Ronald Reagan's sweeping victory in the November 1980 presidential elections provided spectacular evidence of the uniquely intimate relationship between politics and film in the United States. To this day, no other country has chosen a movie star (former or current) as its political leader. Reagan's entry into the White House consummated the long-standing marriage between Washington and Hollywood during the Cold War. The Gipper, as he was known affectionately by the White House press corps, after his breakthrough role in Lloyd Bacon's 1940 sporting biopic Knute Rockne—All American Hero, had been a prominent anti-communist crusader on and off camera for decades. When he was president of the Screen Actors Guild during the McCarthy era, Reagan, who was then something of a liberal, had not only played a leading part in enforcing the Hollywood blacklist; he had also acted as an undercover agent for the FBI, fighting, as he put it in his memoirs, Moscow's plan to take over the motion picture business. Thereafter, Reagan skillfully exploited his celebrity status and anti-communist credentials for financial and political gain.