Republicanism

Published: July 27, 2021, 7 a.m.

In 1932, Ronald Reagan registered as a Democrat and cast his first vote for FDR, who captivated him with his Fireside chats. As a young man, Ronald Reagan also respected the ideas of fellow Democrat Woodrow Wilson, citing this quote: \u201cLiberty has never come from government\u2026. The history of liberty is the history of limitation of government\u2019s power, not the increase of it.\u201d\xa0Ronald Reagan believed he was a Democrat through and through. Self-described as a \u201cnear hopeless hemophilic liberal\u201d who \u201cbled for causes,\u201d Reagan continued to support Democratic candidates. In 1948, he hit the campaign trail for Hubert Humphrey and Harry Truman because he \u201cwasn\u2019t a tax-and-spend Democrat.\u201d However, Ronald Reagan\u2019s positions began to change in the \u201850s. General Dwight Eisenhower was considering a run for the Presidency and was encouraged to do so by many Americans. The problem was that no one knew which political party he would lead. To force the issue, in 1952 Reagan joined several other Democrats in sending a telegram to Eisenhower urging him to run for President as a Democrat. Once Eisenhower decided to run on the Republican ticket, Ronald Reagan campaigned and voted for him, believing he was the best man for the job and casting his first Republican vote. By 1960, Ronald Reagan believed that the Democratic Party was no longer the party of Thomas Jefferson or Woodrow Wilson, saying, \u201cI realized the real enemy wasn\u2019t big business, it was big government.\u201d