a rather Moderate Hero "I agree that the Communists are dangerous, but I also believe in freedom of speech as a fundamental American right, and let's not go overboard with all these accusations." Somehow that seems worse to me than had he been publicly naming people to HUAC!

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

The short answer is no.

The long answer depends on what you mean by "remained a Democrat". If, for example, Reagan had his ideological shift to the right but remained in the Democratic Party, there's not a flicker of a chance that he could ever have been president. Conservative democrats did exist in his day, but the national Democratic Party was dominated by liberals. Remember, Reagan's views were considered too right-wing by many Republicans, let alone Democrats.

I don't think he could have even been the Governor of CA as a conservative Democrat - while California was more conservative in those days than it is now, CA Dems were firmly in the liberal wing. As a conservative Democrat from California, the highest heights you could imagine him reaching politically would be as a congressman.

If you mean he remained a liberal, or at least moderate, his chances go up slightly, but not by much. I mean, let's say everything about Reagan remains the same, but instead of emerging as a hardcore anti-communist Goldwaterite, he emerges as a high-profile liberal activist in the 1950s and 60s. Or not even a liberal activist, potentially just a moderate, middle-of-the-road Dem. I can't imagine that he could have won the Presidential nomination as a Democrat in the 1960s, because that would require him to upset the Kennedy-Johnson-Humphrey establishment as an outsider, and I don't see how that could have happened. You could imagine he becomes a Governor or Senator as a Democrat, and maybe shoots his shot in 1972. In a scenario where he is Nixon's challenger instead of McGovern, he probably would have done better, but not enough to win.

The hypothetical Democrat Reagan would have his best shot in 1976, when the American public was looking for an outsider, and instead of the peanut farmer from Georgia, that outsider happens to be the actor from California. He was more charismatic than Carter, no doubt, so that could have helped against Ford. But remember, Carter absolutely swept the south and barely beat Ford - a Democrat Reagan would not have swept the south, and I'm not sure he could make up for it with the west and midwest.