George H. Nash and Annelise Anderson: Views of Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan

Among presidential exponents of American exceptionalism, Presidents Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan are in a class by themselves. In his talk George H. Nash discusses the experiences underlying Herbert Hoover’s prescient conviction that the social, economic, and political institutions of the United States were superior to the collectivist systems that were then sweeping the globe. Annelise Anderson explains Ronald Reagan’s vision of the United States as a “city on a hill,” and how that vision guided his foreign and domestic policy.