Sag New Media Taft Hartley: Fill & Download for Free

Time spent woeking background on a SAG set will get you there; usually Taft Hartley after a number of projects that voucher you.You can get in through a New Media contract series as well.

Your SAG contract and SAG rep will clarify the process in your case since you are a signatory producer ( you have to be; SAG actors cannot work for non signatories).Generally, you will have to Taft-Hartley non union actors outside of any allotted non - union background unless these non union actors are Eligibles or must-joins.The New Media contracts allow all sorts of cast mix and non union casting but they don't apply to film. You cannot shoot under one deal and move to another without incurring the difference in costs, as many seem to try.Always best to deal with SAG, and hopefully your jurisdiction is in L.A. because most regional offices are noted for inaccuracy, delay, and problems in general.

Myth and Culture HeroesMyths, in the simplest terms, are the stories told to define a tribe, a people, or even a nation. While often not literally true in all of their particulars, they nonetheless express a wider truth—their purpose is to expound the attributes of a specific system of beliefs. The truths contained in myths are cultural, and as such they can’t help but be partly propaganda. Thus every culture, and every nation, in every time and locale, all require their own myths. Myths explain and prop up the culture that births them. They spell out and affirm that people’s values, and perhaps most powerfully and importantly, they serve to explain why that culture is exceptional. Myths inform us of what we need to know in order to function within a specific culture. Myths not only state our beliefs and reinforce them, but they tell us too, what we need to believe.At the center of most myths are culture heroes—they are the personification of the values of that culture. Their job is to put a human face on these abstract ideals and to provide their audience with a point of identification. Once these heroes appear within a culture, they become magnets—stories and supporting myths accrue to them and accumulate around them. Sometimes even older tales are revised to now accommodate them. Hercules, King Arthur, and Charlemagne are all cultural heroes with their own cycle or set of ancillary mythic stories.Qualities of Culture HeroesThere are certain generic characteristics which are held in common by most culture heroes. These heroes often spring from humble beginnings and go on to establish their nobility or to earn greatness. Frequently their destiny requires that they rediscover a lost royal heritage, reclaim an inheritance, or restore a discarded social order. Culture heroes are invariably courageous and must always combat adversity in the form of monsters, enemies, or circumstances. At all times they are leaders, either spiritually, politically, or militarily, but always culturally. Above all, culture heroes are always transformative! They bring with them a new social order or they restore a legacy of lost values.Commonly, but not always, these heroes suffer an untimely but noble death, their message reinforced by their sacrifice. Almost exclusively, culture heroes begin as charismatic historical figures—entirely real people until their reality is obscured or at least blurred by the burden of the values and the stories which they are required to carry. Lastly, it’s important to remember that one culture’s “hero” is often another cultures “demon.” In a relativistic universe, perception remains dependent upon perspective.Modern Culture HeroesNaturally, our American culture too, has it’s share of heroes, each with their own supporting myths and stories. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln pop into mind for starters. As we all know, George had his cherry tree, his riverine silver dollar, and a bad set of wooden false teeth, as well. He beat the British, served as first president, and then said, “Farewell.” Abe was honest, split rails, and told us just how long a man’s legs needed to be. He freed the slaves, won the Civil War, and was martyred for our sins. Some of this stuff is literally true and some of it isn’t. Washington never chopped down the tree and his teeth were made of bone and ivory. To his face, nobody called Lincoln “Abe,” he despised physical labor and became a lawyer expressly to avoid it, and as for honesty, he possessed it no more than any successful politician. A hallmark of the culture hero is that their very names conjure up a wealth of images and anecdotes, some based on fact, and some more or less apocryphal.Just as in ancient times, today all modern nations demand culture heroes. Henry V in the past and more recently Winston Churchill are unmistakably British culture heroes. Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck perform a similar function for Germany. Napoleon Bonaparte and even Charles de Gaulle are French equivalents. A few of America’s past leaders of the 20th century qualify as culture heroes to some and as “demons” to others—Franklin Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy suggest themselves.A new wrinkle of our media-driven modern age is that our culture heroes often take a hand in shaping their own myths. Some culture heroes are more or less controversial than others. And with certain culture heroes there is a greater or lesser discordance between the historical facts and the overlay of cultural myth. The transformation of a historical personage into a culture hero invariably occurs after that personage’s death and the process is gradual and sometimes subtle. The myth’s final form is almost entirely dependent on the needs of that culture.Ronald Reagan as Culture HeroA late 20th century leader who in every way qualifies to be considered a culture hero, and whose myths just begs to b examined, is Ronald Reagan. The former actor and 40th president of the United States provides perhaps the most complete instance of the famous dictum of famous film director John Ford from his classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. This movie, which coincidentally stars Reagan pals John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, contained a portentous line uttered by a journalist, “When the legend becomes fact, then print the legend.”In the case of Ronald Reagan, truer words have never been spoken. So much of what we know, or what we think we know today about this enigmatic and iconic president began dubiously, was fostered by his supporters, and is now accepted as fact, even by the political opposition. The Reagan myth is so appealing, so quintessentially American in it’s characteristics, as to be irresistible, even to those who know better.The riddle of the real Ronald Reagan is heightened by the fact that for his entire lifetime he was always “on.” Arguably, once he’d perfected his craft, he lacked the inclination, if not the ability, to ever stop acting. Even late in his career he once referred to the presidency as, “the greatest stage in the world!” Pulitzer Price-winning historian Edmund Morris became the inscrutable president’s official biographer, spending fourteen years on the project and granted unprecedented access to the Reagan White House. But in the end, this gifted historian was defeated by his protean subject. Tellingly, after long labors, Morris only managed to cryptically produce a fictional biography of his focus called Dutch. By way of explanation, Morris said that he only began to understand Reagan when he stopped trying to separate the performer from the performance. This confirms that explaining a myth is an art rather than a science, and requires the art of a poet rather than the skills of a historian.Today, a basic tenet of the Reagan myth is that as president, Reagan was a sterling example of probity and accomplishment, providing a model to be emulated by all. This myth is so prevalent that it’s even cited by Democrats as prominent as Barack Obama. But is Reagan’s exalted place in the American pantheon entirely deserved? Did he really accomplish even half of what he’s now credited with? And in objective terms, what is his true legacy?Reagan’s Early Life and CareerA look at the Reagan story’s early chapters is quite illuminating. Later in life he would be gifted with other nicknames such as “The Gipper” and “The Great Communicator,” but Reagan received his first one as a boy in rural Illinois. His father took to calling him “Dutch,” on the notion that his son resembled a fat, little Dutchman. Excelling as a natural athlete, Reagan went on to attend Eureka College, where he majored in economics and sociology. There young Ronnie shined in campus politics and also took theater courses.Reagan was apparently born being comfortable in the public eye, working first as a radio announcer and sportscaster, before signing with the Warner Brothers Studio in 1937. Featured in a number of B movies, Reagan’s favorite role all all was in King’s Row, as the double amputee who wakes after his operation and famously intones, “Where’s the rest of me?” Long a reserve officer, Reagan was called up for duty during World War II and for four years served stateside with the U.S. Army’s 1st Motion Picture Unit. By war’s end he had been involved in the production of some 400 training and propaganda films. After the war Reagan resumed his acting and became a long-serving president of the Screen Actor’s Guild.Commies, General Electric, and a Switch in Party LoyaltyDuring the late 1940s Reagan served as a secret FBI informant and fed the bureau the names of fellow performers he believed to be Communist sympathizers. A committed anti-communist, he also testified publicly before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In the mid-1950s movie roles became harder for the talented and appealing actor to find (Bedtime for Bonzo may say it all), and Reagan accepted the position as television host of General Electric Theater, a popular dramatic series of the day. Reagan also became a spokesman for the company, and his contract required him to tour GE’s plants and to deliver as many as fourteen speeches a day! Already highly skilled as an actor, he now became comfortable with live audiences and public speaking.Ron, and his wife, Nancy, also performed in television commercials for General Electric, and they and their children lived in a dream house chock-full of miraculous (and free) GE appliances. In his new position the Democrat Reagan quickly became more and more conservative as well. During this period he was to identify his signature causes: lower taxes, limited government, a free market, and steadfast anti-communism. In an oft repeated chapter of the narrative, in 1962 Reagan officially became a Republican, famously saying, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”Mainstream Beliefs?But despite Reagan’s rugged cowboy charm, so redolent of America’s heartland, the “Great Communicator’s” core beliefs were not all as “mainstream” or “common-sensical” as the myth would suggest. A life-time member of the NRA, Reagan opposed civil rights legislation. He felt that citizens had a right to their own opinions, even if he did not share them, including the right to discriminate. Furthermore, he doubted the government’s right to interfere. In the mid-1960s he became desperate to stop Lyndon Johnson’s Medicare initiative, a program which countless Americans would come to believe is one of the greatest government programs in history, price tag be damned! But mystique to the contrary, Reagan wasn’t worried about deficits; in facts it’s arguable that he never seriously worried about deficits, at any time.Medicare as “Trojan Horse”Medicare was one of many dragons faced by Reagan the Republican culture hero, but one which he failed to slay. Reagan was convinced that the proposed Medicare Program would destroy our way of life. In his mind, “socialized medicine” was actually a Pandora’s Box of evils. He believed that if Medicare was enacted, the government would begin by deciding which doctors its senior citizens could use and end by making every major decision in people’s lives, including what education they should pursue and what careers they should aspire to. Reagan thought he recognized the healthcare program as being a Marxist “Trojan Horse” whose true design was to open the gates for big government to institute totalitarian control. Yet somehow this Orwellian view of the future entirely failed to materialize. In it’s execution, Medicare inflicted no restrictions that it’s incipient weren’t happy to comply with.Stern Governor in Troubled TimeDuring his two terms as governor of California, Reagan’s big issues were negative: ending welfare abuse and halting the widespread anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. Like Barry Goldwater, whom he supported in his 1964 bid for the presidency (and who said, “fanaticism in defense of patriotism isn’t fanaticism”), Reagan was prepared to be extreme in pursuit of his principles. He presided over the violent clampdown of a UC Berkeley protest rally which became known as “Bloody Thursday.” In his capacity as chief executive of California, Reagan ordered in state troopers to support the local police. In the melee which followed, one student was killed, and another man blinded. A year later, when asked about ongoing campus protests, Governor Reagan was recalcitrant, replying, “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get iy over with…” His administration continued to be controversial, but Reagan not only survived a 1968 recall attempt, but went on to enjoy a second term. But certainly this chapter is at odds with the entirely genial figure portrayed in the Reagan myth.Reagan Assumes the PresidencyReagan was both the oldest man ever to be elected to the presidency, and the only divorcee to hold the office. (This may change in 2016.) As chief executive, his most convincing achievements weren’t in the realm of politics;rather they were in stage-craft. History’s greatest leaders (and culture heroes) have always recognized the importance of managing appearances. No one ever “played” the role of president more effectively than Ronald Reagan! The complex, exceedingly nuanced, and highly televised political world of the 1980s provided the perfect setting for his skills. Although often underrated, Reagan was actually an actor of vast sophistication, supremely confident on camera, and long trained as a propagandist. Not by chance did he write so many of his own speeches. Reagan’s genius was to assume a paternalistic persona characterized by a folksy simplicity, while the many complex subtleties of performance never escaped him.The Reagan myth dictates that when he took office the nation was sick—sickened by an extended period of economic woes and inflation, sickened by an enervating Energy Crisis, and sickened by an awful malaise that had blighted America’s spirit. In retrospect, it now felt that we had been badly defeated in Vietnam, and that this had been the nation’s “high water mark.” Now we were working harder but for money that was worth less. The world had become too complex and unfairly, it no longer felt that the U.S. was on top.Reagan Versus Carter: A Study in Contrasting MessagesJimmy Carter’s message had been bleak and puritanical. He seemed to blame America for it’s own problems. Solemn and sweater-clad, he had advised us to lower both our expectations and our thermostats. Piously, he’d explained that it was our fate to suffer for a time and that we’d have to try harder in the future. And so, like children forced to choose between punishment and reward, we dumped him!As the story is still told, Reagan changed everything. Long he had been a fixture in popular culture, as a film actor, TV star and host, and as California’s governor. Now, when needed most, Reagan assumed a new role as America’s “Rooster of the Golden Dawn.” The peppy and upbeat septuagenerian had only to peer at the clock to crow that it was, “Morning Again in America!” And we believed him.Once president, Reagan gazed squarely into the camera and announced that there was no Energy Crisis, and then he proved it by ripping down the frugal peanut farmers solar panels from the roof of the White House. No more thoughtful choices or painful sacrifices for us. We heard “the Gipper’s” reassurances and once again we knew it was our due to have two, big, gas-guzzling cars in every garage! Restored to us was a God-given right to bestride the earth and squander it’s resources. Stripped of our shackles of conscience and responsibility, we were now able to again pursue lives of heedless bourgeois hedonism.In many ways the Reagan years would provide the country with an appealing and constantly mutating mirage—a triumph of cosmetics and spin over a grittier and often less convenient reality. The “moral nostalgia” that comprised so large a part of the actor-president’s psyche dictated that he selectively apply a soothing 1950s veneer to current events.Reflections in Pop CulturePopular movie fare can often provide an insightful window into an era’s prevailing psycho-dynamics. A particular favorite of the 1980s, and one which the president himself thoroughly enjoyed, was the lighthearted science fiction romp, Back to the Future. The film’s underlying message was that the most effective solution to the complex problems of today was simply to rewrite the past. A similar theme could be found in the testosterone-laced Rambo trilogy. In addition to satisfying audiences blood lust with copious amounts of big-screen mayhem, but also posited that, appearances to the contrary, we hadn’t really lost the Vietnam War. We had won all the battles, only to be betrayed by politics. Likewise, for all his years in office, Reagan would consistently feel compelled, to rewrite the past and even the present, in order to facilitate his goals for the future. This made him a chief executive particularly unsuited to dealing with complex moral issues.Shots Ring Out!Shockingly, less than three months into his first term, the new president was gunned down in broad daylight and came terrifyingly close to dying! Three others took bullets meant for Reagan. “Stunned disbelief”fails to express the profound shock the nation suffered. America had come within a hair of losing not just a president, but a culture hero! It was a perilous moment not just for the man, but the country as well. In the immediate aftermath, confusion reigned. Alexander Haig told the nation he was in charge, but his pallor, shakiness, and ignorance in the line of succession said otherwise. Of course Reagan did recover, after first nonchalantly joking that he hoped the doctors were all Republicans. Grace under fire is one of the hallmarks of the culture hero. Reagan had a much closer call than anyone knew at the time, and the attempt to kill him would have lasting and fateful consequences!AftermathIn the first place, Reagan’s popularity soared! Americans love a survivor! But the attempt also served to thicken the bubble which surrounds all presidencies and which limits access to genuine public opinion. It led to the formation of the Brady Campaign, an attempt to limit the spread of firearms in the U.S. Another result was that Nancy Reagan began to rely more on the prognostications of her “court astrologers” in an effort to protect Ronnie from future harm. But the president had superstitions of his own. Reagan’s narrow escape convinced him that God had spared him for a purpose. From this point on he no longer held political opinions, instead he received instructions from Above. Of course if the Supreme Being had selected Reagan for a special mission, mightn’t it have made more sense to spare his chosen one from being shot in the first place? Surely it’s no coincidence that one of the key identifying characteristics of the culture hero is that they always possess Divine favor.Showdown With Flight ControlThe next major event in the Reagan narrative occurred in August of 1981, when most of PATCO, the air traffic controllers union, walked off the job. Seeking higher wages, a shorter work-week, and better retirement benefits for its members, the union felt confident that a shutdown would bring quick agreement to their terms. While campaigning, Reagan, as a lifelong union member, had expressed sympathy with their plight. But now as president, Reagan saw things differently. Now he recognized that if he acceded to the air traffic controllers’ budget-busting demands, that their example would be followed by other federal workers. In a controversial gambit, Reagan called the union’s bluff and invoked the old Taft-Hartley Act, which makes it illegal for essential workers ever to strike.The new chief executive ordered the nearly 13,000 strikers to report back to work within 48 hours. When most failed to do so, Reagan took the bold step of ordering the blanket firing of over 11,000 controllers. “Union buster” was added to his nicknames, but Reagan had made it clear that as chief executive he would brook no extortionate brinksmanship on the part of labor. Just as he wouldn’t hesitate to tuck into a rabble of anti-war demonstrators, so too he wouldn’t scruple to destroy a union which had defied him. At the helm was a new leader fully prepared to act on impulse and regret, not at leisure, but only in some liberal fantasy. According to Reagan-lore, this episode also served to send a first anticipatory frisson up the Soviet spine as they realized that the new president’s palette included a bold streak of ruthlessness.The Reagan Way With MoneyOne of the most important functions of a culture hero is to usher in a new order—to champion new ideals or to restore a legacy of lost values. By Republican lights, Reagan decidedly played this part. He went on to change the fundamentals of the American political landscape. Reagan struck back against fifty years of Democratic dominance and challenged Rooseveltian “socialism.” He rehabilitated Conservatism and was the author of the reactionary and eponymous “Reagan Revolution,” the repercussions of which are still being felt today. He created a new conservative paradigm. Low taxes, a tiny deficit, and a smaller, weaker federal government that knew its place wasn’t to interfere with business—these were its hallmarks. But how precisely did “Childe Ronald” accomplish this?Reagan’s peculiar monetary policies merited nicknames. He introduced the nation to supply-side economics, also called “trickle-down economics,” aka “Reaganomics,” and sometimes even “voodoo economics.” This was supported by the arcane mysteries of the Laffer curve, known to waggish economists as the “Laughing Out Loud” curve. Reagan’s message was simple—if government would cut taxes, then revenues would magically grow. Just introduce policies to allow rich people to get richer and poor people would also be rewarded (presumably with a Christmas envelope).Thirty years later, prominent Republicans weaned on the myth, still argue that tax cuts never need to be paid for—that they will pay from themselves with the prosperity they bring. A fact often left out the story is that under Reagan’s watch the unemployment rate actually peaked at a mind-numbing 10.8%, the highest level since the Great Depression, and even higher than the numbers Obama’s had to wrestle with in recent years.Reagan preached that “government isn’t the solution to our problems, it is the problem.” Yet in his eight years in office the federal government expanded exponentially. Reagan said that higher taxes discouraged entrepreneurship and stifled the economy—yet he raised federal taxes seven times! Every year between 1981 and 1987 Reagan signed a tax increase into law, including a bill which funded the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982. TEFRA constituted the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. Reagan posited that the nation’s deficit must be kept to a minimum. But in his time he massively increased government spending, particularly on defense programs, and created the largest federal deficit that had ever existed up until that time. For two terms he lavishly depleted Federal coffers, but only his pet projects felt his Midas touch.Just Saying NoOne of these pet projects was the Reagan version of the war on illegal drugs, where the lion’s share of funding was spent on enforcement rather than public education or rehabilitation. For this program Reagan sponsored a bill providing $1.7 billion in federal funding for drug enforcement and which included mandatory minimum sentences. One dubious consequence was to produce an enormous racial disparity in America’s prison population. Helpmate Nancy, simplistically joined in with her puerile “Just Say No” campaign. But it turned out that the Reagans were comfortable saying “no” to many things. Even while exploding the nation’s budget he reduced federal funding on “wasteful” social welfare programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, the EPA, and education programs. Reagan also froze the minimum wage, sliced federal assistance to local governments by a whopping 60%, and cut the federal budget to provide public housing.Years later, Reagan-acolyte George W. Bush duplicated the “Gipper’s” tactics by slashing taxes and spending wildly, particularly on foreign adventurism, creating the very debts that haunt us to this day. His tax cuts cost the country more revenue than was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Under fire from those who could read a balance sheet, administration spokesman Dick Cheney would delight in exclaiming, “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter!” Today, when we all believe that they do, Republicans now aver, “It was Obama!”The WallA key episode of the Reagan myth is his solitary toppling of the Soviet Union while gamely hectoring their premier, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” The Conservative myth is still illuminated by this iconic image of Reagan, the lone cowboy, bringing to bay the Russian Bear. But in fact the Soviet Union didn’t dissolve until the following Bush administration; that’s when the Berlin Wall was broken up for souvenirs. And in the event, the aforementioned Mr. Gorbachev had much to do with it, as did many others including Pope John Paul II.Cold WarriorDuring his time in office, what Reagan did genuinely accomplish was to squander obscene amounts on redundant defense programs and to ratchet up tensions between America and the Soviets to a fever pitch. His aggressive “Peace through Strength” policy resulted in the largest peacetime buildup of the Pentagon in history. Between 1981 and 1985 Reagan actually increased defense spending by a dramatic 40%. As a thespian, Reagan thrived on hyperbole, and he backed up his baiting of the “Evil Empire” with the Strategic Defense Initiative, known better as the “Star Wars” Defense. Of course we’ve since spent many billions on Reagan’s futuristic nuclear missile shield, yet after thirty years we’ve nothing much to show for it. Reagan also launched his eponymous “Reagan Doctrine,” which globally accelerated the Cold War and which provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist movements in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.But entirely unknown to students whose only source is the myth, Reagan’s saber-rattling high jinks also drove us to the very brink of planetary holocaust in 1983. Russian radar technicians, working with inferior equipment, misinterpreted a benign satellite launch for a U. S. nuclear strike. The Soviet high command, driven to paranoia by Reagan’s policies and posturing, ordered a massive retaliation. Thermonuclear winter had arrived. In the event, high level strategies and counter-strategies counted for nothing. The world was only saved by the actions of a lowly Soviet major. Disbelieving the signals, the major refused to launch the Soviet missiles, and within minutes the mistake was discovered. His reward for saving the world was to be court-martialed and stripped of his rank.Later, when Reagan dramatically chose to negotiate with Gorbachev to reduce the world’s nukes, it entered the canon as proof positive of the great man’s sagacity and statesmanship. But Reagan hadn’t come to the table just because he was older and wiser—he’d come because he secretly knew that his actions had fostered a situation which had nearly resulted in the obliteration of us all. And in the end, U.S.—Soviet negotiations failed because Reagan was too rigid to sacrifice his fantasies about the so-called “Star Wars” defense. Objectively, this too, is the Reagan legacy.Today an intriguing but unproveable rumor persists as to how Reagan acquired his stubborn obsession with his Strategic Defense Initiative. It may have come from his time in Hollywood—back in 1940 he had starred in a low-budget thriller called Murder in the Air. He had played a hard-knuckled government operative named Brass Bancroft whose mission was to project a secret weapon called an “inertia projector” from enemy agents. This projector emitted a mysterious ray with the ability to knock down hostile aircraft. The device was vital to the country’s defense. At any rate, the rumor goes that “Dutch” was fascinated by this concept and later couldn’t resist attempting to make it real.Concerning the Cold War, as a matter of perspective, and contrary to the official Reagan text, most historians today agree that the clock was ticking on the Soviet Union, regardless of the president’s bluster and belligerence. At best, Reagan’s trashing of détente might have served to speed this process. The social equation of Russian Communism simply never added up in positive numbers. The history of the Soviet Union is one of systemic repression, ambitious overreaching, and ever increasing failures. An early expiration date was encoded into its DNA. And while apologists still focus on what Reagan’s breathtaking spending habits may have done to the Russians, almost no one considers what it surely did to us.Considering the prowess as a Cold Warrior attributed to Reagan in the myth, his performance in the field bears examining. Eighteen years before the World Trade Towers disaster, the first major terrorist attack was made on Americans. Strangely, this episode is often redacted from the official Reagan text. A formation of U.S. Marines was stationed in Beirut as part of a larger multi-national force of peacekeepers; Lebanon was undergoing a civil war at the time. On October 23, 1983, a Hezbollah truck bomb exploded at their barracks, killing 241 American Marines and wounding 60 others. The country was shocked and outraged, but Reagan was steadfast. He called the attack “despicable” and promised to maintain our military presence in Lebanon, vowing to follow up with a devastating attack on a Hezbollah training camp. But he didn’t. Instead, in February of 1984 Reagan ordered the withdrawal of our Marines. Oops! The tough talking leader of the Free World had opted instead to cut and run.But the narrative of the myth picks up again some 48 hours after the truck bombing, which saw Reagan launch the fierce-sounding Operation Urgent Fury. This was the large-scale military invasion of Grenada, a Marxist-leaning Caribbean country the size of a postage stamp. The pretext for our incursion was concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students, although the threat to them was never actually identified. Still, all were safely evacuated and this little war proved just the tonic needed to restore shaken American morale.The First LadyNancy Reagan’s position in her husband’s presidency is too often underestimated. She was originally Nancy Davis, a young actress who met her future husband when she came to him with a problem in the late 1940s. He was the president of SAG at the time and ironically, she needed his help in reversing her having been blacklisted. It seems there was another Nancy Davis whose politics were more dubious. From the time they married onwards, Nancy would always be Ronnie’s closest and most trusted adviser, and when in doubt he often relied on her judgment. The savviest favor seekers learned that the best way to get to the president was to get to Nancy first. Not everyone absorbed this lesson, however. Don Regan served as Reagan’s Chief of Staff during his second term. Late one evening he received word that Nancy had called on an important matter. It had been a particularly grueling day and the highly competent Regan decided that whatever it was, the matter could wait until the next day. But instead, on the following day he discovered that his most important task would now be to find a new job.Dealings with IranThe next chapter is a troubled one, both for believers and skeptics alike. By all accounts, Reagan was a good man, having high morals and a deep respect for righteous authority. Yet a preponderance of evidence suggests that he actually stooped to selling missiles to Iranian terrorists in return for hostages held in Lebanon, breaking dozens of laws, national and international, in the process. But Reagan may have been no stranger to “extralegal” deals with the Iranians.The details of the following episodes are not just uncanonical, but are positively heretical to the Reaganites. But facts can be very stubborn. To this day rumors persist that back in 1980 a secret deal may have been made. While running against Carter, one of the biggest issues of the day was the American hostages held in Iran at the time. In a bid to clinch the election, through back channels Reagan staffers were said to have contacted the Iranians and made concessions in return for their promise not to release the hostages to President Carter. Delighted to humiliate the current president and anxious to have leverage with his successor, Tehran agreed. Reagan won the election while a grimly determined Carter quixotically negotiated right to the end.Whether because of a secret arrangement, or just out of a desire to humiliate Carter, the Iranians waited to release the 52 Americans until the newly minted president was actually delivering his inauguration speech. Reagan’s first official act was to announce his administration’s success in achieving freedom for the hostages (even though his staff had yet to even warm the seats of their new chairs). Under American law there’s a very specific name for covert negotiations conducted by private citizen in contravention of official American policies. The word is “treason”—but it’s only used if you’re caught. And to this day Reagan has never been conclusively caught out on this issue.Iran-Contra ScandalIn 1985, after heated deliberation, Congress definitively cut off the spigot of financial aid for the conservative Contra faction in Nicaragua, whom the Reagan administration had long viewed as “freedom fighters.” Under the terms of the Boland Amendment, it now became illegal for anyone in the U. S. intelligence community to use government funds to support the Contras. Privately Reagan threw the Constitution into the shredder, deciding that his Executive Branch knew better than Congress and could do as it pleased.With the president’s approval, laundered arms money from Iran was funneled directly to the Contras. White House logs demonstrated that Reagan and his vice president, George H. W. Bush, had sat in on the very meetings that decided these tactics. Under fire, Reagan categorically denied these events for as long as he credibly could, but eventually the dots were all connected and the plot strands became public. Even the myth concedes that Reagan’s durable popularity plummeted more precipitously than any other president’s in history.Badly flustered, “Dutch” dove for cover, but Nancy cannily pressed him to address the country. At the height of the furor he did, but the “Great Communicator” went a bit “schizo” right on national TV. A shaken Reagan told us that though his head said he had, his heart said he hadn’t sold arms to terrorists for hostages. Staring at the television screen, I knew just how he felt. My heart said, “poor old guy,” while my head whispered “prison term.”When the dust settled, a pattern emerged. The Iran-Contra Affair had been conducted by Reagan’s National Security Agency, with key players answering directly to the president. Specifically, the arms for hostages operation was run by Robert “Bud” McFarlane, Reagan’s national security advisor—a Cabinet-level position. Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North, also in the NSA, reported directly to McFarlane. North masterminded the funneling of the Iranian arms money to the Nicaraguan Contras. The enterprising Ollie also attempted to further the Contra cause by his friendship with Panamanian dictator and drug-dealer Manuel Noriega. A deal was proposed, but never consummated, for Noriega to assassinate the socialist Sandinista leadership in return for $1 million in cash.Running a high-level conspiracy and conducting illegal covert operations can be stressful. In 1985, McFarlane resigned on the highly novel grounds that he wished to spend more time with his family. He was replaced by his deputy, Admiral John Poindexter. Another reputed conspirator may have been the powerful CIA director and Reagan intimate, William J. Casey. A weak link in the chain proved to be Fawn Hall, North’s “babe-alicious” secretary, whose mother happened to be Bud McFarlane’s secretary. Fawn’s greatest talent seems to have been for shredding prodigious quantities of confidential documents. But she also possessed an awkward penchant for faux pas, which resulted in her and North being investigated and arrested.Down the “Rabbit Hole”The initial thread leading into the labyrinth of the Iran-Contra Affair was provided in October of 1986, when the Nicaraguan government downed an American plane being used to ferry supplies to the Contras. Several were killed in the crash, but the Reagan administration was embarrassed by the survival of an “American military advisor” named Eugene Hasenfus. Hasenfus had parachuted to safety, although parachutes had been forbidden by the mission rules he was operating under. (As in the case of downed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, who refused to pop a poison pill—if the mission failed, no one was supposed to live to tell the tale.) Hasenfus turned out to be a paid agent of the CIA, and a “black book” of phone numbers found in the plane wreckage ultimately led all the way back to conspirators Major General Richard Secord and Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North.When the smoke cleared and the firestorm cooled, the “Teflon Presidency” had inexplicably triumphed. Miraculously, President Reagan stepped from the wreckage and skated all legal consequences. While damned by heaps of circumstantial evidence, and by his own halting admission, no direct proof of the president’s culpability ever surfaced and more importantly, no one stepped forward to testify against him. With Watergate and the shared agony of Richard Nixon’s last months in office still fresh in the minds of all, Congress decided that the best interests of the country would not be served by impeachment. Vice President Bush, too, for the same reasons avoided all legal and political consequences. The fates of their minions would also largely prove charmed, as the will to punish seems to have oddly been lacking. Instead, an infuriating ritual was repeatedly acted out of indictments followed by convictions followed by nullification on assorted grounds.Iran-Contra AftermathParachutist and secret agent Eugene Hasenfus was sentenced to a thirty-year prison term by the Nicaraguan government, but he was pardoned and freed at the request of a U.S. senator. Former national security advisor Bud McFarlane attempted suicide. McFarlane was then convicted of felonies and sentenced to two years’ probation, but he was later pardoned when co-conspirator George H. W. Bush became president. Major General Secord was indicted on a number of felony charges all stemming from the Iran-Contra Affair but his conviction was ultimately expunged due to a legal technicality. Ollie North was dismissed from his post by Reagan and convicted of three felony counts, but his convictions were later vacated. North was undeniably at the very heart of the conspiracy, but he was granted immunity from further prosecution for his Congressional testimony. Ollie now works for the official slagheap of shattered Republican fortunes—the Fox Channel. Admiral Poindexter, McFarlane’s successor, resigned in disgrace and he too was convicted of multiple felonies for his involvement in Iran-Contra. Shockingly, Poindexter’s convictions also were later reversed on appeal.Mere hours before testifying to Congress, William Casey was mysteriously rendered incapable of speech. He was later hospitalized and died of a brain tumor without ever having testified. Fawn Hall was yet another of the conspirators granted immunity for her testimony. She later married The Doors’ former manager, Danny Sugerman, and went on to become a crack addict. And here the official myth draws to a close with Reagan riding off into retirement, at least physically unscathed. Canonized for his many dubious achievements, with his battles won and no enemies standing, the culture hero was free to slowly fade away.Reagan’s Unique LeadershipThe dichotomy that Reagan had revealed between his heart and head ultimately personified his complex relationship with America. He possessed the peculiar ability to make us simultaneously feel and think different things. It was impossible not to like him or to feel reassured that this vigorous and lovable man was in charge. You felt wholly sure that he meant only the very best for us and that he would do all within his power to make it happen. But intentions aside, when you stopped to consider it, what had he actually achieved?Giving the devil his due, Reagan’s most authentic attainment was ephemeral but priceless! In a deeply troubled time, he managed to make us feel good again. Using simple terms for a complex process, the country invested emotionally in Reagan and he passed us back a richer coin. We gave him our confidence and he transmogrified and magnified it and returned it to us as restored confidence in ourselves. This was no mean feat.Reagan’s Message Versus Carter’sDespite his earnestness and integrity, Jimmy Carter had filled only half of the chief executive’s chair. Canny enough to correctly identify the challenges then facing the nation, the Georgian was also sanctimonious and ineffectual. Sometimes it’s just not enough to be right. Carter studied the country’s complex dilemmas and simplistically concluded that it all boiled down to nothing more than the old fable of “The Grasshopper and the Ant.” The former had recklessly played away the fair weather while the latter had steadfastly planned for winter. Jimmy’s fundamentalist morality told him that he was presiding over a nation of grasshoppers—now it was winter and justly we’d have to pay for our fecklessness. It took Reagan—less cerebral, but possessing a naturally sunny disposition and an intuitive gift for leadership to convince us that we would meet those challenges and even overcome them.The AIDS CrisisYet in Reagan’s time, too, homelessness in America grew astronomically, the chasm between rich and poor widened immeasurably, and our ravaged gay community was left to fend for itself during the very darkest days of the AIDS crisis. While championing family values, Reagan’s indifference to this last challenge was utterly conscienceless. It begged one to replay his great movie moment, but this time asking, “Where is the rest of him?”CodaYears later, one of the saddest stories imaginable was told about Reagan in his retirement. It provides the story with a bleak coda distressing to friend and foe alike in its awful humanness. At that time Reagan had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and his memory was failing badly. Each morning, it was his habit to go to his office and putter around, later returning home for lunch with his wife. One day when he showed at lunchtime, Nancy noticed that Ronnie’s arm was wet and that his fist was clenched tight around a small object. She asked him what he was holding. Reagan slowly opened his hand to reveal something that belonged in the bottom of his office fish tank—a plastic replica of the White House. “I don’t know,” he said hesitantly, “but I think it used to be very important to me.”Stripped of the myth, that heartbreaking episode may spell out the true Reagan legacy. At the time it was happening, his administration seemed compelling, immediate, and even revolutionary, but looking back dispassionately, it’s far less clear what he actually accomplished.