For those predisposed to disliking jovial old frauds of whatever persuasion, the 100th anniversary of Ronald Wilson Reagan's birth is an appropriate time to commemorate the death of a salesman.
When Reagan slipped his final grip on that consciousness he had infrequently graced and so long abandoned, it was certainly as historic an event as the introduction of a new soap powder product, or the retirement of an old one.
First elected Governor on a muted inclination to shoot student demonstrators, Reagan spent his political life as an apostle of reaction, repression and recklessness. Made President by the hostage-taking Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini, then reelected by a marketing program so meretricious it remains a marvel of its kind, Reagan only escaped impeachment over his unconstitutional Iran-financed war in Nicaragua by the lateness of its revelation.