For eight years Ronald Reagan's presidency perplexed political commentators. From the outset his election was described as a revolution of ideas; at its conclusion it was still not altogether clear how deep or how sweeping the revolution was. It has been difficult for journalists and academic observers to describe and assess the play of ideas in American politics during the 1980s.

Reflecting early in the decade on the reasons for Ronald Reagan's sweeping 1980 electoral victory, one of the nation's veteran political observers, Theodore H. White, asked if his analysis during the months of campaigning and in the years before the election might have overlooked something. White wondered whether his reporting had somehow missed “the ferment of ideas within politics.” In the early 1980s, he was not alone in asking what role ideas had played in the conservative triumph. Richard Reeves looked back and saw the election as a momentous personal victory for Ronald Reagan. But he explained that while it had been a triumph of personality, it was “at least as much the triumph of conservative intellectuals.” He described the growth of an “ideas industry” during the 1970s and gave it considerable credit for the Reagan success. Sidney Blumenthal also examined the conservative movement. He chronicled the rise of what he termed a “counter establishment” replete with conservative foundations, think tanks, and publishing operations. He argued that as the role of political parties has diminished, American politics has grown “more open to ideological appeals.” In Ronald Reagan, he concluded, image and ideology were fused.