Ronald Reagan was hysterical. He was many other things too, good and bad, but he was always funny, and he knew the power of a well-timed joke or one-liner.
Humor was deeply important to Reagan and he used it like a master. Reagan saw humor as a powerful tool, perhaps a politician’s greatest. In fact, he hired a comedy writer named Doug Gamble who went on to write political jokes for both Presidents Bush and most recently for former president Donald Trump.
Reagan’s timing is on full display in this YouTube video posted by oboguev. It was the end of the cold war, and people were still nervous about relations with Russia. But Reagan knew that his joke allows us to see our fears a little more reasonably, taking away some of the power they hold.
Check it out here:
