Reagan Was a General Electric Theater Host

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When Reagan was an actor, he was actually a union president. In the mid-50s, he gets recruited by General Electric to be the host of a television program called General Electric Theater. At one point, it was the third most popular program in the United States behind the Ed Sullivan Show and Lucy. He becomes known to the American people in a way that he had not been before through this very successful television show. But within 4 years after working for GE, he completely changes his political views. It's something that's sometimes referred to as the speech that he gives in nomination of Goldwater for presidential election.

Shermer and Oreskes discuss: the myth of market magic • market fundamentalism • market absolutism • market essentialism • capitalism and democracy • well-regulated vs. poorly regulated capitalism • U.S. Constitution and capitalism • what the founding fathers believed about markets • what Adam Smith really said about markets and capitalism and how economists rewrote Adam Smith • why markets need regulation in the same way sports need rules and referees • rhetorical fallacies of market fundamentalists • child labor laws • bank failures • Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 • Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman • religion and capitalism • think tanks • collective action problems.

Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. Her TED talk, “Why We Should Trust Scientists,” was viewed more than a million times. Erik M. Conway is a historian of science and technology and works for the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of seven books and dozens of articles and essays. Their new book is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market.