logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2020
10m 25s

Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In June 1979 the Moral Majority was launched and changed the course of American politics. It was set up to promote family values by religious conservatives from Catholic, Jewish and evangelical Christian communities. It urged protestants in particular to go against the tradition of separating politics and religion and register to vote, and to vote Republican. Richard Viguerie was one of the driving forces behind the movement. He spoke to Claire Bowes in 2016.

(Photo: Ronald Reagan with Richard Viguerie in Atlanta, Georgia, 1975, courtesy of ConservativeHQ.com)

Up next
Today
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Yesterday
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Jul 8
The mystery of Evita’s corpse
When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed. Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup. But military officers feared her corpse would become a rallying point of protest against the new government. So they stole i ... Show More
10m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2018
Political Parties - The Reagan Revolution | 6
The year 1968 marked a watershed in American politics. Anti-war protests were roiling the country. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead in Memphis. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s approval rating was plummeting. The assassination of Democratic presidenti ... Show More
48m 59s
May 2023
Heart and Soul: Evangelical or political Christianity?
One of the founding principles of the United States is that religion and politics, church and state, are separate. Yet today in America religious belief and politics have become inseparable. Self-styled "evangelical" Christians have become the dominant grassroots force in the Rep ... Show More
27m 42s
Apr 2023
Abraham Lincoln’s Religious Transformation Mirrored Larger Revival Trends of 1860s America
Abraham Lincoln, unlike most of his political brethren, kept organized Christianity at arm’s length. He never joined a church and only sometimes attended Sunday services with his wife. But over the course of his life, the erstwhile skeptic effectively evolved into the nation’s fi ... Show More
36m 10s
Mar 2023
310: Ronald Reagan and the American Dream (Part 1)
Ronald "Dutch" Reagan was born in 1911 to a humble family of Illinois, his father an FDR-loving democrat, his mother a notable member of the local Christian community. A high school football star, "Dutch" would grow up to become one of America's favourite sports broadcasters, a H ... Show More
59m 58s
Mar 2023
311: Reagan: The Road to the White House (Part 2)
His Hollywood career drying up, Ronald Reagan works both for the Screen Actors Guild and General Electric in the 1950s. Building connections with the Californian elite, and having gained national attention with a speech for the Republican presidential candidate in 1964, he become ... Show More
1h 2m
Feb 2021
Who Is Ronald Reagan?
Ronald Reagan, a man who was first elected President more than forty years ago, remains one of the most impactful and influential conservative politicians in American history. Reagan, who made it in Hollywood before he made it to the White House, was a towering statesman, a favor ... Show More
49m 48s
Mar 2023
312: Reagan, Iran-Contra and the Cold War (Part 3)
Warmonger or nuclear disarmer? Ronald Reagan’s presidency survived an assassination attempt, the AIDS epidemic and the Iranian hostage crisis. He powered through the 1980s, creating his own truth and narrative, in a series of events that read like a Hollywood screenplay.  Tom and ... Show More
1h 1m
Mar 2023
Reagan
Ronnie was one of America's most beloved and controversial presidents. From his early days as a B-movie actor and union president, to his pivotal role in heating up the Cold War, Reagan was an icon of the 80s (even for British kids like Tom!). But what was he really like? How did ... Show More
58m 48s
Jun 2024
Abortion United Evangelicals and Republicans. Now That Alliance Is Fraying.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denomination of Protestant Christians in the United States, voted at an annual gathering last week to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization.Ruth Graham, who covers religion, faith and values for The New York Times, discusses the sto ... Show More
24m 30s
Jul 2020
Remembering John Lewis
An extraordinary conversation with the late congressman John Lewis, taped in Montgomery, Alabama, during a pilgrimage 50 years after the March on Washington. It offers a rare look inside his wisdom, the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation within themselves, and the intr ... Show More
51m 2s